By Patrick Anderson
Staff Writer
—
Hurricane Earl edged closer to the New England coast Thursday, already triggering cancellation of several traditional Labor Day weekend events in Gloucester and Cape Ann, and dimming the prospects for a lucrative final weekend of the summer tourist season.
With forecasts, as of Thursday night, predicting heavy seas and tropical storm force winds and rain tonight and early Saturday, organizers canceled the annual Gloucester Boat Parade of Lights and fireworks display, which had been scheduled for Saturday evening.
Earl also claimed the Downtown Block Party that had been planned for tonight, the Gloucester Schooner Festival's Mayor's Reception tonight at Coast Guard Station Gloucester and, in all likelihood, may drive out the traditional small boat race on Saturday.
"Given the current weather situation, which has a high probability of extreme seas and high winds that will follow the departure of Hurricane Earl on Saturday, it is unlikely that there will be an opportunity to have small boat racing off of Eastern Point (Saturday morning)," said race committee chairman Peter Bent. "The starting area is notorious for heavy swells even without the recent passing of a hurricane, and so it would not be a fun day on the water."
Although a few schooners have decided not to sail to Gloucester because of the weather, the Mayor's Race for the Esperanto Cup is still planned for Sunday, with a fleet of 10 ships.
Meanwhile, the first Celebrate Gloucester concert at the I-4,C-2 vacant lot, featuring Charles Neville, Henri Smith and Roomful of Blues Sunday afternoon, is also going ahead as planned.
"We have an assurance from National Grid that, if Gloucester loses power, Rogers Street will be the first they turn back on," said organizer Vickie Van Ness. National Grid is a lead sponsor for the concert, which is also sponsored by the Gloucester Daily Times.
Explaining the decision to cancel the lighted boat parade and fireworks, Barry Pett of The Gloucester Fund cited rules barring fireworks in winds over 20 miles per hour, concerns about the strain on public safety officials, and difficulties for boat owners decorating their boats.
"All of this is only good if safety is the end result," Pett said.
All of the money raised for the fireworks, which had not yet covered the $10,000 cost, will be put toward next year's event, Pett said.
By Thursday night, Earl, packing sustained winds of 115 miles per hour, was 185 miles south of Cape Hatteras, N.C., and 670 miles southwest of Nantucket. Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard are expected to take direct blows from the storm.
Earl's projected track as of Thursday night called for the storm to pass just southeast of Cape Ann, delivering sustained winds here of 30 to 40 miles per hour and with higher gusts, while depositing 2 to 4 inches of rain. By mid-Saturday, Earl is expected to have passed to the northeast, leaving sunshine.
If Earl does administer only a glancing overnight blow, the effect on Cape Ann could be more depressive than destructive.
Even if it doesn't cancel the majority of big events over the weekend, fear of the storm — or even of rain and cool temperatures — could suppress visitor turnout on what is typically the last big tourist weekend of the summer season.
"Main Street is pretty quiet," said City Councilor Joe Ciolino, owner of the Weathervane shop. "Sometimes the bad weather gets people into the stores, but I don't see that yet."
While bright sunshine and 90-degree-plus temperatures have characterized most of the week, it has not been a good week at Gloucester beaches, where the riptides required several rescues and prompted a swimming ban that's been in effect at much of Good Harbor Beach since Tuesday. The riptides also claimed the life of a man fishing from the rocks along Eastern Point.
On Thursday, the surf and swells were relatively small, but police patrolled the area near Good Harbor Creek in all-terrain vehicles to make sure no one made an illicit dash for the water.
At the Cape Ann Motor Inn on Long Beach, innkeeper Brad Pierce said that, although he is booked through the end of the holiday weekend, the early start to the school year and threat of heavy rain appeared to be driving down beach traffic.
"The beach looks empty," Pierce said. "We have had people say they want to postpone until November, but I have to tell them that would be a cancellation."
On Thursday, Gloucester announced that its beaches would be closed for all of today, with no lifeguards, paid parking or concessions, but would probably reopen Saturday. It was unknown Thursday night whether, when they reopen, swimming would be allowed at the beaches.
No swimming would be fine with local surfers who have gorged on waves from tropical storms for the last week and are expecting even more from Earl.
Surf on Cape Ann is expected to peak Saturday morning at around 6 feet, according to website swellinfo.com, which predicts winds to turn west northwest overnight.
In the event that Earl turns closer to Cape Ann, a group of officials have a meeting scheduled at Coast Guard Station Gloucester today at 8:30 a.m. to plan.
If hurricane shelters are needed, Gloucester would set up an emergency shelter at Fuller School, Rockport at Rockport High School, Essex at Essex Elementary School and Manchester at Manchester Essex Regional High School.
Patrick Anderson can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3455, or panderson@gloucestertimes.com.
