PORT O’CONNOR — Dressed in neon-colored tops and silver mermaid-like spandex tails, Brinley Witt, 9, and Kendallyn Rodriguez, 5, wiggled their toes through new beach sand that wasn’t there the year before.
Sarah Rodriguez, 35, of Lorena, said she and her daughters have tagged along for trips with her neighbor to Port O’Connor at least once year. This year she was surprised there was actually a beach.
“Before I thought, this is a fishing city; this is what this city is for,” she said. “But now that there’s more beach, it’s actually better for families.”
People throughout Texas and the Crossroads attended the Port O’Connor Crawfish Fest and Cookoff on Saturday and some explored the new Front Beach.
In early April, RLB Contracting Inc., of Port Lavaca, began dredging the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and depositing sediment on King Fisher Beach.
Amanda Winkler, 37, of The Grove, comes to Port O’Connor almost every weekend and hopes to become a resident in a few years.
She said she has been keeping up with the Port O’Connor, Texas Chamber of Commerce Facebook page for updates on the project. Her son, Braydon Winkler, 11, took advantage of the new sand and was building Alcatraz, adding seashells.
“They had the dredge out here last week and the week before, so this is kind of like opening weekend,” she said. “There’s more beach area, it’s more open. It’s very inviting.”
Elizabeth Rubio, 46, of Port Lavaca, said the new Front Beach will bring more people to Port O’Connor.
“It will help a lot,” she said about the new beach. “There’s a lot more space and it makes it more family-friendly.”