Morses Pond Beach Wrapping Record Season

Jan Kaseta, director of Wellesley's Recreation Department, cracks a big smile when she refers to the numbers of people who've visited Morses Pond Beach this year.

It's a bigger number than she's seen in a while - 21,000 visits this summer, compared to last year's 16,000. The revenue the beach has taken in this year is even more impressive - $123,000. "The last year we even came close to that was 1994 with $105,000," Kaseta said during the Aug. 2 Recreation Commission meeting.

That patronage was in spite of the day earlier this season when the beach had to be shut down when E. Coli numbers spiked at 680 ppm (parts per million). Usually, she said, those numbers range from 2 - 20. "For the last two weeks, it's been five," Kaseta said Aug. 6. She said anything could have caused the spike, from an inopportune waterfowl passing to an accidental contamination of the sample. The samples are collected by the department and transported to Quincy for testing, she said. They've be especially careful with the samples since the spike, she said.

Morse's Pond Beach officially closes Aug. 22, but the weather has been so good and the popularity so high, Kaseta said she's trying to sign up enough lifeguards to extend the season.