Photos and Story by DJ Marbaker
Labor Day weekend is known as the unofficial end to summer. Folks in Wyoming County got a preview of fall the first couple days of the long weekend. Add in rain and some people had to crunch their summer wrap-up weekend into one day.
Saturday morning brought warm temperatures, but rain soon moved in. And with it unseasonably cool temperatures that made it feel more like the end of October. During summer weekends, trucks with trailers line the boat launch at the Access at Riverside Park (below). On this day around noon there were just two. Sunday the weather would prove to be worse, however.
Attendees to the Cornstock Festival being held at Lazy Brook Park in Tunkhannock Township reported that “the regulars” braved the weather, but attendance was noticeably down otherwise. With the Wyoming County Community Fair happening this weekend every year, vendors also reported slow business Saturday and especially Sunday. In fact, around 3 pm there were few individuals braving the on-and-off rain.
On Monday, the sun and summer temps returned in a hurry. Along with it the crowds to the fair and local parks.
“This seems to be busier than other Monday’s the past years,” said Hope Harding, who works at the fair in the Wyoming County Republican booth every year on Monday.
Even though some vendors reported sales being down for the week, the Kiwanis Food Stand began selling out of some items by early afternoon. “We still had good days despite the weather on Saturday and Sunday,” Theresa Lorson with the Kiwanis reported. “If sales were down any we more than made up from them today.”
Unfortunately the fallesque temperatures look to be sticking around after the warm hoorah on Monday. Next weekend’s highs may not reach 70 degrees. This year summer seems to have come and gone even quicker than normal with many hoping Indian Summer is around the bend to give us at least one more warm weekend.