Just as swiftly as they went up, the parklets that enabled additional outdoor dining opportunities for restaurants and patrons due to the COVID-19 pandemic have come down by September's end. The parklets are the orange barricades out front participating restaurants. The barricades were filled with water, making them very heavy for increased safety for those sitting on the other side of them. Restaurants often decorated them with flowers and in some cases built patios below them with coverings above them. They first appeared in Beacon in June 2020, but the concept has been in other cities for much longer.

The early take-down is a result of anticipated milling and paving of Main Street, as first announced by Beacon's City Administrator Chris White during the City Council's Meeting on 8/2/2021. He explained that a new surface coat will be going down, with epoxying using a high quality paint that will hold up for many years. He stated that all parking spaces, cross walks, and more will all be repainted. "We are in a state of flux right now," he expressed, "but hoping that by end of October, Main Street is tightened up."

City Administrator Chris announced again during the City Council Workshop Meeting on 9/27/2021 that the parklets would be pulled to begin milling and paving. On 9/29/2021, the City posted a brief Road Closure schedule through October 5, 2021, which includes some Main Street intersections, but are a fraction of the mile long Main Street that offers dining experiences from restaurants using parklets. It is unclear at this time if this is an incomplete list, or the full list of milling and paving. Additionally, it is unclear if milling and paving on Main Street will be conducted while Main Street is open, but traffic routed around into the other lane in order to avoid too many Main Street closures.

Throughout the summer, Beacon experienced the installation of "bump-outs," which are circular extensions of the sidewalk at corners. In theory, these are easier for people in wheelchairs (but if you're in a wheelchair, let us know in the Comments below if Beacon's installation is helpful to you!), and getting pedestrians more into the street at crosswalks to be seen by passing cars (deep breaths as you step out).

Construction of these bump-outs lasted throughout the summer, causing moving drive-arounds as different intersections on Main Street were worked on. Completed work to the bump-outs will happen once the street is milled and paved, to match the street paving to the end of the sidewalk for a smooth transition. Currently, there is an unfinished drop-off between the bump-out and the street.