Ditch the pool; hit the Southold beaches

Five summers have come and gone with Jac Citera managing Southold’s beaches, keeping them staffed with local youth and preserving a gem of the North Fork: its shoreline memories. 

Whether you prefer to park your beach chair on the shores of Peconic Bay or Long Island Sound, Southold Town’s six beaches — New Suffolk Beach, Town Beach, Gull Pond Beach, Goose Creek, Kenny’s Beach and McCabe’s Beach — welcome residents and tourists alike. 

2025 marks Mr. Citera’s sixth season as the informal captain of the coasts. It’s a title he wears proudly around town as he surveys the beaches to ensure everything is up to snuff.  “Any town with a beach has a great resource,” Mr. Citera said. “And it’s not just the beach, it’s the vistas. It’s what you see and what you can observe from them.”

It’s a view most people won’t see from their backyard pools: waves lapping at your feet, a beach neighbor joining your crusade against fry-snagging seagulls, or kids building sand castles with newfound friends. The memories made at Southold Town beaches are precious to those who frequent them, and Mr. Citera has certainly recognized the impact of a friendly beach himself. 

On Labor Day 2020, the last day of his second season as beach manager, Mr. Citera was moved by a young girl, no older than 4, who thanked him with a drawing of the beach. “She just wanted me to have this because she enjoyed the beach so much, and it touched me,” he recalled. He’s hung onto the drawing, a refrigerator reminder of the work he completes with each successful summer season.

Mr. Citera’s connection to the beach began long before he took the mantle as manager in 2019. He worked as lifeguard there many moons ago. He was inspired to become beach manager by his own beach manager, the late Bob Muir, a Mattituck soccer, basketball, baseball and track coach, and 1991 Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame inductee. 

“I thought he had the best job in the world, absolutely,” Mr. Citera recalled. “So here I am, 50 years later, and I have the job that I always wanted.”

His days always bring something interesting, whether it’s removing a wasp nest from a beach attendant’s building, boosting staff confidence, communicating beach closures for inclement weather or managing the summer’s 1,450 shifts. The job is one he considers “rewarding,” a full-circle experience that keeps him involved in the community after retirement.

“There are some things that I’ve tried to instill along the way,” Mr. Citera said. Life skills, such as CPR training are something he believes lifeguards and beach attendants will take into their own lives long after they’ve hung up their whistles for the season. 

New Suffolk Beach lifeguards 2025 Mattituck High School graduate Paige Rittberg, 17, and Southold High School junior Kyan Olsen, 16, have their own unique connection to their hometown beach. As young kids, the two of them said they idolized their local beach lifeguards. Now they survey those same sands, looking after today’s beachgoers. 

“It’s a great job honestly,” Paige said of being a lifeguard. “It makes a really big impact in our local beaches because there’s a lot of tourists and people who aren’t always familiar with the tide changes and the currents.”

For more information about Southold Town beaches, visit southoldtownny.gov/269/Parking-Permits.