New, free spray park open at Long Island beach
The new spray pad at Shirley Beach in the Town of Brookhaven. Credit: Town of Brookhaven
A new, free spray pad that’s open at Shirley Beach for its first full summer offers palm trees that rain down water and fountains that shoot up from the ground.
“It was a rusty, old playground that we ripped out,” says Brookhaven Town Council member and deputy supervisor Dan Panico. Park benches and the restrooms have also been renovated, he says.
Spray pad visitors don’t need to be town residents, Panico says. “It’s open to everyone,” he says. The pad is meant for children from toddlers through elementary school, he says.
The park has swings, and the town may add other equipment at the end of the year, Panico says. The park doesn’t offer a concession stand, but “from what I hear, the ice cream man frequently comes by,” Panico says. Lifeguards are on duty when the beach is open, which has been sporadic due to water quality issues this summer in Bellport Bay, he says. The spray park water is all fresh water, he adds.
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.
