The late Jimmy Buffett, along with his sidekick Mac McAnally, penned the song, When the Coast Is Clear! The song has been my anthem for the end of the season. “The tourist traps are empty– vacancy abounds almost like it used to be before the circus came to town,” is one stanza. The circus? What circus? The crowds around town are my livelihood.
I have never been a fan of the expression ‘The Festival of Tailights, a statement that sounds celebratory about the end of the tourism season in Cape May.
There is no denying that the end of the Labor Day Weekend creates a mass exodus on Monday. Occasionally, the exodus spills into Tuesday morning. Regardless of your feelings toward tourists visiting Cape May, the quiet and tranquility after Labor Day is irresistible! It’s the quiet where you don’t need to yell hello to your neighbors across the street. They hear you in everyday conversation.
“That’s when it always happens, same time every year, I come down to talk to me when the coast is clear.” Talking to me is not a typo in the lyrics. Jimmy is talking about conversations with himself. Something we can do in the quieter seasons of Cape May.
“We spent many Labor Day nights driving home from the shore as the sun set to get ready for the first day of school. Now we live at the shore, and tomorrow is just a workday. The Villas is quiet again. The still sets over the bay.” Amy Quinn wrote in a Facebook post. Amy moved here this summer with her husband, John, and staffs the counter at the Peanut Butter store on the Washington Street Mall.
Here’s the rub (a phrase often credited to Shakespeare): after the exodus on Monday, the quiet tranquility lasts only about 24 hours. Now the lawn mowers and leaf blowers sound twice as loud. The motorcycle racing down Broadway makes the windows rattle, and the man walking his dogs allows them to bark incessantly. Welcome to the quiet season?
If you look around town, you can pick up little signals of the anticipation of Labor Day. The bike shop on Lafayette Street hangs a string of flags counting down the final days. Lifeguards are becoming fewer, and some beaches are not open for swimming in the weeks leading up to the holiday.
It is a misnomer that Cape May slows down after Labor Day. People checking in on Tuesday comment on how crowded the town remains. Then the festival start! The Jazz Festival, the birding trips, and the craft fairs. There is no shortage of activities for those who saunter across the bridge after Labor Day.
At the Sea Crest Inn on Broadway and Beach Avenue, where I manage, at least three birding tours fill the hotel. Field Guides, Naturalist Journeys, and Nature Trek are all professional tour operators who sell Cape May to clients who want to experience the finest East Coast birding. Nature Trek travels from the United Kingdom with a dozen birding enthusiasts.
Often referred to as locals’ summer, the crowds may thin and the beaches have fewer ten-foot beach canopies, but Lucky Bones can still be busy on any given night. At any given time throughout the year, if you know how to plan, early morning walks, etc, can be beneficial.
The recent breezy days of this September brought an early autumn feel to the air. Notwithstanding a visit from a hurricane or nor’easter, September and October can be the most beautiful times of the year. Even the brush by from hurricane Erin didn’t dampen people’s spirits or create mass cancellations.
“So tell me all your troubles, I’ll surely tell you mine. We’ll laugh and smoke and cuss and joke, and have a glass of wine.” Troubadour Jimmy Buffett sings. Most likely, this song was about a Gulf Coast town Jimmy and Mac frequented, but it certainly could have been Cape May.
Service industry employees will tell you August seems to be the most challenging month of summer. If perception is reality, it is probably due to visitors who have waited all summer to get on vacation. The intersection of tired staff and eager visitors has a recipe for impatience. But then you pass the bike shop flags and see the numbers get smaller, 3.2.1. Labor Day!
If you need anything, I will be on Broadway or Mt. Vernon Beach, talking to me!
