CHICAGO — As of 7 p.m. Monday, beach season is officially over.
While warm weather will (hopefully) stick around for a few more weeks, Chicago's lifeguards will be sent home on Labor Day with another city summer under their suits.
So what if you want to soak up the sun next weekend? Or after work this week?
Chicago Park District spokeswoman Jessica Maxey-Faulkner said hanging in the sand and using the lakefront path during park hours is just fine, but you might want to bring along a bottle of water to cool yourself off.
"Anyone who swims when lifeguards are not on duty is swimming at their own risk," Maxey-Faulkner said.
If you trust your swim skills and want to take a dip anyway, you could be slapped with a ticket from the Chicago Police Department, though seasoned lake swimmers will tell you that rarely happens.
Police directed DNAinfo to a city ordinance that basically says to stay out of city parks from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. The ordinance goes on to say those who break park district rules are subject to "a fine not to exceed $500.00."
Information on how many people have actually been hit with these fines for swimming in the off-season was not immediately available, but some Reddit users found a man who was ticketed in 2007 after someone made a 911 call about him swimming in the lake during the day when beach season was over.
Missing the water?
Maxey-Faulkner said the park district's indoor pools are open year round. Check out the full list of them here.