There are no crowds to fight getting to the beach
Some observers around Galveston blame Katrina and the price of gas
By THAYER EVANS
Chronicle Correspondent
Carlos Rios / Chronicle
DIGGIN' IT: Hayley Dugger, 10, Phoebe Toups, 8, and Anderson Toups, 10, of the Houston area, net critters at a Galveston beach, which was not as busy as past Labor Day weekends, according to a lifeguard.
GALVESTON - Under blue skies Sunday afternoon, Carlos Perez dodged wayward jellyfish and dug in the sand of East Beach's shoreline with his 4-year-old son, Christopher.
Less than eight hours earlier, Perez, his son and wife arrived in Galveston for the first time to visit family after driving 20 hours and 1,600 miles in a 1999 Honda Civic from Lancaster, Calif., in a trip that cost $250 in fuel.
"I had no worries about the gas," said Perez, 24, who is returning back home with his family today. "I knew it was going to go up, but I had this planned for months. I wasn't going to cancel all my plans because of the prices."
Yet while some like Perez braved soaring fuel expenses to spend Labor Day weekend in Galveston, many island businesses are reporting lackluster sales for the summer's last holiday.
Island gasoline prices hovered at $2.99 per gallon for self-service regular Sunday at most stations, but was $3.09 at several locations along Broadway.
"It's been slow as hell," said David Williams, an assistant manager for Galveston Beach Service, a company that rents umbrellas, chairs and boogie boards. He said rentals were down 40 percent compared to past Labor Day weekends, but was optimistic it would improve today.
The forecast is for sun and a high of 90 degrees, according to the National Weather Service Web site.
"Everybody's kind of laid back," Williams said. "No one really wants to spend money. There's really not too many drive ups. They're usually the ones that rent. It's disappointing."
Lou Muller, executive director of the city's Park Board of Trustees, which had anticipated 150,000 visitors for Labor Day weekend, said spotty showers hurt beach attendance Saturday, but not enough to significantly affect the board's original projection.
He said he had not heard that spending was below that expected by business owners.
"That's surprising," Muller said. "We did better (Sunday) than we did (Saturday)."
At the Mariner Inn, 1602 Seawall, owner Rose Gandhi paced in the lobby early Sunday afternoon as she looked out on the sunlit Gulf. She said occupancy at the property was just 50 percent.
Rooms selling for $99 in years past were going for $49 Sunday afternoon, Gandhi said.
In comparison to preceding Labor Day weekends with good weather, this year's holiday has been the worst she has ever experienced in 15 years of owning the motel, she said.
Gandhi said she believes Hurricane Katrina might have cost Galveston some visitors.
"People don't want to spend money," Gandhi said. "Gas prices are very, very high. We've had a lot of cancellations. They just don't want to come."
Further east on the Seawall, Pablo Nolsco, manager of The Spot Restaurant, dejectedly said that customer spending was average, but lacking in some areas, most notably alcohol sales.
He said the restaurant sold close to $5,000 worth of beer last Labor Day weekend. As of mid-afternoon Sunday, Nolsco said not even half of that had been sold.
"We're not doing like we wanted to," he said.
Early Sunday afternoon, the line for the Bolivar Ferry was less than one-fourth of a mile. A ferry loader said four boats were in use and that the average wait was 15 to 20 minutes, a welcome sight to those who have endured lines in excess of several hours at times this summer.
"For Labor Day, we thought it would be a lot more crowded than it is," said 28-year-old Danielle Palmer, of Longview, from underneath a green canopy overlooking the Gulf at East Beach. "It doesn't seem like the people are here."
From the perspective of law enforcement and beach patrol, Labor Day weekend has thus far been rather uneventful.
Excluding a few jellyfish stings, Galveston Beach Patrol Maj. Vic Maceo said there have been no significant incidents involving beachgoers. He described the beach crowds as "light."
"I've not even had a single phone call," said Galveston County Sheriff Gean Leonard said. "Nothing extraordinary has happened."
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