Cassadaga residents all know about the beach in the village. It’s a cute beach and if you’ve got young children, it’s a great place to take them during the day in the summer. The problem is fewer and fewer children go to the beach. Plus the hours are extremely limited.

The beach doesn’t open until June 27 and then it’s closed by Aug. 21. That’s eight weeks. There’s a lot of warm days before June 27 and a hopefully a lot more summer after a week from Friday. It’s closed to the public in the mornings when swim lessons are taking place and it’s closed again by 6 p.m.

There’s also no designated adult swim times, so any adult that wants to use the beach has to use it during the children’s programming.

But if the village took the fence down and opened it up, the beach would get more use from the community. Plus, there is the possibility of getting a business to come in and rent canoes or kayaks. That would increase tourism, which would be nice for local businesses.

It’s time for the eight-week beach for children in Cassadaga to become a three-season beach for families.