Summer’s end

Labour Day weekend heralds the end of summer for many of us. Our lives, in the County at least, orbit around the tourist seasons. No longer is it just about that brief time from the two-four weekend until this weekend past. Our summer beaches are filled with people getting their share of sunshine vitamins, who would hardly know the overwhelming peace and beauty of a walk along a nearly deserted stretch of sand during the fall and spring, or in our milder winters. Believe it or not, I am grateful to the tourists who come to the County to get away from it all. While here, they are surrounded by a different version of “it all.” The “all” we have year-round.

Yup, the people of the summer season are leaving. The vehicles are packed with soggy swimwear, sandy towels and empty coolers. Reluctantly, they head back to their homes to work or to school. Most visitors make a beeline back to their own everyday reality. Back to the quick stop at their neighbourhood grocery on the way home from their place of work to pick up something quick for dinner and maybe a bit of something for bagged lunches. Back home, under their suits and uniforms, they are saying goodbye to the tans and dreaming of the flimsy flip-flops and teensy swimsuits worn while making a quick stop for gigantic bags of marshmallows, vacuumpacked wieners, maybe a dozen corn, a basket of peaches and legions of colourful bottles of soda. Back they go.

The last long weekend of the summer is the time to hand back the keys to the cottage, dry out the tent or take one last twirl around the lake before the boat is winched onto the trailer or wrapped tight at the marina. But it’s also time to plan one last trip back to the County for a weekend to attend the local fall fairs or one of the fall food and music events. For locals, from this point on, there will be parking places on the Main Streets and it won’t take 20 minutes to drive from one end of the town, or the village, to the other. When we head into the grocery, the LCBO and Beer Store there will be a spot, close to the door, to park and there will be grocery carts where, during the summer, we only see a plastic bag or a flyer where carts should have been. We’ll have time to pick up on summer-delayed conversations, between the bakery and deli sections, with folks we haven’t seen since we took the snow tires off and brought out the white plastic chairs. Once-wary pedestrians will now be able to cross a road, to actually get to the other side, without throwing caution to the wind, making a run for it while fearing for their lives.

Global warming or no, it’s been a delicious summer for our tourist industry. Lots of sun. Lots of heat. Great wine. Great food. Thousands on parole from their real life to enjoy a bit of ours. Yup, the County has always left its mark on visitors. My unanswered summer question is, “Merlot or Chardonnay with lightly toasted marshmallows?”

theresa@wellingtontimes.ca