SLAUGHTER BEACH, Del.- A group of fifteen volunteers along with the mayor and vice mayor came together at the fire hall in Slaughter Beach with the goal of stopping a possible disturbance this weekend.
According to an Eventbrite page, A RELLIKISS Production is hosting a beach party on Saturday at 5 p.m. located around 350 Bay Avenue and the event is sold out. Mayor Harry Ward is grateful for the team that came out today.
"The town of Slaughter Beach is mainly volunteers and we have a great group of people who volunteer to help whenever it's needed and we count on it explicitly," Ward said. "We pretty much rely on the townspeople for everything the town does."
The same group of party goers was along Slaughter Beach about 3 weeks ago. Ward says illegal substances and alcohol were involved. State Police helped and organized an exit at that event and will look to do the same this time around. Jimmy Dalton lives on the north side of the beach and he says that event got "out of control" with about 500-600 people gathered.
"The guy that organized this thing marches into town, doesn't pull any permits which is required by the town's ordinances," Dalton said. "And also, a group of that size is against the state mandate for no gathering of large groups. So, the town thought they would be proactive and try to discourage another event like this."
Late Friday afternoon, A RELLIKISS Production emailed WRDE saying the event would move to Beaver Valley in Pennsylvania. Mayor Ward says today's efforts were worth the risk, even if the event never happens here.
"We want to be safe rather than sorry," Ward said. "This town isn't built to handle five or six hundred people that are ignoring all the OVID mandates. Our preparations are simply to ensure that the public areas are blocked off in conjunction with the governor's mandate and the town's decree that the beaches are closed for this weekend."
Slaughter Beach will be closed from 9 p.m. Friday night until 6 a.m. Monday morning. The reason for the long closure is due to the expected crowding and absence of face masks.