Jaycee Park and Conn Beach — Vero Beach, Florida

Jaycee Beach Park is the northernmost of the three lifeguarded beach parks run by the City of Vero Beach, and Conn Beach is the boardwalk-lined stretch of sand that runs south from it along Ocean Drive. The city's facility listing places Jaycee Beach Park at 4200 Ocean Drive and lists ADA accessible beach access, electricity, a food vendor, grills, lifeguards on site, parking, a pavilion, picnic areas and shelters, picnic tables, a playground, restrooms and water.

Conn Beach has no separate park facilities of its own. Vero Beach 32963 described it in February 2024 as the quarter-mile-long stretch immediately south of Jaycee Park, across from the Racquet Club, where Ocean Drive curves and diagonal parking spaces line its length, with a boardwalk running between the dune and the street. Restrooms, picnic shelters and the lifeguard tower for that stretch are at Jaycee.

Together the two form a single Vero Beach outing: park at Jaycee or along the Conn Beach diagonal spaces, walk the boardwalk above the dune, and swim in front of the Jaycee tower. The City Parks Information page lists Jaycee Beach Park among the parks inside the city limits, alongside Humiston Beach Park and South Beach Park on the ocean side. That page also lists the city parks where leashed dogs are allowed under Resolution No. 2014-07, and the Ocean Drive beach parks are not among them; the riverside MacWilliam Park and Royal Palm Pointe are.

The Conn Beach boardwalk dates to 1984. When the City of Vero Beach launched a $396,000 renovation in spring 2021, Vero Beach 32963 reported that wear and storm damage had been repaired piecemeal for decades and that the project was the most complete overhaul in 37 years. The 1,460-linear-foot job ran from the southern end to the flagpole near Jaycee Park and installed new decking, handrails, benches and street-side stairs made of a composite material meant to outlast wood. Then City Manager Monte Falls called the boardwalk one of the most heavily used recreation facilities in the area.

Maintenance of the dune under the boardwalk is a recurring Vero Beach expense. In February 2011 the southern 200 to 300 feet of Conn Beach and its boardwalk closed for a few days while a contractor placed 400 to 500 cubic yards of sand on the eroded dune, according to Vero News, which reported that the city budgeted $30,000 a year for such dune projects at the time.

The new decking was tested within two years. CBS12 reported in January 2023 that the Conn Beach Boardwalk stood through Hurricane Nicole although the sand beneath it eroded, and that the city had added about 1,000 tons of sand to protect it. The newer structure fared far better than the Humiston Park boardwalk to the south, which the city demolished after the storm.

Hurricane Nicole came ashore south of Vero Beach on Nov. 10, 2022. A month later, Vero News reported that the storm had clawed sand from the Jaycee Park and Conn Beach dunes and forced closure of the adjacent section of Ocean Drive, that the road had reopened, and that walkers were back on the boardwalk. Public Works Director Matthew Mitts said the city was limited to emergency dune repairs because large-scale engineered sand projects on Vero Beach shores fall under Indian River County jurisdiction.

Repairs to the street side of Conn Beach took longer. In February 2024 the city was finishing a $235,077 contract to replace asphalt parking, concrete gutters and sidewalk along the boardwalk, with work required to end by Feb. 29 ahead of sea turtle nesting season, Vero Beach 32963 reported.

The county's larger renourishment arrived in late 2025. Vero Beach 32963 reported on Dec. 18, 2025, that sand was being spread along Sector 5, which extends from Mariner Village to the Riomar Country Club golf course, to repair damage from the 2022 hurricanes Ian and Nicole. Beach access points in Jaycee Park closed on Dec. 8 and reopened the following week, while dump trucks used a makeshift roadway along the park's northern edge. The $6.5 million Sector 5 project was to place 153,000 cubic yards of sand and about 117,500 native plants and finish by Feb. 29, 2026.

Jaycee is one of three guarded Vero Beach beach parks, along with Humiston and South Beach. The lifeguard association's 2016 report, published by the Indian River Guardian in January 2017, counted total beach park attendance of 698,375 across those three parks and described the city's four miles of beach as including three lifeguarded beaches at Jaycee, Humiston and South Beach Parks.

Summer hours run later than the rest of the year. The City of Vero Beach extended guarded hours to 7 p.m. during the summer months at South Beach, Humiston and Jaycee starting Memorial Day weekend in 2019, according to a news release carried by the Indian River Guardian; guards had previously left at 5 p.m.

Coverage outside the parks is thin. In April 2018, the lifeguard association told Vero Beach 32963 that only 600 yards of the city's 4 miles of beach lie within guarded parks and that it wanted additional towers at Conn Beach and Sexton Plaza, which would require park facilities such as restrooms and parking. Budget pressure has also reached the Jaycee stand: in July 2025, Vero Beach 32963 reported that the council was considering limiting lifeguard coverage to South Beach Park and Jaycee Beach to save $240,000.

The restaurant on the sand at Jaycee Park occupies a city-owned building. Vero News reported in 2021 that the City of Vero Beach invited bids in 1991 to lease a snack bar then known as the Seaburger, which became the Seaside Grill and ran for about 30 years under the same operators until April 2022.

The city then chose a new tenant from four bids. According to Vero News, the 2022 lease runs an initial 10 years with two 10-year renewal options at a starting fixed rent of $8,000 a month; the renovated restaurant kept its name and its roughly 2,500-square-foot footprint, with seating for 65 outside and 35 inside, and diners continue to use the Jaycee Park restrooms.

The covered picnic pavilions can be booked. Starting in January 2019 the Vero Beach Recreation Department began renting pavilions at Jaycee, Humiston and South Beach parks, Vero News reported, at $25 for a single-wide and $50 for a double-wide for city residents and $50 and $75 for non-residents; unreserved pavilions remain first-come, first-served. A $20,000 sunshade over the Jaycee playground, donated by a local parents' nonprofit through a grant, was installed in March 2014, according to Vero News.