Tumbleweed Tuesday a hit with locals, a pause before the fall frenzy

The day after Labor Day has many different names on the East End: Tumbleweed Tuesday, the start of "locals' summer,” and for many, the first day of school.

Regardless of its moniker, the day is marked by a collective exhale as locals celebrate the mass exodus of tourists and a moment of respite to enjoy the waning summer days.

“It’s great to have [vacationers] here in the summer … but it’s really nice and peaceful when no one is here and we finally get to enjoy it a little bit ourselves,” said Gina Gelardi, who manages the Beach Shack restaurant at Coopers Beach in Southampton.

“Locals come back out," she said. "We see familiar faces again, which is nice."

But the region no longer gets as quiet as it once did after Tumbleweed Tuesday, multiple East End residents said Tuesday. More year-round residents have moved to the area since the pandemic, so there’s more life in town during the offseason, residents told Newsday. Now, the day is more of a lull before the crush of fall activities, including apple and pumpkin picking and wine tours on both the North and South forks.

“There are two feelings: a lot of the old-timers and longtime residents say, ‘Thank God all of those people are gone.’ Other people, like the merchants, aren’t as happy as they were in season,” Walter Marsicovetere, of East Quogue, said during an interview in downtown Southampton. “I kind of like the slowing of the tempo a little bit. It has an appeal to it.”

No longer a 'sleepy town'

Lorraine Vassallo was one of a few dozen people who visited Coopers Beach on Tumbleweed Tuesday. She said the shoreline is packed during the season and she prefers it when things die down. But she acknowledged “the season is much more extended” than it once was.

“Forty-five years ago, when I first came to Southampton, once Labor Day had passed … all of the retail stores closed, the majority of the restaurants closed and the town became a sleepy little town until Memorial Day of the following year,” she said. “That’s been a big change."

Merchants on the North Fork agreed that "Tumbleweed Tuesday" has become a misnomer.

Rena Casey-Wilhelm, who owns the Weathered Barn boutique on Front Street in Greenport, took the day off to recuperate after a busy holiday weekend she described as a “last-ditch frenzy” of people. “It was just mega amounts of people, families, kids, ice cream,” she said, celebrating the end of the summer season.

Greenport Village was abuzz with locals and day trippers relishing the quiet.

Sue and Al Daniels, of Greenport, spent the morning enjoying free rides on the carousel with their grandson, 3-year-old Bennett Charters.

Al Daniels, 77, said he looks forward to spending the late summer days fishing.

“There’s not so many boats, and we’ve got a lot of good weather yet,” Daniels said. “Best time of the year, actually.”

Nearby, Robert and Kristy Graziano, of Coram, ate egg sandwiches while taking in a placid view of Greenport Harbor. It was a different scene than the night before, when Robert’s band, Sweet Ride, played for a crowd of about 700 during the village’s Dances in the Park event.

“We always stay an extra day so we can hang out, relax,” Kristy Graziano said. “Everybody has such a hectic lifestyle, it’s nice to get away.”

Paul Monahan, who co-owns the Whiskey Wind Tavern, said summer doesn’t officially end until after the Maritime Festival, the season's last hurrah in Greenport. This year’s festival is slated for Sept. 20-21.

Pause before the storm

Early September is more like a pause, Monahan said.

“It’s a great time where Maritime is a couple weeks away, everyone gets to regroup … and we keep our fingers crossed for beautiful weather,” he said.

Tuesday’s weather, sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 70s, also made conditions ripe for apple picking as farms prepare to be inundated with tourists.

Families eased into the seasonal transition at Harbes Orchard in Riverhead, picking apples and cooling off with apple cider slushes.

“We’re avoiding the crowds,” said Sean Sim, 43, who's visiting the New York area from Singapore with his wife, Yuko Hanai, and their 5-year-old son, Kane.

“We don’t have to line up, that’s one of the reasons we came out here,” Sim said.

Beating out the weekend crowds was also a draw for Jennifer Flynn, 36, of Selden.

“Once pumpkin picking starts, forget about it. You’re stuck in traffic,” Flynn said. “We like to take advantage of the smaller crowds, and it’s one last thing to do with the kids before sending them back to school tomorrow.”

The outing got a thumbs-up from Flynn’s 9-year-old daughter, Delilah, who said apple picking was a “very fun, very relaxing and delicious” activity before returning home to bake an apple pie and get a back-to-school haircut.