OCEAN GROVE, N.J. (AP) — For the first time in generations, beachgoers were out on the sand in a New Jersey shore community on the Sunday morning before Memorial Day as a Christian religious group fights the state over its regular beach closures there during Sunday services.

The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, a Methodist group that established a Christian seaside retreat at the Jersey Shore in 1869, said it had closed its beaches on Sunday mornings during religious services in Ocean Grove for more than a century and a half before the state Department of Environmental Protection accused the group of violating state beach access laws.

The department threatened fines of $25,000 per day.

The association unsuccessfully sought an emergency ruling in its favor, then said last week it would temporarily allow beachgoers access on Sunday this holiday weekend while it continues to fight the court case.