City of Kewaunee beach extends south of pier The City of Kewaunee beach features a sandy stretch south of the south pier with a view of the Kewaunee lighthouse. By Kevin Boneske For The News-Chronicle Although swimming, sunbathing, playing volleyball, building sand castles and collecting rocks are some popular summertime activities along the approximately half-mile stretch of Algoma's Crescent Beach, the boardwalk paralleling the beach provides an opportunity to enjoy Lake Michigan's shoreline throughout the year. The white sand has welcomed beach-goers staying "cooler by the lake" for ages, while the boardwalk, which has been in existence since the mid-1990s, connects the Algoma Visitor Center to the Algoma Marina. The boardwalk is handicapped accessible from both ends, while steps also lead there from the bank overlooking the beach, which has a number of picnic tables available for people to enjoy the view from above. Decorative lighting illuminates the beach walkway during the evening. The Crescent Beach Boardwalk was built by volunteers and constructed from so-called "recycled plastic lumber." The $100,000 project generated a combination of grants and donations. During both high- and low-water phases of Lake Michigan, the Crescent Beach, which features a curved shape like a crescent moon, has remained a popular place to beat the summertime heat found further inland. For instance, the beach had plenty of shoreline staying above water to remain open in the 1990s when Whitefish Dunes State Park in Door County closed due to high water, the opposite extreme of the low-water conditions in recent years. When record high temperatures reached triple figures elsewhere in the state during the mid-1990s, beach-goers in Algoma enjoyed temperatures in the 70s brought into the city with an on-shore breeze from Lake Michigan. However, the Crescent Beach's popularity typically doesn't reach overcrowding proportions. Based in part on usage, the beach is categorized as a "medium priority" as part of this year's statewide monitoring program. The Crescent Beach's water quality is being monitored on a regular basis twice a week this summer. The Kewaunee County Public Health Department has a contract to have the beach tested, through a program being run by the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Information on beach water quality is available at the Algoma Visitor Center, which has pamphlets from the state Department of Natural Resources titled "Before you go to the beach..." Updated monitoring data for beaches in Kewaunee and several other Wisconsin counties are available on the World Wide Web at infotrek.er.usgs.gov/beachhealth. The county's other lakeshore community, Kewaunee, also features a beach south of the south pier. The city of Kewaunee beach, designated this summer as a "low-priority" beach and tested once a week, is accessible from the parking lot at Selner Park, where the sandy beach extends along the Lake Michigan shoreline.