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Labor Day has come and gone, and the kids have all headed back to school.
The summer sun will soon be replaced by falling leaves. The whir of boats will be replaced by the roar of the crowd at the local high school football game.
For some - those who make their living promoting and managing the activities of summer, marina managers and staff, swimming pool sales and service people, bait shop owners - the passing of Labor Day can mean a time to regroup and replenish - to take a long vacation or supplement their income with more seasonable pursuits.
Or it can mean a time to hit the road and get everyone thinking about the hot summer days of next year, even while the mid-winter snow flies.
Jeff Skillen of Plaza Marine in Leesburg said business for him actually picks up after Labor Day.
"We have a noticeable increase in business after Labor Day and it lasts all the way to Thanksgiving," he said. "We have an extensive boat winterization program - repairing, washing, preparing for storage and shrink-wrapping. Business during that time is very intense."
It's only over the holiday season that he and his employees actually get a break. It isn't until then that they can actually take a break.
"December and March are usually our slowest times and when I take my vacation," Skillen said.
After New Year's, activity starts picking up again, with boat and summer trade shows, he added.
"Starting in January we start preparing for boat shows, and we spend the month of February actually going to the shows. That's when people usually start looking at purchasing boats," he said.
While the boat sales business can actually be busier during the winter months, the same can't be said for the swimming pool industry. Dorie Hochstedler, of Bontrager Pools Inc., in Warsaw said her business "dries up" almost before the Labor Day parades end.
"We definitely have a big drop off in business after Labor Day and it stays pretty slow until Memorial Day," she said. "This year was unusual, though, we started picking up around the first of May."
The lack of business doesn't mean she locks her doors, however. It just means that working can get a little lonely.
"We do stay open all winter, but we only have one person in the store to handle drop-by customers during the winter," Hochstedler said. "Our Elkhart store has a service department and they are busier in the winter servicing indoor pools."
Bontrager does host an annual "Pool School" and open house at end of April or beginning of May each year, she said. With that event, business usually picks up again, she added.
Lee Armstrong, of A&A Marine in Pierceton, said his business sinks quicker than a lead weight after Labor Day. With the exception of a bass tournament he hosts in October, he finds it hard to reel in customers.
"My business drops off nearly 100 percent after Labor Day. I do hold a bass tournament in October, but after that I just close up," he said. "I used to stay open for ice fishing, but we haven't had any good ice for the last five years, so I just close down from November to March anymore.
"In March, when the weather starts to warm up, the guys are usually chomping at the bit to get back out there, so I get pretty busy when I reopen," he said. "But it really all depends on the weather."
Even with warm weather, Armstrong said, he isn't as busy as he used to be because he doesn't see the young anglers like he used to.
"Another thing that hurts is kids just don't fish anymore. They're all inside playing video games," he said. "I used to have kids in here every Saturday, especially if it was warm during the winter, but I just don't see that anymore.
"You get a kid hooked on fishing and he won't be doing any drugs," he said.
Armstrong spends his winter getting prepared for the next year by making fishing lures that he sells when his customers return.
"In the winter, I tie jigs and my buzz bait," he said. "I do that until March and I get busy again."
Armstrong said he also hosts a fishing tournament each spring that benefits the Wawasee Scholarship Fund and another in August for St. Jude's Children's Hospital. That tournament raised $300 last year for the hospital, he said.
