Clay Banks #2 Beach in Door County is closed after high levels of bacteria were found in the water. Door County Public Health is monitoring the situation. While one beach is closed, there are more than 50 others in the county people can visit. June 24, 2026. PC: Fox 11 Online
DOOR COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A Door County beach remains closed after it tested high for bacteria. The closure comes as the busy tourism season is underway.
Door County has more than 50 public beaches, places for locals and tourists to recreate or relax.
Since Tuesday, people have been encouraged to stay out of the water at Clay Banks #2 Beach, on the Lake Michigan shoreline in southern Door County, after the water tested high for bacteria.
Anything over 1,000, most probable number in 100 milliliters of water is what leads to the closure.
“It takes a lot to get up to that 1,000, but when it does we really want to make sure that that beach is closed just with all the negative health effects associated with swimming and bacteria contaminated water for people and pets and things like that too,” said Door County Public Health Environmental Health Specialist Allie Reckelberg.
For more than 20 years Door County Public Health has worked with UW-Oshkosh and the DNR to test bacteria levels in the water.
While the Clay Banks closure is the first, it probably won’t be the last of the season.
“We do see them, you know, pop up frequently throughout the summer,” Reckelberg added. “You know, after some, you know, bigger rainfalls, we experienced some more runoff, you know, hot weather, things like that. If the water’s kind of stagnant, we’re seeing that more often.”
The beach closures, which usually only last a couple of days, are a very dynamic situation. And with dozens of beaches in Door County, tourism officials say the closures are really just part of doing business.
Jon Jarosh with Destination Door County said, “They’ve been testing beaches now, a very rigorous testing now, but for the last 20 some years. And so it’s shut down for a day or so and then they’ll usually open up. But with 53 different beaches up here, there’s one not too far away. If you can’t get to the one that you, that you maybe wanted to be at.”
In addition to online resources on the DNR website that list beach closing and advisories, Door County has also invested in beach water quality signs.
Operated through an app and located at nearly a dozen places in the county, the signs can easily be updated to reflect the current conditions.
And as public health officials say, “When it doubt, stay out!”
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