One of the most well known historic places in Ipswich is our very own Crane’s Beach. People travel from all different towns to come spend the day at Cranes with their friends and family; the beach is very well kept and family friendly. Crane’s Beach is full of many exciting things such as, the snack shack, the Crane’s Castle, public restrooms, lifeguards, and beautiful views (which make amazing pictures). The question I thought of though is, should Ipswich residents have to pay to get into the beach or not? Out of town people have to pay a 20-25 dollar fee every time they want to go to Cranes, but if you’re an Ipswich resident you can buy a beach sticker at town hall for 20 dollars to get you into the beach all season. Some people still feel they should not have to pay that though if their an Ipswich resident because some days the beach gets too full and Townies can’t get in, even though they have a beach sticker. I did some research and interviews to get different people’s opinions on the question to see what people thought about it.

I looked online on the Crane’s Beach Trustees page to get some research about where the admission fee money goes for Crane’s Beach. The admission fee allows the Trustees to provide management of the beach, services of the lifeguards, emergency medical responses, rangers/trustees, and the concession stand/employees. The admission fee from out of towners and Ipswich residents helps and contributes to the beach in a lot of different ways. It helps ensure that the beach will be kept clean and people friendly as much as possible. After researching I decided I would Interview some people next and get their opinions on the matter.

I interviewed two people: Taylor and Leah. I interviewed Leah first and when I asked her If she thought Ipswich residents should have to pay to get into the beach or not, she answered with yes. She said she knows the Trustees of the beach have to pay for other things to keep the beach safe and clean, so she is okay with paying the $20 beach sticker. Leah just wishes that since she paid for the year-round beach sticker that she would always have access to it even on the extremely busy beach days. After I interviewed Leah, I went and interviewed Taylor. Their responses were different; Taylor said that she does not think Ipswich residents should have to pay at all to get into the beach. Taylor thinks that the admission fee that the out of towners pay is enough to keep the beach up to date, and pay the employees, so Ipswich residents should not have to pay. Taylor suggested maybe have donations instead of paying to buy a beach sticker. It was interesting to see the difference in responses between the two of them after my interviews were done. I guess the question will always be up in the air about whether or not Ipswich residents should have to pay to get into the beach.

In conclusion, after doing my research and interviews I realized peoples opinions on the question will always be different from others. I also decided that my personal opinion is that the admission fee money goes towards a good cause, and it helps out greatly, so It’s not a bad thing to have it, but also if Ipswich residents are paying for year-round beach stickers they should be able to enter the beach when they want too.