New London — Ocean Beach Park ended the last season with enough profit to be able to turn back more than $260,000 to the city — the first time that has happened in recent history.

Park manager David Sugrue, who runs the city-owned park for the managment company Centerplate, said that with the increase in visitors he’s seen over the past few years, that kind of season is possible again — it just depends on the weather.

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Improvements to the park aside, Sugrue said weather, and not surprisingly the hot and sunny days, is what drives the traffic at the park. The week since the park opened for the season has been on the gloomy side but he remains optimistic about the outlook.

“When conditions are good, the crowds have been bigger,” Sugrue said. “By mid-June last year, we were closing the front gates, which is great.”

He said crowds have swelled to around 10,000 people on the weekends and, with continual improvements to the infrastructure at the beach, he said that should continue.

Improvements at the park this year include two new rooftop HVAC units at the Port ‘N Starboard restaurant, just in time for the upcoming and always entertaining polka festival. Four holes at the mini golf course are being updated. The old, dilapidated Dodge Em building, which at one time hosted bumper cars but later housed administrative offices, has been torn down and replaced with a grassy area.

New England Science and Sailing, which has classrooms at the park will again be offering kayak eco tours in Alewife Cove this year.

The Rotary Club of New London last year announced plans to raise $450,000 to replace the picnic pavilion at the south end of the park. Fundraising still is underway for the project, which will act as a special events venue.

Action Amusements, which runs the arcade, rides and water park, undertook an updating of the arcade along with renovations to the main restrooms.

Sugrue said the park also has worked to address the lack of cellphone coverage and is working on a deal with Verizon to install a small antenna to cover the park, which is in somewhat of a dead zone for cell signals.

Fees for parking are unchanged for day visits — $17 on weekdays and $23 on weekends — but have increased for season passes. Season passes for nonresidents increased from $110 to $120, from $75 to $85 for residents and from $25 to $30 for senior residents. Part-time residents and seniors, those with property in the city, will be able to obtain resident passes this year under a new rule approved by the City Council. In prior years the resident season passes were available only to those with cars registered in New London.

Sugrue said the success of the park, which opened in 1940, owes a lot to not only his team of employees but to the volunteer organizations like the city’s Beautification Committee and the nonprofit Save Ocean Beach.

The Beautification Committee, Sugrue said, “pours their heart and soul into this place to help make it look as good as it does.”

Save Ocean Beach is constantly conducting fundraisers and recently paid for a parkwide intercom system, something that will come in handy for lost children.

“The place gets by with a lot of help from a lot of people,” Sugrue said.

The park plans weeklong series of entertainment from the Monday night classic car night to Tuesday’s Beach Blanket Movie Series and continually hosts outside events.

On Sunday, about 50 teams will join in the 19th Annual Ocean Beach Park Benefit Volleyball Tournament, an event that last year raised $18,820 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Connecticut.

“I’m hoping we have record crowds this year, the parking lot is full and nights are busy,” Sugrue said.

g.smith@theday.com