HERNANDO COUNTY, Fla. — For Gia Marino and her three year old son, Hunter, it’s great to be back at the place they love: Pine Island Park.
“It was such a surprise,” Marino said. “We wanted to come.”
Thursday, the beloved beach park reopened in Hernando County. The park isn’t just home to a playground and restaurant, it’s also home to the county’s only public beach.
“So this is really our only oasis to get on the sand, in the water with the kids,” Marino said.
For Marino and others, it was a struggle to have Pine Island closed for the past six months.
“Your closest beach is going to be Honeymoon or Clearwater,” she said. “You’re going to hit a lot of traffic.”
The park closed because Hurricane Idalia’s storm surge wrecked it.
“It came through here, it destroyed all the sidewalks, it took out all the fencing. It wrecked the playground,” explained Commissioner Beth Narverud, who serves as chair of the Hernando County Board of County Commissioners.
The long wait between then and now was frustrating to some, but Narverud said it took a while to find the right plan to rebuild Pine Island.
“You know, trying to be good stewards with our citizens’ money,” she said.
Now, it’s done. The beach is restored, and the restaurant is reopened. Additionally, for the first time, the park is now ADA-accessible.
“Everything is just looking really good out here” said Naverud.
And that’s not just her opinion. The park’s youngest fans say the wait was worth it.
“I like it,” said Julie Kurbin, one of the many children who played on the park’s playground Thursday. “It’s really fun.”
Pine Island is open daily from 8:30 a.m. until sunset.
