New York - Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani and Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura today celebrated a successful summer at New York City beaches and pools. Highlights include:
- More than 15 million people visited the city's beaches - nearly double last year's total of 8 million visitors - and more than one million New Yorkers cooled off at outdoor pools.
- Free Learn to Swim classes expanded from 10 to 18 pools, with 10,500 New Yorkers ages 18 months to 17 years participating.
- Popular Adult Lap Swim program grew from five to 11 pools, available five days a week.
- More than 1,100 lifeguards worked to keep swimmers safe this summer, the most since 2019. This included 287 new recruits and a 79% retention rate for lifeguards returning from last year.
- The historic lifeguard count follows the Mayor's promotional video which received 4.16 million views across platforms.
- Lifeguards conducted more than 200 beach and pool rescues throughout the summer, ensuring the safety of millions of attendees. No drownings occurred this summer during lifeguarded hours.
- The City reopened the 140,000-square-foot Orchard Beach Pavilion in the Bronx following a $114 million reconstruction project.
- This year, beach season lasted 114 days for the first time in a decade.
"What's better than a beach day in New York City? 114 of them," said Mayor Mamdani. "This summer, New Yorkers and visitors came together across 14 miles of sandy coastline to swim, cool off and enjoy the city's beaches. And when they weren't at the beach, they were taking classes, swimming laps and making the most of our expanded pool programs. None of that happens without the people who make our parks work every day. I want to thank our Parks workers - especially our 1,100 lifeguards - for making sure New Yorkers had a safe place to soak in the sun and celebrate another beautiful summer in the city."
"Summer is NYC Parks' time to shine, and we delivered for New Yorkers this year by safely welcoming more than 16 million people to our beaches and outdoor pools, reopening an iconic beach pavilion in the Bronx and expanding our summer swim programming," said NYC Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura. "We know how vital our public pools and beaches are for providing relief from increasingly high temperatures and teaching kids important water safety skills, so we were thrilled to expand our free summer Learn to Swim classes and know that visitors were protected by the highest number of lifeguards we've had in seven years. I'm so proud of the Parks staff - lifeguards, recreation staff, Parks Enforcement Patrol, maintenance and operations workers and many others - who worked hard to make summer fun a reality for New Yorkers."
Parks beaches and Olympic- and intermediate-sized outdoor pools officially closed for the season on Sunday, September 13. Swimming is no longer permitted at public beaches as lifeguards are not on duty.
