The public beach at Long Branch State Park closes for the season at sunset today.
Missouri State Parks lists the beach season from May 22 through Sept. 7, sunrise to sunset. Monday is Labor Day.
The marina store at the park also ends its Memorial Day through Labor Day schedule Monday. That store posts hours of 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily during that window, according to the park hours page.
The latest Missouri Department of Natural Resources beach sample on file for Long Branch remains the Aug. 31 sample. That record shows an E. coli geometric mean of 6.7 colonies per 100 milliliters of water and lists the beach as open. The two results used for the calculation were 5.2 and 8.6, according to the state's open-data record.
State law requires the department to post signs saying swimming is not recommended when the weekly geometric mean exceeds 190 colonies per 100 milliliters.
The department cautions that a sample is a snapshot of water quality at the location and time it was collected and may not represent conditions throughout the lake.
Park grounds remain open sunrise to 10 p.m. year-round. The campground stays closed for all of 2026 because of construction, according to Missouri State Parks.
For park information, call 660-773-5229.