Rainy June Hurts Sebago Region's Businesses

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When people wake up and look outside to be welcomed by a morning that is void of color and brimming with clouds that scream rain is imminent – or it is already raining, ice cream is the last thing that they crave.

“When it’s raining, no one is thinking about ice cream. So, business gets really slow,” said Tammy Locke, who has co-owned the Ice Cream Dugout for seven years. Locke and her husband have learned to cut costs during the slow times associated with the weather and have on-call employees available for brisk business when the sunshine and the ice cream-loving crowds come back out.

“We send people home automatically if the weather is rainy. We keep enough people on the schedule to cover if it’s a sunny day,” she said, adding all her employees know upon being hired that the weather dictates the ice cream business.

While an overcast or rainy day can certainly put a damper on the desire for ice cream, it also hinders plans to go to the beach or to engage in outdoor activities for most people. In some cases, people willing to ignore the rain don’t have a choice: This month’s heavy rains have played hand in closing a few outdoor recreational facilities.

According to the Windham Parks and Recreation office, fast and sweeping currents on the Presumpscot River prompted Windham Parks and Recreation to close Dundee Park several days this week. Also, the Windham Skatepark was closed through Wednesday, following the recreation department’s policy to not open if the grounds are wet and the ramps are slippery.

If some residents are recalling June as a sunny month with a few showers and are thinking this month has been rainier than usual, they’d be right. It’s already three times the normal rainfall.

According to Butch Roberts, a hydro meteorological technician with the National Weather Service station in Gray, data shows that as of June 1 the Portland area received 6.83 inches of rainfall, which is 4.31 inches above normal. Compared to almost 7 inches of rain this month, June 2008 had a total of 1.81 inches, he said.

During the weekend of Summer Solstice, the sun scarcely made an appearance. On Friday, June 19, and Sunday, June 21, the percentage of sunshine was zero. On Saturday, June 20, the sus was visible for 349 minutes, but “that was pretty weak,” Roberts said.

A resident of Raymond, Roberts said he’s noticed how the rain has affected the usual crowds. “At the small beaches around the area. I see a lot fewer people. I cycle a lot around town. You can see fewer people are out. More people must be choosing indoor activities,” he said.

He added it depends on what kind of activity people are doing as to whether or not they will enjoy or curse the mild temperature, damp air and soggy earth.

“Anybody that’s a boater and likes to go out on the lakes isn’t happy. Several people I know says it’s too cool to take their boats out. But, these guys who do cycling, we enjoy the cooler weather. And, runners love it,” Roberts said. “Last week, I did some installation of weather equipment, I was up to my knees in mud. By the end of the day, it looked like I’d been wrestling in mud. All the rainfall does make some things a little tougher.”

On Thursday morning, as the sun outwrestled the clouds, Dundee Park reopened and by early afternoon, at least two-dozen people were taking advantage of the reprieve from the rain.

“The park is open, and we have a good crowd today,” lifeguard Korinne Agren said, “Right now, nobody is allowed to swim out to the dock because the current still is too strong. But, the beach area is OK.”

The sunshine sent people packing for a day at Tassel Top Beach in Raymond, too.

“The beach was packed this morning. I think the rain kept people away. There wasn’t any noticeable flooding,” Staff member Erinn Sullivan said.

A native of Connecticut living on the shores of Sebago Lake for the summer, Sullivan said her co-worker told her that people were lining up to nab a spot at the day-use facilities that morning. By afternoon, the only parking spaces left were in the upper parking lot, Sullivan said.