Falmouth Heights Beach Parking Lot to close 2 PM, July 4th (read below re. Bristol Beach lot)

Falmouth Police To Close Heights Beach Lot Before Fireworks

Published in The Falmouth Enterprise Friday edition June 20, 2025, pages 1 & 14, by Devin Ankeney

The Police Department plans to close the Falmouth Heights Beach parking lot ahead of the fireworks on July 4th, and restrict the Bristol Beach lot to accessible parking only.

Beachgoers using the Heights’ lot during the day will be told to vacate the lot by 2 PM. Violators risk being towed, police said.

This is the first time the Heights’ lot will be closed for the annual fireworks, which are set to begin around 9 PM on Independence Day. More than 5,000 people regularly attend the fireworks, which are launched from a barge just off the Heights beach. The beach and ballfield are prime viewing locations.

The police department’s internal Fourth of July committee made the decision about restricting the parking lots.

Police Officer Jake Meunier—who is not, himself, a member of the Fourth of July committee—told the beach committee the plan during its meeting on Wednesday, June 18. Meunier said that on the holiday, “there’s a lot of alcohol and drunk and disorderly that comes out of the Heights parking lot.”

He said that, in years past, those parked for the fireworks have a difficult time exiting the parking lot after the event. Some people, he added, start drinking in the meantime, and then come the “drunk and disorderly” charges or instances of operating under the influence.

In 2023, the fireworks show was postponed one day and then canceled due to fog. Following the cancellations, the police “spent three days chasing large crowds of unruly drunken teenagers through Falmouth Heights,” per Enterprise reporting following the events. The event left the beaches an “utter disaster,” Lieutenant Michael Simoneau said at the time.

The department, in those three days, called for 25 backup officers. That was not enough. The department requested further backup from Bourne and Mashpee to help quell the partying. About 300 people were estimated to be attending the largest of the parties in the wake of the canceled fireworks.

Last year, the department was out in force on the holiday, attempting to head off similar problems. In addition, the beach department dealt with a driver who threatened a parking attendant, saying he would run over the attendant with his car. Another person allegedly punched another parking attendant.

The beach committee, hearing about the lot closure decision for the first time, worried about how people parking at Bristol will get to the Heights.

Chairwoman Barbara P. Schneider suggested to Meunier, one of the committee’s police liaison, that the department should coordinate with the town’s commission on disabilities. Others on the committee suggested organizing a golf cart to shuttle people between the Bristol lot, which is roughly a quarter-mile away, to the Heights.

The committee members also suggested the department begin communicating the plan now, given that the fireworks event is two weeks away.

“We need to give people fair warning,” Schneider said. “Your cars are not going to be [allowed] there after 2 o’clock.”

Schneider added that in coming years, such messaging must start sooner, suggesting that two-weeks notice is not enough.

The police department did not respond to requests for comment and further details about the holiday’s parking restriction plan by press time.