Dear Tourists,

Well it's that time of year again, Labor Day weekend. Time to say goodbye to your nice vacation home, your sunny beach days, restaurant outings, and your shopping sprees at every single marketplace around. Now it's time for you to go back to where you came from and start school or work again, facing the harsh reality of life again.

But as you leave, I just want to thank you for all you've done this summer! Let me thank you for the bad things first.....

Thank you for the 10-mile backups on weekends, making any traveling impossible.

Thank you for your obvious "out of state" driving and the fact that you don't know what a rotary is.

And lastly, Thank you for taking all the parking that might be available at any beach in the area.

But now for the good things I want to thank you for....

Thank you for taking your time to come to our area for vacation instead of a tropical island get away.

Thank you for shopping locally at our stores so that shop owners could make money for their businesses this summer.

Thank you for appreciating the beauty and history we have here and supporting the many efforts we have to preserve it.

Thank you for supporting the arts and attending a show, or visiting an art gallery (which are quite aplenty here).

Thank you (to most) who respected us locals. You didn't yell at us too much and you were at least aware that we actually live here.

Thank you to those tourists who understood that the people who actually live here year round have to work during the summer and aren't on vacation like you all are.

And lastly, thank you tourists for choosing to stay here and I hope you enjoyed your visit! Our town would not be able to thrive and local businesses would probably not exist if it weren't for you all. You make our summer here.

Thank you and goodbye! See you next summer!

With love,

A local.