Swimming beach and activity center now open at Monroe Lake

Bloomington, Indiana – With the recent pandemic measures being lifted, more in-person activities and meetings are taking place in Indiana recently. Following this, more and more facilities are being reopened looking towards ‘normal times.’

Most of the facilities have been already opened at the Monroe Lake area in the recent weeks. But two other things that opened earlier this week before the Memorial Day Weekend and are fully operational are the swimming beach and the Activity Center at Paynetown State Recreation Area.

“We normally open that for the season Memorial Day weekend, but it’s a little bit more exciting for me, because with the pandemic, we kept the building closed all of last year,” Vance said. “So we’re going to actually just be resuming our regular operating schedule and so I’m excited to get that back open.”

These two facilities have been closed and didn’t open at all during 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but Vance found a way to continue programming on the Monroe Lake Facebook page through virtual programs, and she doesn’t plan to stop.

“The goal was to continue providing interpretation and programming to people when they couldn’t come visit us physically, or at least they may be able to come to the park, but we weren’t in a situation where we were able to do in-person programming,” Vance said. “So to still provide that service, to provide interpretation of our parks history and flora and fauna in a way that people could still access it.”

Working hours for the weekend will be from 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. Working hours for the summer season will be Wednesday to Sunday 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. The center includes the naturalist office, daily craft and coloring table, kids’ play area, live snakes, wall displays, board games, puzzle table, library, information, the Hoosier Quest and a recycling center for aluminum cans and plastic beverage bottles.

We look forward for another great summer season in front of us!