First public Lake Norman beach opens Saturday

CORNELIUS, N.C. — The first public beach on Lake Norman opened Saturday for the Memorial Day weekend.

Officials held a dedication ceremony last week to celebrate the completion of the new public beach at Ramsey Creek Park in Cornelius.

Another dedication will be held at 11 a.m. and officials will pass out free sunscreen.

The beach can hold about 500 swimmers.

It costs $3 per car to visit and will be open seven days a week from 10:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m.

Officials plan to install a stop light at the park entrance, but police will direct traffic over the weekend.

There were so many people at the beach on opening day that the parking lots filled up.

With only 127 spots, park staff had to turn drivers away, and suggest they come back later in the day.

Officials told Channel 9 they have a lot of staff working to ensure what they do have runs smoothly.  They also told us they'll evaluate the parking situation after this first season comes to a close.

Cox Media Group