There Are 226% More Tourists In Eastern Maine Than Last Year

Have you noticed?

There's isn't any chicken in the case at Hannaford and there's no where to park anywhere on Mount Desert Island.  Heck, even Grammy is renting out her spare room for $250 a night.

Just today, the Ellsworth American tells us that estimated 655,745 visitors entered Acadia National Park during June of this year, a 226% increase over last year and  31.4% more than June of 2018. The all-time record for the month of June is 655,745, and much more than a couple of boat-loads of people.

Your favorite take-out is closing down early today because of the lack of staff and because they've run out of haddock.  Sound familiar?

The American also tells us that halfway through 2018 the number of visitors to Acadia National Park was 868,968 and that this year that figure is 1,164,946.

Is there any wonder that they're parking on the lawn, where the bus pulls up, and in the owner's private parking space out back?

Last year at the end of June during the height of the pandemic only 414,627 paid a visit to our neck of the woods, and now we all fully comprehend that we were spoiled rotten in 2020.

Ain't nothing like being passed by a train of cars, full-sized pickups loaded with bikes, and motor homes pulling Jeeps from New Jersey, Massachusetts and New York all going 70 mph past China Hill in Ellsworth while on their way to Eden.

Adam and Eve got to be naked in Eden.  They wouldn't get to be anymore, without thousands of eyes upon them.

Those who work in area hotels, motels, and restaurants tell us this year that because everything is so overcrowded that quite a few people from away are angry and treating local employees horribly. A feeling that is probably generated from waiting in line forever outside the door of a restaurant night after night, or by slowly following hundreds of people up and down the Beehive trail within Acadia, like it was a ride at Disney World.

Over the years big hotels and campgrounds were built and now the trail that runs the Park Loop Road looks like a cow path and even the rocks are becoming worn just like those within New York City's Central Park.

Just last week Maine Senator Angus King stood in front of his cohorts on a hearing discussing the overcrowding of National Parks all across the country, and said that we were in danger of "loving our parks to death."  The committee discussed things like "reservations" and alternate traffic patterns.

Let's hope that someday things will work out and become better because when Rosalie's Pizza eventually opens we want to be able to get through the door.