The summer folk are back.
It’s high tide for tourism and the summer rules of the road are on again. At low tide for tourists in the fall, without a spoken word or any change to the town ordinances, local folk just somehow seem to know which stop signs must be obeyed, and which ones you don’t have to bother with.
But that’s all changed now.
Mother’s Beach, Kennebunk. Dan King photo
The summer season is here. It’s high tide for tourism and things are back to normal in Kennebunkport. You have to stop at all the stop signs, or risk providing personalized wheel chair service for some stranger for the rest of his or her life. And pay close attention to the crosswalks painted on the road surface because the sort of folk that come to Maine to hunt, and enjoy seeing the fear in the eyes of a deer caught in their headlamps at night, are just as happy to watch the fear in your eyes as they jump in front of your moving car to cross the street for a better T-shirt sale.
What’s new is that you will probably have to wait in line for a while getting close enough to a stop sign to decide whether or not you are actually going to stop for it. So, stop at the stop signs, and be nice or leave.
Spouting rock still spouts, blowing cave blows twice a day, Cleaves Cove is as hard to find as ever, the big green, biting horseflies from the farm are on patrol along Parsons Beach, and we’re still not exactly sure who owns what at Goose Rocks Beach. The mothers are at Mother’s Beach, where they are supposed to be, the pooches at Gooch’s are busy doing what dogs do best, chasing seagulls and leaving their markers behind. Middle Beach is still in the middle, the Colony Beach has rocks, but you can have lobster three times a day. And so, I’d say things are back to normal in the ‘port.
There’s not much talk of politics in Kennebunkport beyond how they’re going to redesign the flag to handle 51 stars when D.C. becomes a state, and what do you have to do to the flag when Puerto Rico makes it, too. We pretty much treat our state and federal politicians just the way they treat us – we mostly ignore them.
Kennebunkport welcomes you.
Orrin Frink is a Kennebunkport resident and can be reached at ofrink@gmail.com.
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