Wellesley Recreation Department’s decision to offer a Groupon coupon for some Morses Pond fun has some regulars of the local swimming area concerned about overcrowding. More than 500 Groupons were sold via the offer that ended in April.

The offer itself:

Choose Between Two Options

$10 for a one-day beach-pass package (a $20 value)
$35 for a four-day beach-pass package (an $80 value)

Customers bask in the sun at Morses Pond beach for a full day, enjoying an hour of exercise atop a kayak, paddleboard, or paddleboat. The beach opens for the weekends of May 26–28 and June 2–3, and will then be open all week from June 6 to August 19.

One reader wrote this week, checking to see if it was true that Groupons had been sold for the beach:”Morses Pond has been a delightfully little known, underpopulated gathering place for LOCAL families in the past. I hope the Groupon didn’t just ruin that. :-(”

Another wrote a while back: “What a shame the Recreation Department is selling beach tags to the general public through Groupon! I can’t imagine what the beach and parking lot will be like!”

The Recreation Dept’s Jan Kaseta told us earlier this spring that the idea for the Groupon came from a colleague who had used them for his business: “My feeling is that a lot of people buy these and never use them, especially something like this because it is pretty cheap. I’ve bought different ones myself and end up throwing them away. We already have plenty of non-residents who either belong to MOPO or who come on weekends, paying the daily guest fee, so although we may see a bit of an increase in numbers, I don’t think that it’s anything that we can’t handle.”

Morses Pond opens this Saturday for the long weekend.