Everyone seemed to be enjoying the classic summer weather in preparation for the Independence Day weekend on Thursday, as cars lined up on Smith Neck Road waiting to get into Round Hill Beach.

Capacity at the popular town beach has been limited due to the pandemic. 

Just 250 cars are allowed in the parking lot, up from 200 at the start of the beach season. 

By early afternoon, a dozen cars were stacked up waiting to be let in, one for each car leaving.

Some decided against the wait and turned around to head elsewhere. Others accepted their fate and settled in. The queue grew and shrank, with some residents waiting as few as ten minutes and others, over 30.

“Today’s super busy,” said Jodi Phillips, who was directing traffic at the front gate with Ally Amaral. “This is the first time during the week that we’ve actually had a line...We had a hundred cars [in the lot] at 10:00 this morning.”

“The weather’s nice,” she added, by way of explanation. “Holiday weekend!”

Phillips has helped the town’s Parks and Recreation department check beach stickers for the past three years, and also works for the town directing traffic for the schools.

“I like it. I’m a social person, I like to be around people,” she said with a smile.

And luckily, Phillips noted, most of the people she directed seemed happy despite the wait.

“Everybody’s been pretty nice,” she said. “We’re just thankful, because it makes our job a little bit easier.”

She said that earlier, there were as many as 22 cars waiting to get in.

“You’ve gotta really want to come to the beach to wait in line,” she added with a laugh.

Paul Gadbois said he’d been waiting for ten minutes in a convertible with his wife Donna. “It’s horrible,” he joked.

“I go back to work Monday, so I’m going to the beach today,” Gadbois laughed. “We come as often as we can...We love the beach.”

Sophia Cameron and Jimiel Suarez, who both graduated from Dartmouth High this spring, said they were waiting for around half an hour.

“I don’t mind it,” Suarez said. “I can see why, because it’s just so busy. And they’re just taking precautions...so I’m not angry. I understand it.”

Next fall, Cameron is heading to Framingham State and Suarez is going to Johnson and Wales University in Providence.

Like many of their classmates, the pair were looking to get in some good Dartmouth beach time.

“It’s a popular hangout,” Suarez laughed.