Local news is back in Sussex County.

Rehoboth Beach published its own update on August 19. The city page is the primary source. This Ledger page restates that update. It does not name a contractor and it does not invent a reopen date.

City of Rehoboth Beach • Aug 19, 2026 • Inspection Monday, Aug 17 • 48 trees walked

What the city posted

On Monday, August 17, City Arborist Mike Lilly and Delaware Department of Agriculture Urban & Community Forestry Program Coordinator and Certified Arborist Taryn Davidson met at Grove Park to conduct a Level 2 canopy assessment with SavATree. The city says SavATree did not send a representative, so Lilly and Davidson walked the park and inspected 48 trees.

Five red oaks, remove as soon as possible

• All five are red oaks with very poor canopy growth.
• Three stand near the restrooms. Two stand near the storage shed.
• The oaks show bacterial leaf scorch, a disease spread by insects. The city says there is no cure, and an infected tree typically has about three to eight years remaining.
• The city does not know when these trees became infected. It says they have declined greatly since tree work earlier this year.

Fourteen more — recommendation only

Fourteen additional trees flagged for removal during the prior week’s assessment are smaller and do not require immediate removal, the city says. Their removal would make space for more successful, larger trees. At this time that remains only a recommendation.

What happens after the five come down

The city says Grove Park can safely reopen to foot traffic once the five trees are removed and insecticide treatments are completed. Insecticides are intended to limit insects that can carry the disease to oaks, maples, and sycamores. Additional pruning is scheduled for the fall. TRAQ testing and Resistograph work are planned later. The city intends to replace trees that must come down and will work with the Department of Agriculture’s tree-replacement program. No reopen date is on the August 19 update.

Farmers Market

The city recommends the Farmers Market keep its temporary location at the Convention Center parking lot until further notice while assessments continue. The city says some mature park trees have old wounds from compaction when trailers sat there decades ago, and that several trees have cables and wires from former electric lines. Those issues, the city says, are not the result of Farmers Market operations.

Primary: rehobothbeachde.gov — Grove Park trees and temporary closure