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Crowded beaches for Memorial Day
Justin Matthews reports
TAMPA, Fla. - Fort Desoto Park reached capacity before noon and Clearwater Beach reached capacity before 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 23, 2020, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.
The agency used it's beach capacity dashboard to keep track of crowds, closing down beaches and parking lots that got too full so people could social distance on the beach.
At Ben T. Davis Beach in Tampa, cones were placed in every other parking spot so prevent large crowds from forming.
"We didn't have to worry about being too close to other families," said Stephanie Colon, who was visiting Ben T. Davis with her family.
She says she was concerned about the large crowds.
"We usually try to get to the beach really early and we got a late start today so we didn't get here until about lunch time, but being so close we thought we could just go home and come back tomorrow if it was too busy," said Colon.
Regardless if you're going to a beach in the bay or in the gulf, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office urges everyone to get to the beach early.