BAR HARBOR, Maine — It's the first major tests that businesses see -- Memorial Day weekend. New or seasonal employees were able to get their first taste of a busy weekend over the holiday.
According to the Maine Turnpike Authority, traffic was up 1.8 percent over last year's Memorial Day weekend. Total transactions from Friday through Monday of this year were 1,011,269. In 2018, the same four days had 993,848 transactions.
Many of those cars came to Bar Harbor.
"You couldn't even cross the road if you wanted to," said Pedego Electric Bikes general manager Jonathan Lee.
"It was non-stop people coming in asking questions while I've got my 20 reservations, and then they come in. And then I need to send out my next 20 right after," added Lee.
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That traffic coming into Pedego Electric Bikes was just the schedule on Monday. A rainy Saturday meant that many businesses saw most of their business on Saturday and Monday.
That mixed bag of weather didn't phase the oldest golf course in the state, however.
"Probably about 35 to 40 percent in rounds played," said Kebo Valley Club's PGA professional Peiter DeVos about the amount of rounds played this Memorial Day weekend compared to last.
Despite fewer rounds on Sunday, for the rest of the weekend, golfers came out in droves to the country's eighth oldest course.
"Yesterday was probably the best day of the year we've had, weather-wise," said Kebo's club manager David Closson.
Many of those golfers, as well as electric bike renters, were from the 1-million tourists who came to Maine this past weekend -- many of which stayed at hotels in the Bar Harbor Area.
"It's hard to get three good days of weather in the spring in Maine, so we'll take the two and a half that we got and chalk it up as a good experience," said Eben Salvatore, operations manager for Ocean Properties, which manages five hotels in the Bar Harbor area.
For Salvatore, it was a great way to prepare new employees for what the busy season is like.
"I'm looking forward to really building up for our July and August business," said Salvatore.
According to Salvatore, Ocean Properties' hotels were operating at roughly 90 percent occupancy. He says that's an average weekend for Memorial Day and that he believes rain was a factor.
Despite that, business was overall successful over the holiday weekend in Bar Harbor.