Rick Reny’s days start early, before the sun breaks the ocean’s horizon off Old Orchard Beach.

Five days a week in the summer, Reny, who works for the Department of Public Works in Old Orchard Beach, cleans and grooms the sand of the town’s seven-mile-long beach.

Reny doesn’t mind the early schedule.

“You come in early and you get out early so you can enjoy the beach you just raked,” he said.

Reny drives a tractor that tows a raking machine that picks up debris in the sand while simultaneously grooming it.

Reny has done the job for 25 years and says another perk is getting to see the many great sunrises over the ocean.

He starts raking in the pre-dawn hours, and says he has to keep alert for people sleeping on the beach or big holes that beachgoers have dug and not filled back in.

“When we do start, it’s still a little dark and if you don’t see the hole, you know, it’ll rattle your teeth,” Reny said.


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