As of today, all parking in the City of Beacon is free (aside from any
ticket you get from staying beyond a two-hour parking limit). Street parking is
free, and the City of Beacon owns and maintains several free parking lots
throughout town. Other parking lots that you see, like the one behind
Bank Square, belong to those buildings, and those buildings have a
certain number of parking spots that they reserve for tenants living in
apartments above, or for their own customers shopping temporarily.
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There are several parking opportunities that do not involve risks of tickets or time limits, if you know where to go. In our instant-gratification mindset, it is easy to look for parking on Main Street directly in front of your destination, and slide into a spot via a parallel parking maneuver you have perfected. Main Street, however, is quite slim, making getting out of the car risky business. A passing truck may swipe your side-view mirror right off of your car. Or, if you folded in your mirror when you park, you may forget to look behind you and open your door - right into an oncoming car - causing you to lose a door and have to deal with damage on someone else's vehicle (and hopefully everyone is unharmed). You can imagine what it is like getting out of the car, and then opening the back door to reach into unfasten a child from a car seat. Nerve wracking. What about taking out a stroller in the space between your car and the car behind you? Or what if you were in a wheelchair, or needed a wide-open door and plenty of space to slowly get out of the car in a handicapped spot (of which there are only a few directly on Main Street)?
Depending on the time of day, hopping down Main Street to complete a collection of errands and finding different parallel parking spots to park in can be easy. But swinging into a big giant parking lot could be even easier and less stressful. May we present A Little Beacon Blog's Free and Easy Parking Lot Guide!
FOLLOW THE SIGNS
To start our tour of free parking lots in Beacon, NY, we need to get familiar with the signs. Unless you have just taken your driver's test, you may not remember what official free parking signs look like. They look like this:
A sign to signify Free Parking has a giant green P and an arrow pointing in the direction of the parking lot. They are posted near most free parking lots in Beacon, but not all, or not from every direction.
Take note of the other style of a sign that has the big "2" on it. This part of the sign also means free parking on the street itself, but the "2" stands for "two-hour parking" and the time limit of 9 AM - 5 PM means that you are limited to two-hour parking basically during work hours. If you park on the street for longer than two hours, you are at risk of getting a ticket. After 5 PM, you can park on the street all night without risk of getting a ticket.
We know that enforcement of this rule is a current hot topic among residents and business owners, as it is not usually enforced. When a recent debate about parking meters coming to Main Street was awakened this year, however, this rule has moved into the spotlight, so don't be surprised if you do start getting a ticket for parking longer than two hours on Main Street. This is why ample free parking in city-owned parking lots comes in handy!
We begin our tour of free parking lots with the west end of town, near the Metro-North Train Station, and will end it on the east side of town, near the mountain.
1 MUNICIPAL PLAZA
A little known fact is that parking at 1 Municipal Plaza is available to the public from 5 PM to 11 PM, and on Saturdays and Sundays.
CROSS STREET & MAIN STREET
Next is the small parking lot behind Hudson Beach Glass, on Cross Street right off of Main Street.
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| Parking behind Hudson Beach Glass, and across the street from the popup garden from One Nature and Green Teen. |
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| A close-up of that parking lot on Cross Street. |
PARKING LOT ON CLIFF STREET NEAR BEACON BREAD COMPANY
Easy parking for dining at Beacon Bread Company, dropping of a dog at Paws and Mittens, picking up dog food at Beacon Barkery or a bottle at Artisan Wine, or swinging by Poppy's for a burger.
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| Parking at Cliff and Main, entrance on Main Street. |
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| The parking lot next to Beacon Bread Company. The Free Parking sign is on one side of the street only, so you may have missed it going the other way. |
PARKING LOT NEAR PLEASANT RIDGE PIZZA & THE GAS STATION
One may think this lot is private, but it is free and open for you to use. And here's a hot tip: This gas station has some of the lowest priced gas in Beacon. #justsayin
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| Parking lot near Diamond Fuel gas station and Pleasant Ridge. |
DMV PARKING LOT ACROSS FROM HOMESPUN & VOGEL PHARMACY
Across the street from this gas station, and near Homespun and AccuPrint, is a giant parking lot owned by the county, but free for you to park in - on the weekends only. You may not have noticed this because the sign telling you about it has long been covered up with graffiti.
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| Understandable if you missed this memo. |
The DMV parking lot is rarely used on the weekends, as you can see from this picture, and is convenient to use when learning how to ride a bike. (Unless you all start parking there, of course.)
CHURCH STREET AND N. CHESTNUT BEHIND RITE AID
Another huge parking lot that is convenient to get to, thanks to a rare two-way side street giving you access, is the lot behind Rite Aid, Hudson Valley Credit Union, Quinn's, BAJA 328 and Antalek & Moore. Although it seems like this parking lot is far away from a quick trip into Rite Aid, or lunch at BAJA, it's actually right around the corner. Quinn's also has an entry door from the back. Additionally, there are more on-street parking spots on the far edge of this parking lot, across from the houses. Skateboarders usually use these empty parking spots, but you can too!
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| Follow North Chestnut down toward Church Street, and you'll be able to pull into the large municipal lot. |
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| Handicapped parking spots are in this parking lot, and on the street. |
HENRY STREET BEHIND YANKEE CLIPPER DINER
Next we go to the Yankee Clipper Diner. If you frequent this diner for a weekend waffle or dinner with a milkshake, you'll know this parking lot well, as the Yankee Clipper has two entrances that include ramps for wheelchair access. The Towne Crier is also located in this block, so it's super easy to park for dinner and a show.
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| Parking behind the Yankee Clipper Diner. |
HENRY STREET BEHIND COMMUNITY MEDICAL CENTER & POST OFFICE
Next to the parking lot behind the Yankee Clipper Diner, and across the street from Veterans Place (the cross street where you will find the Post Office and Towne Crier), is this parking lot behind the Hudson River Healthcare community medical center. On Sundays, this parking lot becomes host to the Beacon Flea.
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| Parking lot on Henry Street and Veterans Place, behind the community medical center. |
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Look! The Beacon Flea got an official sign about no parking on Sundays!
This parking lot is great for runs to the post office when on-street parking is full. |
VAN NYDECK AVENUE BY BROTHER'S TRATTORIA
Picking up pizza can be tricky if street parking is full (and you cannot sneak into The Vault's parking lot, because that is private), but you can take a right down Van Nydeck right next to Brother's Trattoria and park in that free parking lot.
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| This parking lot does have three handicapped parking spots adjacent to this building. |
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| This view of the parking lot is stretched out in order to get the panned view, but it still offers plenty of parking spots. |
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| A more normal view of this parking lot behind Brother's. |
CHURCHILL STREET BY THE NEW HUDSON VALLEY BREWERY (BY FISHKILL CREEK)
Beacon's newest parking lot, still freshly graveled, is down near the Fishkill Creek right next to
Hudson Valley Brewery, Beacon's latest factory renovation project that restored a building for use as a brewery and event space. This ample parking lot does require walking up a short hill to get back onto Main Street, so it's not ideal for those with mobility concerns. However, for large dinner parties and easy shopping, just turn down Churchill, park, and think no more about it!
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| The walk up Churchill to get back on Main Street. Vintage Beacon is waiting for you at the top of the hill. |
MAIN STREET & VERPLANCK, NEAR THE GREEN ROOM
We are now almost to the end of Main Street. If you get your hair done at The Green Room, this parking lot is very convenient. However, it is often full. The front half is city-owned and free parking, but the back half is for tenants of the building on the left in this picture. It can be difficult to find parking on the east end of town, in part because of the amount of stores that have opened up there. I call this end "Boutique Row" (do check our
Shopping Guide for a full listing). If you're looking at this parking lot for dining at The Hop, you should instead look across the street and parallel park along the Fishkill Creek side of Main Street, or down Churchill Street in the new, as-yet-unpaved parking lot.
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| A bench with a view: You may have noticed guitar players or others relaxing near the creek. |
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| The Hop is in this building near this street sign and the free parking lot. |
All of the free parking lots are owned and maintained by the City of Beacon, which makes it convenient to do just about anything in any part of Beacon's milelong strip of Main Street.
This Guide is brought to you by the
Things To Do In Beacon Guides, and by
Antalek & Moore,
your local source for car insurance with a variety of national carriers
including Progressive and Travelers. We thank them for their support,
which helps make articles like this get researched and produced! All photos for this article were taken by Katie Hellmuth Martin, while the ad for
Antalek & Moore was designed by
Leigh Baumann from A Little Beacon Blog's design agency,
InHouse Design Media.
