A Phillips Beach Tradition: Sprucing the Shore for Stickers

Glenn Paster spends a summer's day with his family at on the move — walking and tossing a tennis ball at the water's edge.

Bob Sherriff and his wife will walk, talk, read and relax on the beach.

The beach has a special draw for both of these families, Friends of Phillips Beach members. And they will take part in Saturday's annual beach clean-up, starting at 9 am and lasting a couple hours.

The Friends group invites anyone who wants to help spruce up the beach to join the annual tradition. Cleaner-uppers will have a chance to buy a parking sticker for the beach, courtesy of the Phillips Beach Club.

Last year about 72 people joined the clean-up.

Eighty-five parking stickers are available. They cost $65 each. 

All the necessary information has been combined into one form this year. To print a form, click here. Also, bring a copy of your vehicle registration and a check for $65.

Cleaners are advised to bring gloves, rakes and shovels.

The work will take a couple hours, Glenn said.

The beach looks to be in good shape this year. Some washed up wood and sea weed, but not much. Some trash, but not much.

The boardwalk that the Friends installed about 10 years ago will get its annual straightening but, it, too, looks to be in better shape than it was at the end of the winter in 2011.

One of the beach's attractions is the different looks it presents each day, depending on the tide and weather.

Glenn, who grew up in Swampscott, said the beach, when he was a boy, was not the attraction it is today.

It was rocky, and a sea wall ran along the edge.

Bob didn't know the beach was here when he first moved to town. Later he stumbled upon it, glad for his find, having the beach in his blood having grown up near Revere Beach.

He joined the beach association in 1984 and since then Phillips has been a family destination.

A photograph he took at the Phillips boardwalk of his wife and their granddaughter, visiting the ocean for the first time, hangs in their living room.

The beach has a similar draw for many residents.

They are glad for the chance to have a parking space. Parking can be hard to come by in the summer at Phillips, so the group is especially grateful that the beach club makes available its lot.

For more information about the beach visit www.phillipsbeach.org