Cars with bikes, kayaks, surfboards, paddle boards, Lol, even cars with all of the above are heading West on 27 as you read this. Dogs, kids, cats, are in cars. Dads are driving looking at their watches calculating times, moms thinking of school supplies. The kids are looking out the windows as their magic summer has ended. So what is left behind? The Town of East Hampton and its year round inhabitants, who now must clean up the mess, board up the summer businesses and get ready for life without the chaos. Some say the best time in the Hamptons is both September and October. They may be right. I am always amazed at how the rental home owners who appear the week after labor day stick out like creatures from outer space. The summer people are colorful maybe rude but they are spenders, the rental home owners are different, some may know what I mean. Locals, a phrase that can mean anything from homeless drifting employees to someone whose family arrived in 1648 celebrate "Tumbleweed Tuesday," yet I know many small business owners could live with a robust 12 month season. I once wrote about how by the end of the summer most shop owners are burnt out, but let's face it, by early November the businesses that remain open will operate under crazy bank hours. Places like the Talkhouse, the Surf Lodge and Almond's will come almost to a halt. Seats will now be available at Nick and Toni's, Lakeside Clam and Chowder House and Gosman's without any wait. Yes the East Hampton Football Team had been practicing for a while, but soon they will be playing real games. Elections are coming and a new Town Government will be elected, I predict,Lol, the Democrats take control of Town Government, and I must admit it will be interesting to see if Dominick Stanzione is rewarded or punished for his version of independence by the voters of both parties. But the thrust of this blog is that the local faces will now be out in the local places and the paid guests have now left. The seasonal folks will perhaps not be missed, but their purchasing power most likely will be. As a notable farmer once joked to me while I was doing a story, "I grow lots of crops, hopefully not mostly weeds." Ah weeds, as in tumbleweed blowing across the quiet traffic-less back roads and Main Streets. Amen.
