Hundreds of Kingston residents got wet and made a statement
Lynn Rees Lambert
Hundreds take back the beach
It was a sight that one wouldn’t usually see walking over the hill of Murney Tower: close to 400 people gathered at Richardson Beach in swimsuits and smiles, heading in for a dip in Lake Ontario.
The mass swim took place Tuesday, July 22 at a beach that hasn’t seen this many swimmers in decades.
"We were hoping for a big turnout, by all means, but not expecting it," said organizer Jamie Linton with a laugh.
"It was just fantastic. I think just the manifestation of support was made in the presence of so many people."
Together, Linton and David McDonald organized the event that drew hundreds of Kingston residents and make a point about the need for a public beach. Richardson Beach, with its rocky shore, is clean and safe for swimming, unlike other city beaches that have been closed off and on all summer due to high bacteria counts.
The bathhouse, once a stately building, is unused and a canteen has long since closed.
McDonald, who has lived in Kingston for just over a decade, said the event was not just to raise awareness about the work that needs to be done to the beach to make it a hot spot for city-dwellers to cool off.
"My wife and I are both water people, and it just really struck us fairly early on that there’s no really good place to get in the water," he said.
"Particularly when we had kids we realized even more so that it’s very difficult for kids to get into the water."
But McDonald said there is another issue that needs to be addressed: the notion of public space.
"Here we have this beautiful resource here on our doorstep, which clearly in the past has been widely used, and it’s fallen into disuse," he said.
"For me, it’s a typical kind of pattern in North America where we’ve moved much more towards privatized, gated spaces."
McDonald said the decline in the use of public space, specifically waterfront spaces, has led to the misconception that these spaces aren’t good to use anyway.
"As we’ve turned our backs on these resources, we’ve also started to think that the water is unclean, and that public resources are not managed, and therefore we should just drink bottled water," said McDonald.
"The water isn’t perfect by any means, but it’s cleaner than it’s been in decades. It’s a municipally-run service, our water, and it is, in fact, excellent. That water that we’ve somehow turned our backs on for swimming is also the water we drink."
In the spirit of using the water available, McDonald, along with Linton, encouraged the crowd into the lake.
"I have this idea of a virtuous cycle, and you start a virtuous cycle of public use of water by actually getting into the water," said Linton.
"The more people actually start that process of getting into the water, the more a virtuous cycle is initiated by which then people will recognize it’s an important place."
Linton said the alternative is the vicious cycle of people neglecting the beach, and others assuming it is an unsafe, unclean swimming area. The most important step to getting the beach restored, he said, is showing a demand for use of the beach.
Both Linton and McDonald said the response from the city thus far has been positive. Linton said those who are interested in the restoration project should visit the city’s website where design options have been posted and public feedback is welcome.
They both feel the only thing holding the project back is bureaucratic paperwork.
"At this point it’s tied up with the bureaucrats who need to get some more approval on things and get feedback on the draft plans," said McDonald. "So it’ll still take a little while."
Mark Fluhrer, director of the city’s culture and recreation department, sees the future of the beach as one that will attract Kingstonians and tourists alike.
"Thanks to the efforts of many, including our own Utilities Kingston, water quality in the lakes has improved over the last decade and the proposed improvements will make Richardson Beach a great central swimming destination for Kingston residents and summer visitors," said Fluhrer.
With the mass swim drawing in hundreds ready to get their feet wet, both McDonald and Linton feel the need and desire for restoration of the beach is evident.
"It was a wonderful vibe. It was just a bubbling of chatter and people just hung around, and all the old timers were saying to me ‘Oh, this is what it used to be like’ and it just created that kind of magic," said McDonald.
"People loved it, and from all ages and all walks of life."