Dewey Beach is now allowing dog-walking and exercising on its beachfront, according to the town website.
The loosening comes after South Bethany and other small communities opened its beach with similar limits. Rehoboth Beach and Bethany Beach maintained their beach ban. Both have boardwalks and are concerned about crowds.
Rehoboth faces a “Storm the Beach” demonstration later this month from groups opposed to the current emergency orders.
WDEL reported Dewey will employ “soft enforcement” of the restriction.
Under the governor’s emergency orders, state beaches were open for exercise and dog-walking. Surf fishing was also permitted, although state officials reported problems with vehicles being too close to one another.
Communities along the Delaware coast, meanwhile, closed their beaches to all activities.
Things began to change when Ocean City opened its beach and boardwalk, effective Saturday under a controversial order from Mayor Rick Meehan.
Meehan seemed to encourage out-of-state residents to drop in by publicly announcing there would be no monitoring of out-of-state vehicles parked in areas with access to the boardwalk.
The Ocean City opening did come on one of the coldest may days on record.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said he was concerned about Meehan’s order, but added the mayor had the right to make the decision.
