Quiz: “How long is the beach in Lake Worth Beach?” And why a “BEACH” on the ocean really does matter.

The answer to the question, “How long is the beach in Lake Worth Beach?” is a little later in this blog post.

Why a “Beach” really does matter:

How many tourists, visitors and investors thought over the years — or maybe many still think to this day — that West Palm Beach has a beach? West Palm Beach likes people to think they have a beach. But they don’t. Imagine the surprise someone packing the family in the car one day to spend the day at the beach in West Palm Beach to discover there is no beach in West Palm Beach. West Palm Beach is not even on the ocean. Really, shouldn’t that be one of the requirements to be called a city with a beach? Imagine a surfing museum in West Palm Beach. Imagine a mural of a beach in West Palm Beach. Imagine a newspaper headquartered in West Palm Beach called the. . . Well. You get the idea.

However, there are many future residents of the City of Lake Worth Beach who do not know West Palm Beach does not have a beach. And with so many new and exciting housing projects on the horizon this City is getting a tremendous amount of attention from Millennials and young professionals that actually want to live in a municipality with a beach.

And to emphasize that point an elected leader in this City said at City Hall about renaming this City as “Lake Worth Beach”:


[I]t’s really interesting when you look at a lot of the names here in Palm Beach County. For example, Royal Palm Beach doesn’t have a beach. However we’ll have to give them credit for being proactive on sea level rise issue because maybe that will catch up with them one day. But Royal Palm Beach doesn’t have a beach. West Palm Beach really doesn’t have a beach.

We have a beach. And if there is one thing that folks that come to Florida are attracted to oftentimes is the word “Beach”. So if you’re visiting Palm Beach County or thinking about Palm Beach County and your kind of looking through all the thirty-nine municipalities and you don’t know any different you might just pass Lake Worth over because the word ‘Beach’ isn’t affixed to our name.


Now as to the question, how long do you think the beach in Lake Worth Beach is?

The answer is below following
a short quiz.

Setting the quiz parameters.

Below is a short video by VisitFlorida of the open coast beaches in the State of Florida. When you add up the total miles of Atlantic Ocean beaches, the Straits, and the Gulf of Mexico it totals 825 miles. If you total the northeast, central, and southeast regions of the Atlantic Ocean beaches the total is 362.7 miles of beach.

How many of that 363 miles of Atlantic Coast beach do you think the Lake Worth Beach comprises?


POP QUIZ: Is our BEACH. . .

1. Two miles long?
2. 5¼ miles?
3. 1½ miles?
4. 0.26 miles (1,280 feet)?
5. One mile and 98 feet?

STOP HERE. Watch two short videos; think about it.

The answer is 4! 0.26 miles/1,280 feet (approximately).

In other words, 1,280 feet more beach

than West Palm Beach has:

A party at the Lake Worth Beach! Photoshop by the inimitable former City blogger Tom McGow.

For some perspective, Florida’s Atlantic coastal beaches total approximately 363 miles.

But regardless, West Palm Beach still does not have a beach! And never will.