By:JOSEPH KELLARD
From Memorial Day to Labor Day 2003, the temperatures were unseasonably cool, sometimes dipping into the 60s at midday, and rain was plentiful. But while we are once again in the midst of a summer with its share of wet days, the mercury has held steady in the high 70s to mid-80s, and the humidity has been temperate enough to keep our shirts dry and some local businesses generally busier.
"The last two summers were horrible because of the rain," said Steve Jordan, of Jordan's Lobster Farms in Island Park, where people can both shop for shellfish and dine. "But business has definitely been better down here this year."
Like the mostly waterfront restaurant/bars that surround it, Jordan's is a weather-dependent business. To these establishments, storm clouds are as unwanted as mosquitoes. "You have knots in your stomach as the weekend approaches," Jordan said. "A rainy weekend can really make a dent."
"Business is totally up to the weather," said Maricruz Alvarado, a manager at Paddy McGees restaurant, a neighbor of Jordan's. "Last summer was bad, and we really didn't have any business because of the rain. But business has been pretty much the same as usual this summer."
Even the possibility of clouds rolling into the area can adversely affect business, according to Amy Delateja, catering manager at Montego Bay, a bar and restaurant sandwiched between Jordan's and Paddy McGees. "Weather reports have been off, and that affects the people who come down here," Delateja said, explaining that television meteorologists have been reporting stormy weekend weather that doesn't pan out. "We don't just have people coming here who live locally, but many who live further out on the island or Brooklyn. And if they see bad weather reports, they're not going to take the chance to come down here."
When asked how business was last summer, Delateja rolled her eyes in disappointment. Asked about this summer's weather and its effects, she said, "Weeknights have been very good when the weather has been on our side. We're a seasonal business. We make our money when the sun is shining. So we pray for sunshine."
For other businesses, the effect of weather is not as cut and dried as it is with restaurants and bars. Mark Keller, owner of the Bay Park Fishing Station, a bait-and-tackle shop at the end of Weidner Avenue in Oceanside, said that business has been up so far over last year, though he added that he won't be sure about the season as a whole until after Labor Day. A number of factors are involved - everything from fuel prices, which impact the volume of gas he sells to boaters, to fishing regulations, which also affect his business.
According to the National Marine Fishery, fish volume has dipped, and the state reacted by imposing regulations on fishing for certain varieties of fish, including fluke, sea bass and borgies, in part by shortening the season from virtually year-round to about 15 weeks.
Compared with last year's rainy summer, Keller suspects that this year's superior weather has made his business more profitable. But he still looks at the fishing regulations as potentially hindering the greater profits he otherwise might see. "I think the season would be better if they lifted the regulations," he said. About the rain in 2003, he added, "Volume was definitely down last year over the five-year average."
With outdoor businesses such as nurseries, the summertime weather is mostly irrelevant, if only because it's actually a slower time of year. "Weather always affects a garden center because it's residential farming," said Sean Newman of A&T Garden Center and Florist in Island Park. "People don't want to go out and garden when it's raining out. But after July Fourth, the season for nurseries generally slows down, so weather isn't nearly as significant to the business as it is in the spring."
Nevertheless, last year's spring weather wreaked its havoc on Newman's profits. "The rain killed our business last year," he said. "People don't want to be outside planting in their gardens when it's raining. And last spring it rained every single day."
