Memorials, tourism kickoff mark sunny holiday weekend

Mainers paid tribute Monday to the nation’s war dead at the close of a sunny Memorial Day weekend that ushered in the state’s summer tourism season and showed that tourist towns in coastal York County were back in business after this month’s devastating floods.

Small towns and big cities marked the holiday with parades and memorial services in recognition of those who gave their lives for their country.

Keeping a promise he made two weeks ago to the owner of Sweet Josie’s Candy Shoppe, Gov. John Baldacci returned to York Beach to tour the business district that was flooded just as shopkeepers were getting ready for the influx of vacationers.

Baldacci told candy store owner Peggy Fennelly and other businesspeople that he was impressed with the quick cleanup of an area that was under 4 feet of water and where boats and kayaks supplanted cars and pedestrians in the streets.

Most businesses had opened in time for the holiday weekend. The beach was packed with visitors who soaked up the sun under near-perfect weather. Among the few reminders of the flood were the dark stains of a water line on walls and ripped-up carpet discarded on back lawns.

In Old Orchard Beach, Sen. Olympia Snowe noted that more than 6,000 Mainers have served or are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and the broader war on terror and that 28 have died.

“All of these heroes served in the finest spirit of soldiers who have woven the fabric of America’s greatness from generation to generation – and we owe to them a debt of gratitude we can never repay, but must never forget,” she said.

State police were out in force throughout the three-day weekend, enforcing traffic laws. Dozens of speeders were nabbed along the Maine Turnpike, with targeted motorists facing fines that average $180.