Photos and video of Memorial Day weekend celebrations across the US showed plenty of people going to the beach and gathering on boardwalks, but not a lot of social distancing or masks.
From Florida to Indiana and across the country to California, Americans were out enjoying the weekend as states loosened coronavirus restrictions.
The Sunshine State
In Florida an event called Orlando Invades Daytona was scheduled but then canceled by promoters at the request of the police department, Daytona Beach Police Chief Craig Capri said in a news release Sunday.
The event had already been heavily promoted on social media and large crowds still descended on the city bringing chaos in their wake. Six people were injured a shooting late Saturday night near the beach, Capri said. A suspect is in custody and an investigation is ongoing, police said.
In pictures: America goes outside for Memorial Day weekend
Earlier Saturday, a crowd of more than 5,000 people had caused problems. Aerial videos of the large crowd show people tightly packed together with no social distancing practices apparent.
Footage from Volusia County Sheriff’s helicopters showed a car parked in front of a Burger King and a man sitting on top of the vehicle throwing money at a large group of people gathered around. Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood told reporters that the person was making a rap video and that authorities are combing through footage in attempt to try and identify him to arrest him.
“Overall I was impressed at the way the officers and deputies and the beach patrol all worked together to have a calming influence on what could have been a really chaotic incident,” Sheriff Chitwood said during the news conference.
Pensacola Beach was calmer but still crowded as beachgoers planted their umbrellas 6 feet from each other to mingle, but not too closely.
Beaches in Miami remained closed, but that didn’t stop people from going outside. Miami waterways were packed with boats as unmasked people soaked up the sun, WPLG reported.
Packed parks
Farther north, a park in Indiana was swarmed with crowds celebrating the holiday weekend, CNN affiliate WBBM reported from Porter Beach at Indiana Dunes National Park.
In Texas, four parks in Travis County closed after reaching capacity, according to CNN affiliate KEYE. Pace Bend Park, Milton Reimers Ranch Park, Arkansas Bend Park, and Mansfield Dam Park were all closed because of a large number of park visitors, tweets from Travis County Parks said.
South Padre Island, Texas, saw scores of visitors Friday on its beaches and at bars, affiliate KRGV reported.
In Playa Del Rey, California, the beach wasn’t packed but cyclists made good use of the path with masks to boot.
One rider told CNN’s Paul Vercammen she saw a lot of people with masks and felt it’s because people care about each other in that area.
Weather didn’t keep them away
In Maryland, Ocean City beaches were crowded with people but as the temperatures fell into the mid-50’s people put on their long sleeves and moved to the boardwalks.
In Virginia some people walked along the beach with their clothes on, enjoying the breeze and the water.
Up north businesses in New Hampshire were open even if the beaches weren’t.
CNN’s Artemis Moshtaghian, Laura James, Christine Sever, Rosa Flores and Kaylene Chassie contributed to this report.
