Most of us would agree that the essential ingredients of a beach are sand, water and sun. OK, maybe you don’t need the sun as much, just some warmth. I’ve had some fantastic swims in the rain. And perhaps you don’t need sand. I’ve laid my towel on rocks before, and it can be quite pleasant to bask in the sun on a large, warm, flat rock after a cool swim.

But you do need water, right? Don’t we need to see the sun sparkle on the water and hear the lapping waves? To some folks, apparently not.

A new beach — Sugar Beach — just opened in Toronto. It’s located adjacent to the Redpath Sugar plant, hence the name, and it has the palest sand and built-in umbrellas and deck chairs. Actually the umbrellas aren’t really just umbrellas — they are statues of umbrellas. Although you can look out on the blue-green water of Lake Ontario, you can’t swim there. There’s a huge retaining wall with a large “No swimming” sign. So is Sugar Beach really a beach?

Last summer, Bernard and I were visiting Paris during their “Paris Plage” celebrations. Temporary “beaches” were set up alongside the Seine River, complete with trucked-in sand, a pool, “cooling stations,” even palm trees. Other than the pool, there’s no swimming in the Seine (it’s illegal and … yucky.) So is this sandy oasis in the city really a beach?

I say no way. It might feel nice to bury your feet in sand, but unless you can rinse them off in lake or ocean water afterward, it’s just a park pretending to be a beach. And my credentials — growing up in a town best known for its beach — give me the right to say so.

I was thrilled to hear Dominion Beach had re-opened and was officially safe to swim in.  (Many thanks to the government officials who initiated the sewage treatment project that restored the water to its former, bacteria-free glory.) Driving by, I felt cheered seeing so many folks in the water. Not that I went in — I walked the boardwalk, but passed on having anyone see me in a bathing suit. Maybe next summer?

I have so many fond memories of my many summers on Dominion Beach. Even though the water was often icy and laden with jellyfish, nothing could dampen our enthusiasm. If we didn’t have a drive, we walked the 20-25 minutes to the boardwalk, and found the “perfect” spot (closest to the largest concentration of boys, not too close to the lifeguards unless one of our favourite guys was working.)

If you went to the beach enough, you grew to know who the lifeguards were and pretended not to know their schedules, nor did you look obviously in their direction. You wanted to attract attention but not so much attention that you got “ducked” by the boys, who really didn’t care how long it took you to do your hair. You watched with enthusiasm as the boys threw jellyfish at each other, feeling glad you weren’t a boy. At the end of the day, we trudged home with popsicles in hand and sand in our flip-flops, sunburnt and satisfied.

Dominion Beach has sun, sand AND surf. As far as I’m concerned, that’s the stuff childhoods are made of. Sorry Sugar Beach, you just don’t make the cut.

via Life’s a beach, as long as it has some water – Columns – Opinion – The Cape Breton Post.