b'Anumberofweeksago,acommentinThePortPerry QuotesBulletinwebsite,questionedtheKinsmenBeachonLakeScugogandwhyitwascalledabeach. From The Port Perry BulletinThispromptedmetopostacoupleofpicturesoftheIftheareacantbeusedasabeach, i whyisitnamedabeach?beachonthePPBsite.Onewastaken nAugust2020,theotherinJuly1985whentheKinsmenBeachwasapopularsummertimerecreationareaforlocalfamilies.SpentalmosteverydaythereforThe following is the story of the Kinsmen Beach. manysummers.O NE of thE most popular places alongSomanydaysswimmingwithfriendsandaquickdipafterbaseballpractices.Lake Scugogs shoreline from 1979 untilSosadtoseethechangesthatusedAINTThe the early 2000s, was the Kinsmen Beach. tomakethistowncozyandfriendly.concept of a sand beach on the lakefront was firstVerysadtoseethis.Whathappenedlife conceived in 1978, when the local Kinsmen Club approached toprogress.the township council with an idea to construct a beach at theIrememberthosedays.Itwasanfoot of Palmer Park. awesomelakeonceuponatime. As with any project dealing with waterways, red tape,applications and approvals slowed down the process. So itThegoodolddays.Swimmingatthewas more than a year later, in January 1979, when Kinsmen lake.Wishitwasstilluseable.A representative Tom Armstrong met with council and announced Above: Work gets underway, dumping sand onto Lake Scugog ice, in February 1979.that the final approvals had been received. This put things into motion and within abeach month, work got underway on the project. sand was dumped onto the ice, then spread evenly The beach project entailed rolling out across the area with heavy equipment. sheets of plastic on the ice, covering an area As the weather warmed in the spring, the plastic of about 100 feet by 250 feet just north of and sand sank to the bottom. The plastic prevented the tennis courts. This was followed by 2,500 the sand from being mixed into the loose silt and cubic yards of sand being spread over the mud on the lake bottom, creating a firm, sandy plastic to a depth of three feet. bottom for the swimming area. Over a period of about a week, beginning In addition, the Kinsmen spread another 500 in February, dozens of truckloads of clean cubic yards of sand on the shore to create a large beach in front of the swimming area.Cost of the project escalated from $5,200 when first conceived in 1978 to $6,100 a year later. The project was partially funded by a provincial government grant of $2,600 and the remainder being paid by the Kinsmen Club of Port Perry.The Kinsmen Beach area became the most popular spot, with kids and families flocking the lakefront during the warm days of summer for many years.By J. Peter Hvidsten, Focus on Scugog Photographs have been colourized from black and white originals.Up Up and Away(continued from page)KinsmenBeachandPalmerPark1994. Palmer Park and the new Kinsmen Beach attracted hundredsof people to the lakefront on this hot summer weekend, in July 1980.FOCUS - OCTOBER 202027'