As the days get shorter and the air cools, Wayland Recreation Department Director Katherine Brenna looked back on a fun-filled summer — one that saw record beach attendance, hundreds of campers, and families gathering together for community events across town.
It’s not summer without camp, and luckily, the town runs three: Summer Adventure for elementary school children, Wayland Escapes for middle-school children, and Beach Buddies for kids ages 3.5–5.5. Brenna credited camp staff for another year of care and fun for Wayland’s kids.
“Our summer team brought the energy, heart, and magic to camp every single day,” she said. “We are so thankful for the way they instill character in the campers; for every fist bump, every found water bottle, every silly song and dress-up day, they made sure that, above all, Wayland kids were happy campers.”
A revamped counselor-in-training program for teens helped bolster the camp’s success. With 36 CITs and a new program focus, Brenna said the recreation program has helped build up the next generation of camp staff. “We re-focused the curriculum on building leadership skills, like critical thinking, professionalism, conflict resolution and communication, not just childcare principles,” she said.
Town beach draws record crowds
The Wayland Town Beach drew a record 13,500 visitors this year thanks to a new playground, entryway, and water testing system that kept the facilities operational throughout the entire sunny season. “We had an incredible beach season with our new playground, our new entryway, and with a little help from Mother Nature, Wayland enjoyed a record-breaking summer,” Brenna said.
Part of the success was the effort to keep the beach open by fending off algae and bacteria infestations that could force a closure. This problem has shuttered the Town Beach early in past summers, according to Brenna.
“It felt like there was a bad reputation brewing related to misinformation about algae and bacteria that can plague natural bodies of water,” she said. “So we worked with the DCR, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and our local Health Director, Julia Junghanns, to really educate beachgoers and the general community about the water at Lake Cochituate.”
To accomplish this, the town secured funding for a proactive testing system that gives staff a head start to test for algae and bacteria when greenish, potentially algae-ridden water is first observed. The town was able to shorten the standard 14-to-21-day testing process when the beach would be closed. “It’s truly been a game-changer,” Brenna said. “The water at Lake Cochituate has been consistently clean and clear, and while algae and bacteria are a natural part of any lake ecosystem, we now have strong systems in place to protect public health without unnecessarily disrupting valuable summer recreation opportunities for Wayland.”
For the fourth consecutive year, Wayland Recreation offered the Summer Park Series in partnership with the Wayland Free Public Library, the Wayland Police Department and Family ACCESS Community Connections, providing free programs at the Town Beach and Hannah Williams Park. These events included a literacy fair, nature and animal shows, Pops with Cops, and a sunset concert at Town Beach. Over the course of the summer, they drew more than 700 families.
“We look forward to continuing this beloved community tradition in the summer of 2026 with fresh new acts,” Brenna said.
For Brenna, the best part of her season was connecting with the Recreation Department’s seasonal teams at the beginning and end of the summer.
“These are two of the only days where our entire, carefully selected, 100-person seasonal staff team gets to be together with our administrative team and really dig in and prepare for the summer ahead, and then we all get to really look back and appreciate our accomplishments at the end,” she said. “We laugh a lot.”
