Tumbleweed Tuesday celebrated in quiet Hamptons, North Fork beaches

Tumbleweed Tuesday brought a hint of autumn in the morning air as crowds thinned across the East End for the unofficial end to summer.

From the Hamptons to the North Fork, locals reveled in the post-Labor Day lull: reclaiming beaches, easing into parking spots and taking a deep breath after the summer frenzy.

"It's like a whole 'nother planet after Labor Day," said Dan Clowery, of Eastport, enjoying a nearly deserted Cooper's Beach in Southampton on a break from work. "Everybody's gone back to the real world."

Clowery, a groundskeeper at a private club, said he's also grateful his commute will return to about 20 minutes.

"During the summertime, it's an hour and a half to get to work every morning," he said Tuesday.

For others, the departure of summer crowds is bittersweet.

Kyle Fengler, of Sag Harbor, sprawled out in the sand on a deserved day off as co-owner and bartender at the Bridgehampton Inn & Restaurant.

"I love it when it's busy here, but it's kind of nice and relaxing ... a bit of a quieter day after a busy holiday," he said. September, he observed, is one of the best times of year and a welcome change of pace.

No 'us-versus-them' mindset

In South Jamesport, the Tuesday after Labor Day kicks off Joan Cear's favorite week of the year.

She planned to celebrate by taking some girlfriends out on her boat, enjoying near 80-degree temperatures and less congestion on the Peconic Bay.

Cear’s neighborhood has a large seasonal population, but she said there isn’t an “us-versus-them” mentality. She delights in seeing second and third generations of families in the area and on beaches.

“That’s what summer’s all about,” she said. “But Tumbleweed Tuesday is a special thing, too. We’re also happy to have things a little quieter.”

At least for a moment.

On the North Fork, Tumbleweed Tuesday serves as a welcome breather between the steady hum of summer activity and full onslaught of fall tourists who will soon descend on the region to fill totes and wagons with apples and pumpkins.

It also signals the switch from summer traffic headaches in the Hamptons to heavy backups on busy fall weekends.

Autumnal mindset

Though the traffic is inconvenient, the influx of visitors on rural roads also poses public safety challenges. Both Southold and Riverhead towns put traffic control officers at certain hotspots.

Garrett Lake, president of the Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps, said the agency now staffs a satellite ambulance barn in Jamesport to cover the eastern part of town, cutting down on response times during busy fall weekends.

“It puts a paramedic ambulance on scene in two to three minutes compared to nine or 10,” Lake said in an interview. “If we have to fight traffic going the other way, at least they're in the care of our ambulance.”

Cear, like most North Fork residents, may groan about the fall traffic. But she said it’s become something to plan around and is a small price to pay for living there year-round.

“If we have errands to run on a weekend, you want to be back home by 11 a.m., or you’re going to sit in traffic,” she said. “We just work around it. We know how important these people are to our local businesses.”

The harvest season is an important, weather-dependent stretch for farmers and other business owners in the region.

“The weekends in the fall blow away the summertime,” said Phil Schmitt Jr., whose family runs farm stands on Sound Avenue in Riverhead and Main Road in Laurel.

He said the farms bring tourists who also spend money at restaurants and downtown businesses from Riverhead to Greenport.

The Riverhead farm is debuting u-pick apples this year for the first time in its more than 100-year history. It also has pick-your-own pumpkins.

Schmitt said he and his brother, Matt, sought to add more u-pick options for visitors looking for that farm experience. They planted the 3-acre orchard in 2022.

“It’s another nice add-on and another draw,” he said.

Schmitt and other business owners were also hoping for good weekend weather through the busiest fall weekend, Columbus Day.

“And then we get ready to sell Christmas trees,” he said.

Elizabeth Sagarin contributed to this story.