CARBON COUNTY, Pa. — Fun and food filled this July 4th holiday at Beltzville State Park near Lehighton.
Ricardo Hernandez and his family from Philadelphia have visited the park every July 4th holiday for the past seven years.
"It's beautiful, and the people are nice. You know, everybody is nice. The people don't drink, so that's a good thing. People are not fighting, you know, family things. I like it."
One of the busiest places in the park was the water, and for good reason, said Jayden Aquino from Scranton.
"Sand and nice water, and you get to have fun."
The sunny day drew hundreds of people to the state park, but not everyone was fortunate enough to make it in the front gate. Latecomers were turned away.
The park closed early, reaching full capacity at 8:30 a.m.
"The first person here was at 2:30 this morning," said Ben Monk, the park manager. "So we ended up opening up a little early. I had my maintenance staff come in early in preparation for the crowds, so we got the park open about an hour early, which means we closed about an hour earlier than we would have normally."
Families we spoke to knew that to have a great day at the park, they had to get there early.
"We were one of the lucky ones. We were one of the last ones to be able to get in," Magdalena Jimenez said. "Last year, I came, and we weren't able to get in. Yeah, it was a long line last year."
"We knew we were going to get in because we know the back ways to get here and everything, but I'm not going name them because they're my back ways," Hernandez joked.