WARWICK — There won’t be any clam cakes and it’s too cold for swimming, but reminiscences of summer are likely to surface this weekend when the gates of the former Rocky Point amusement park open to let Rhode Islanders scuff through the sand and celebrate the shoreline portion of the old park that will now be preserved as open space.

After years of trying, the city this summer secured the title to 41 acres of the waterfront park property, including a one-mile stretch of beach.

Mayor Scott Avedisian, who has said this is the city’s most important land acquisition, said the decision was made to briefly open up the property because of the amount of mail and phone calls that had been received since it was publicized that a portion of the land would remain public forever.

“This has been amazing,” Avedisian said, stressing the collaborative efforts of federal, state and local officials. “To be able to acquire 41 shoreline acres and then tell the people of the city and the state, ‘This belongs to you,’ is incredible. I think that people immediately had a sense that this is theirs and we’ve had so many inquiries that we thought it would be best to open it up for one afternoon and then secure it again so we can continue to plan for its future use.”

It is important for the public to understand, he said, that the land acquired by the city does not include the old midway, the Windjammer, the Palladium or any of the other old structures people might be tempted to see. That property is owned by the U.S. Small Business Administration and will be strictly off-limits Sunday because of liability issues, Avedisian said.

For more than a decade after the park went bankrupt and into federal receivership, the city has been trying to ensure that much of the shoreline and a sizable portion of the 120-acre tract would be preserved for the public.

In the end, the city was able to purchase 41 shoreline acres by piecing together roughly $4 million in state, local and federal grants. Since all actions needed the blessing of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and were somewhat contingent on the SBA’s need to keep the rest of the property marketable, the public acquisition was in peril several times before being finalized by court order in August.

Avedisian has said that key players were the SBA, the state Department of Environmental Management and Sen. Jack Reed. The DEM provided some of the financing and Reed was instrumental in securing a $2.25-million federal grant. The city contributed local bond money.

Tomorrow, Reed will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. at the park to celebrate the acquisition.

According to Avedisian, the land that the city acquired includes the summer colony and shoreline known as Rocky Beach. Avedisian said that after Sunday’s open house, the property will be temporarily off-limits again, as the city works on repairing the pier and coming up with a design for its use as recreational “green space.”

“We wanted to give people a quick chance to see it, because so many people have told us of their memories of the park –– whether it was being told that their parents met there or their own trips there as children.”

bpoliche@projo.com