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Visitors to Bryson City look at the menu outside Pasqualino's Italian Restaurant on Tuesday.
Larry Griffin
lgriffin@thesmokymountaintimes.com
Memorial Day weekend has come and gone, and downtown businesses were mostly satisfied with the numbers of tourists who were on the streets.
Over the three-day weekend, people could be seen traversing Everett Street, admiring the railroad and the trains, and darting in and out of the various businesses. They crowded the Mountain Perks coffee shop and the Mountain Layers Brewing Company saw crowds of people gathering every night to enjoy the live music there and eat at the Rice Wagon restaurant food truck.
According to Swain County Tourism Development Authority (TDA) Executive Director Mary Anne Shea, traffic in town was up 18% over last year’s Memorial Day weekend traffic.
At Snak Shak, owner Dennis Seely said activity came in waves.
“It was pretty busy,” Seely said. “A lot of people were walking around. There would be a steady flow of people. There’d be an hour of sheer boredom, then two hours of panic, with every seat filled and four people waiting.”
Fryemont Inn innkeeper Monica Brown said things had gone well for them, too. She said they had some of their annual clientele there, a multi-generational crowd who make a tradition of staying at the historic inn.
“We did have a family of 17 people dressed in 1920s wear,” she said. “Grandparents, parents, grandkids, dressed that way just by themselves. They went to dinner that way. That was a lot of fun.”
Brown said the chillier weather over the long weekend made it harder for people to use the pool.
“People enjoyed the cooler weather,” she said. “They had the fireplace going. Usually, people are in the pool for Memorial Day, but this year they were sitting by the fireplace and getting cozy.”
Becky Jennings, manager at CJ’s Grille, said it had been a “nice holiday weekend” and that the restaurant would likely see more traffic over the summer.
“I feel like it’s going to be busy,” she said. “A lot of people enjoy the Great Smoky Mountains and the outdoors. A lot of campers, hiking, fishing – we have a lot of regular customers.”
But some businesses did notice that the weekend felt somewhat lesser in traffic than some of the ones in the past. Nakoma Lambert, manager at the Rice Wagon, said while the weekend had strong traffic, Memorial Day itself was a little quieter. He said he thought
Mike Martone, partner with Heavenly Fudge, said the candy shop was “OK, but below last year.”
“The weather didn’t help,” he said. “And it seems like some people aren’t spending as much right now.”
But Martone thought this summer overall would be a strong one, as he’s recently added ice cream to the array of goods Heavenly Fudge sells.
Seely said he thought there were definitely some reasons that things weren’t as good as they could be – namely, the economy.
“A lot of people were like ‘why didn’t the locals come support you in the off-season,’” he said. “How could they? They can’t afford to go out to eat, can’t afford to put gas in their car. It’s been a rough year for prices.”