09/04/2006

Record-Eagle/Douglas Tesner
Cary Stadel, 8, from left, Lauren Burnheimer, 14, Valerie Riedel, 9 and Natalie Fenchel, 9, take part in a sandcastle building contest on the beach at Bryant Park.

Season fades as tourists, locals enjoy holiday

Picnics, trips to beach put the cap on warm summer

By
Record-Eagle staff writer

Record-Eagle/Douglas Tesner
Thomas Kalchik, 16, from Chicago and Layne Simescu, 14, from Traverse City, enjoy tubing on the Grand Traverse West Bay Sunday.

TRAVERSE CITY — The end of summer is measured out in scoops of ice cream at one neighborhood hangout.

Stacey Popp spent Sunday dishing out sweet treats at her parents' Traverse City ice cream shop. The Dairy Lodge is open at least until Oct. 1, then its owners check the weather and decide when to close up for the winter season.

Popp said the summer has been "great," and customers will soon be stopping for their "last fix."

"I love fall, but ... before you know it we are closing up," she said.

Area residents spent Sunday enjoying some of the last rites of summer: Trips to the beach, picnics and fishing outings. School starts for many students this week. For parents, that means packing lunches and car pools.

For Lauren Burnheimer, 14, it could mean hitting the books more than the beach. She and a few other girls held a sand castle contest at Bryant Park Sunday. They appointed a judge and patted down mounds of sand hoping to win in the category of "best," "weirdest" or "most creative."

Lauren said she's looking forward to the school year at East Junior High. But, how does she feel about the end of summer?

"Sad," she said.

Tom Borysiak of Traverse City went fishing with his family at a quiet end of Arbutus Lake. The children's back-to-school schedule loomed later in the week.

"It's too soon for them and not soon enough for us," Borysiak laughed.

He spotted trees turning color on a recent trip to the Upper Peninsula, a sure signal of summer's end.

"It went so fast," he said. "Once the Cherry Festival hit, after that it just accelerated."

Summer's last holiday could end with a few light sprinkles today, said John Boris, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gaylord. He predicted temperatures for Labor Day would reach the low- to mid-70s.

Traverse City's temperatures for the months of June, July and August averaged about 1.3 degrees above normal, Boris said. The city's warmest day was July 31, when the temperature hit triple digits.