When The Tourists Are Away, Locals Have Room To Play

Demetri Kangas, left, and his children Emily, 5, and McKenzie, 7, play in the water at Pass-A-Grille beach in St. Petersburg.

By JULIE BUSCH / Tribune

By CARLOS MONCADA The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jun 24, 2007

ST. PETE BEACH - As Terry Kangas slathered on sunscreen, her husband Demetri snapped photos of daughters McKenzie, 7, and Emily, 5, playing in the sand on a beach that was busy but not brimming with people.

"We were here over spring break, and you had tourists in town," said Terry Kangas of Riverview, talking about the crowds that filled the beach just a couple of months ago. "This is much nicer. No long walk [from the parking lot] to get here."

With tourists and winter residents back up North for the summer, which officially arrived last week, life has become a little less hectic for those who call the Sunshine State their permanent home.

This is the time of year when full-time Florida residents take advantage of the slowdown in tourism: The beaches are less crowded. Good restaurants aren't constantly jam-packed. Traffic is lighter.

The downside to this more peaceful environment, though, is less revenue for local businesses.

"It is slower," said Robbie Caan, owner of Simply Perfect, a gift shop in St. Pete Beach's central business district along Corey Avenue. "This is when we do rely on the local people."

Many locals could be found on Pass-a-Grille Beach on Saturday. By midmorning, there were still plenty of empty parking spaces along the beach, on the southern end of St. Pete Beach. Most of the parked cars bore Florida tags.

"It's kind of an inexpensive weekend, something to do with the kids," said Demetri Kangas, 36, whose drive from Riverview took about 45 minutes. "And it's kind of fun. It's a break from the normal routine of just hanging around the house."

Among those strolling along the beach were Marissa De Zutter, 21, of Brandon, and her 18-year-old sister, Brianne. They were joined by Tiffany Holbert, 19, of Tampa.

Holbert hadn't been to the beach in a year. It has been two years for the De Zutters. They said the exodus of tourists didn't factor in their decision to check out the sand and surf.

"I want to get a tan, relax and have some fun," said Marissa De Zutter, summing up her itinerary for the day.

Regular beachgoers Jane Lamb, 75, and her husband Lewis, 80, both of Gulfport, sat in chairs a few feet from the lapping shore, reading books by Nora Roberts and Michael Robotham.

Jane Lamb said she could tell that most tourists have left because the locals don't get out to the beach until later, around noontime.

"But we're early birds," she said. "We come at 9 [a.m.] and have breakfast. We just love it."

At Paradise Sweets, even selling ice cream on a hot summer day was a chore.

Jamie Gaviglio, 20, the store's assistant manager, said that since spring break ended around Easter, the ice cream shop has drawn one-half to one-third the number of customers it usually sees during the peak tourist season. She and another employee, Jake Holehouse, 15, spent much of their time just sitting around.

Amplifying the traditional summer slowdown is the downturn in the housing market, which is affecting the pocketbooks of many consumers, said Tony Satterfield, general manager of the Alden Beach Resort on St. Pete Beach.

"I don't know that there's a lot of consumer confidence in the economy right now," said Satterfield, a member of Pinellas County's Tourist Development Council. "And my business is directly tied to consumer confidence: You feel good about yourself, you spend some money on vacation. If you don't, that's something you can do without."

For longtime merchants such as Caan, who has owned her gift shop for 12 years, the slow summer months are something she has learned to simply cope with.

"I think it's going to be a long summer," she said.

Reporter Carlos Moncada can be reached at (727) 451-2333 or cmoncada@tampatrib.com.