The view from Old Orchard Beach: many French Canadians say ‘non merci!'
On this longest day of the year, vacancy and Bienvenue signs were posted around town. The Canadian flag flew proudly just below Old Glory on Old Orchard Street. But there were also T-shirts for sale depicting Trump as a tattooed, muscle-bound 'Make America Great' hero in the front window of a nearby souvenir shop.
Advertisement
The sun peeked at the horizon at 5 a.m. near The Pier at Old Orchard Beach, on the summer solstice, the longest day of the year.
Many hotels, motels, and campgrounds cater to French Canadians. They have bilingual staff and have built up decades-long relationships with their guests. Several restaurants here serve poutine, the popular Quebec dish of French fries topped with cheese curds and gravy. With nearly 40 percent of summer visitors coming from Canada, many merchants worry this could be a long, frustrating summer.
A local chamber of commerce spokesperson said reservations are down 10 percent to 20 percent this season.
In addition to the political turmoil
, officials blame the rainy weather and unfavorable exchange rates. The number of Canadian travelers to Maine has declined 25 percent this year compared to last year, according to Customs Border Protection. Some establishments are dropping their three-day minimum stay policy and are offering discounts.
Advertisement
Tourists strolled down Old Orchard Street heading for the beach.
Is this throwback honky-tonk town set on a magnificent 7-mile beach in dire straits? Hopefully not. On Friday, there were several cars with Quebec plates driving around town and a few no vacancy signs.
Most locals are sick of Trump talk. It's a short season and politics here are as welcome as seeing a fin slicing through the shallow water.
But Rico Pettinicco, a longtime parking lot attendant, predicts the French Canadians will return. They love the beach too much. The draw of the ocean is more powerful than any one man.
Tourists peered at a Trump T-shirt in the front window of a shop on Old Orchard Street in Old Orchard Beach, Maine.
'I had one Canadian guy come, and say, 'I'm not mad at you, we're mad at Trump. Besides, we like it here,' Pettinicco said. 'He said, 'How would you like Maine to become a province of Canada?' Then I thought about the free benefits and everything. Maybe it wouldn't be bad.'
Adam Donovan of Friendship Oceanfront Suites says things are not as dire as advertised.
'The people that have been returning for a decade plus have been coming back, but not the newer families,' Donovan said. Consequently, there are bargains for others.
Rachael O'Shaughnessy, an award-winning local artist, cleaned the beach under the pier at sunrise.
Jolene Twombly-Wiser, a teacher from Denmark, Maine, got upgraded to an oceanfront balcony suite because of the lack of Canadian visitors. She says she misses hearing French amid the rolling waves.
'I love Canadians. They're some of the nicest people in the world,' Twombly-Wiser said.
She is not a Trump fan.
'It's his way, right? To try to say shocking things as if they're normal and get everyone riled up,' she said. 'But there's a lot of people here that depend on that income. It's obviously already having an impact here. I'd love to see all the Canadians on the beach.'
Advertisement
The sun rose on the longest day of the year, Friday, June 20th, at 5AM.
Rachael O'Shaughnessy is an award-winning local artist who helps to clean the beach starting before sunrise as
inspiration for her art. She has noticed a difference this year — and not just fewer people.
'So far I see less garbage,' she said.
She doesn't want to discuss politics. 'It's really a brutally difficult time,' she says. She just wants to enjoy the solstice sunrise.
'I think every single sunrise has a unique beauty. And every single one is worthy of my getting up.'
The Pier at Old Orchard Beach has seagulls on patrol for French fries but plenty of empty tables.
Fred Kennedy, the bilingual owner of the Alouette Beach Resort, did a CNN interview months ago after Trump insulted Canada.
'I thought I was pretty even tempered,' he said.
But he received hate email from both Americans who thought he wasn't being loyal and Canadians who were upset at his tone.
'Canadians thought I was being nonchalant with their pride of being Canadian,' Kennedy said. 'Some of them were angry that I was saying everything is just fine.'
Sunset illuminates a bar patron at The Pier at Old Orchard Beach.
He learned that social media can be mean-spirited. 'People that never stayed with us tried to hurt my business by going on and writing negative reviews.'
Since then, US-Canada relations seem to be improving, Kennedy said, with Trump being respectful to Canada's new prime minister, Mark Carney.
Kennedy says his business is down only 3 percent this year.
On the beach, a woman in a USA sweatshirt celebrates the summer solstice, the longest day of the year.
'This weekend is sold out,' he said, noting that it's a long holiday weekend to celebrate the French Canadian patron, Saint Jean Baptiste, and some sports teams are in town.
A Montreal tourist who declined to give his name says this isn't about politics. It's about being with his family at a place that makes him feel welcome.
Advertisement
'No, I'm not going on about Trump,' he said. 'I've come here 20 years now. And I'm coming for the beach.'
The sky is not falling, Kennedy insists. It's a perfect beach day and everybody is happy.
'We all made it through COVID, right?'
@font-face {
font-family: BentonSansCond-Regular;
src: url("https://apps.bostonglobe.com/common/font/bentonsanscond-regular.woff2") format('woff2'), url("https://apps.bostonglobe.com/common/font/bentonsanscond-regular.woff") format('woff');
}
@font-face {
font-family: BentonSansCond-Bold;
src: url("https://apps.bostonglobe.com/common/font/bentonsanscond-bold.woff2") format('woff2'), url("https://apps.bostonglobe.com/common/font/bentonsanscond-bold.woff") format('woff');
}
.dipupnext_hed {
font-family: "MillerHeadline-Bold", "Times New Roman", Times, Georgia, serif;
letter-spacing: .75px;
text-align: center;
font-size: 1.25em;
line-height: 1;
margin-top: 3px;
color: #000;
width: 100%;
font-weight: 600;
}
.dipupnext_cap_cred {
font-family: "BentonSansCond-Regular", "Times New Roman", Times, Georgia, serif;
font-size: 16px;
letter-spacing: .5px;
text-align: left;
margin: 3px 0px 5px 0px;
font-weight: 200;
color: #000;
text-decoration: none;
text-align: center;
}
.dipupnext_photo {
max-width: 100%;
height: auto;
padding-top: 15px;
opacity: 1;
}
.dipupnext__form:hover {
opacity: .5;
text-decoration: underline .5px;
}
.dipupnext__form{
opacity: 1;
}
.picupnext__container {
width: 100%;
position: relative;
margin: 0 auto;
}
.dipupnext__content {
width: 100%;
display: grid;
grid-template-columns: 3fr;
}
.cdipupnextcontainer {
display: block;
width:100%;
height: auto;
margin:0 auto;
-moz-box-sizing: border-box;
overflow: hidden;
}
.upnext {
font-family: "BentonSansCond-Bold", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
text-align: center;
font-size: 1em;
line-height: 1.15;
margin-top: .5rem;
letter-spacing: 0px;
color: #000;
padding: 8px 8px 4px 8px;
margin-top: 5px;
letter-spacing: .5px;
}
.upnext:before,
.upnext:after {
background-color: #000;
content: "";
display: inline-block;
height: 1px;
position: relative;
vertical-align: 4px;
width: 32%;
}
.upnext:before {
right: 0.3em;
margin-left: -50%;
}
.upnext:after {
left: 0.3em;
margin-right: -50%;
}
.theme-dark .upnext:before {
background-color: #fff;
}
.theme-dark .upnext:after {
background-color: #fff;
}
.theme-dark .upnext {
color: #fff;
}
.theme-dark .dipupnext_cap_cred {
color: #fff;
}
.theme-dark .dipupnext_hed {
color: #fff;
}
@media screen and (min-width: 800px){
.dipupnext__content {
grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr 1fr;
grid-column-gap: 40px;
}
}
UP NEXT
Stan Grossfeld can be reached at
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBS News
23 minutes ago
- CBS News
House won't vote on Jeffrey Epstein resolution before August recess, Johnson says
Washington — House Speaker Mike Johnson said there will not be a vote before Congress' August recess on a resolution that calls on the Trump administration to release more files related to child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. "My belief is we need the administration to have the space to do what it is doing, and if further congressional action is necessary or appropriate, then we'll look at that," the Louisiana Republican told reporters Monday. "But I don't think we're at that point right now because we agree with the president." The White House spent the last week dealing with the fallout from a Justice Department review that concluded Epstein had no "client list" and died by suicide while in federal custody in 2019 as he was facing sex trafficking charges. In an effort to alleviate the pressure from some of Mr. Trump's most fervent supporters, which Democrats have sought to capitalize on, House Republicans last week offered a resolution that carries no legal weight to make the Epstein files public. "This resolution they're offering is a cover vote and I'll be surprised if they even bring it to the floor," Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts said during a House Rules Committee meeting last week. As the committee debated the release of the files, Mr. Trump ordered the Justice Department to produce "any and all pertinent grand jury testimony, subject to court approval." The request also came after the Wall Street Journal published a letter Mr. Trump allegedly wrote to Epstein for his birthday in 2003, which the president called "fake." Mr. Trump sued the Journal and its parent company for defamation over the story. The Justice Department on Friday formally asked a federal judge to unseal transcripts from grand jury proceedings. There's a separate effort led by Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky to force a vote on a bipartisan measure that would compel the Justice Department to release Epstein-related files within 30 days. On Monday, Massie pressed Johnson on holding a vote on his legislation before Congress' month-long break. "We should not punt this until after the 5 week recess, nor should we wait for my discharge petition to ripen and collect the required signatures to force the vote," Massie wrote. Massie needs 218 signatures on his petition to force a vote once Congress returns after Labor Day. Johnson called the endeavor "a political game that Democrats are playing, and I hope Republicans don't join it." He also reiterated that there's "no daylight" between the White House and House Republicans on wanting more transparency. "We want maximum disclosure," he said. Jaala Brown contributed to this report.
USA Today
24 minutes ago
- USA Today
DC locals on Trump's attempt to force Commanders' name change: Stay in your 'own lane'
WASHINGTON − D.C.-area residents have a message for President Donald Trump who is threatening to derail the Commanders' pending football stadium deal unless the team restores its old name: Stay out of the city's business and do your job. Trump posted on Truth Social on July 20 that he may block a deal for the team to build a new stadium on the old RFK Stadium site if the team doesn't switch back to its former name, considered offensive to Native Americans. "I may put a restriction on them that if they don't change the name back to the original 'Washington (name),' and get rid of the ridiculous moniker, 'Washington Commanders,' I won't make a deal for them to build a Stadium in Washington," Trump posted. Steve Mahoney, 62, said Trump has 'bigger fish to fry' than pressuring the Commanders to change the team name. 'Focus on lowering prices, everything else that he said he was going to do that he's not doing,' he said. Mahoney, who retired from a career in pharmaceuticals, has held onto his love for his hometown team, the Chicago Bears. Now a Washington resident, he wants Trump to let both the capital city and its football team handle their own affairs, Mahoney said. 'The fans have adopted the new name," Mahoney said, "and there's no reason to change it back.' Jessica Brown, 48, said she only pays 'just enough attention' to the president to 'know how he can affect my life.' The stadium issue is apparently one of those cases. When it came to Trump's threats to block the RFK Stadium deal, Brown didn't hold back. 'He should just keep his nose in his own lane,' she said. Brown, a nurse from Alexandria, Virginia, just across the Potomac River from Washington, said she supported the Commanders and other teams changing their names to avoid titles broadly seen as racist. 'You should just choose other names. There are so many others,' she said. Her advice for local leaders involved in the stadium deal – 'ignore him.' Two new names, and then one stunning season In 2013, then-team owner Dan Snyder bluntly told USA TODAY: 'We'll never change the name. It's that simple. NEVER — you can use caps.' But once major corporate sponsors threatened to pull funding amid the George Floyd protests in 2020, Snyder and the league had little choice. Major League Baseball's Cleveland Guardians also underwent a name change around the same time and have been the subject of Trump's recent nickname crusades. The team rid itself of the former nickname in 2020 and went by 'Washington Football Team' for two seasons before the 'Commanders' rebrand in 2022. When the Commanders were sold in 2023, the potential for another name change became possible, although it was not a priority for the new regime led by managing partner Josh Harris. In a news conference at the conclusion of a stunning season − which saw the often cellar-dweller team come within one game of the Super Bowl − Harris essentially quashed any idea of a name change. The organization and players have embraced the 'Commanders' name − as have exuberant fans thrilled with the team's turnaround. But any name change would never have resulted in a reversion to the pre-2020 name. Last year, both parties of Congress worked together to pass a bill that gave the local D.C. government a 99-year lease of the land on which the RFK Stadium site and the surrounding acreage sit on the banks of the Anacostia River near the eastern edge of the city. The Commanders played at RFK Stadium from 1961-1996 and have played at NorthWest Stadium in Landover, Maryland – considered one of the NFL's worst stadiums – since. That paved the way for the Commanders and D.C. to hammer out a $3.7 billion stadium deal, which was announced in April. The agreement would cost the District a projected $1.1 billion, while the Commanders are contributing $2.7 billion. Trump's threat called a move 'to get attention' Griffin Lafayette, a Raleigh, North Carolina native visiting Washington, called Trump's threat to block the RFK stadium deal if the Washington Commanders don't revert their name back to the original nickname 'really stupid.' 'It's just on his laundry list of things to complain about to get attention,' said Lafayette, a 25-year-old football fan. Lafayette said he was 'all for' ditching the team's original name. Gerald Collins, 66, said he doesn't care about the team name, but he wants Trump to 'stay out' of the RFK stadium deal. 'He isn't a Washingtonian,' said Collins, a lifelong DC resident who works in construction. 'What he's doing is very wrong. He just wants to control things." Collins said he will always supported the team no matter its name. He hopes the deal moves forward because it will bring the team back to the area where he watched them play when he was growing up. Mayor confident stadium deal will get done D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a champion of the stadium deal who earlier this year negotiated with the NHL's Washington Capitals and NBA's Washington Wizards to remain in the District, was asked about Trump's power to block the agreement. 'I think the thing that we should focus on in D.C. is doing our part," Bowser said. "I have worked for the better part of 10 years to get our part completed, including getting control of the land, coming to an agreement with the team and advancing a fantastic agreement to the Council. So we need to do our part. Let's focus on doing our part.' It is now up to the D.C. City Council to approve the deal. D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, a skeptic of the proposal, has yet to set a specific date for a vote on it. Public hearings on the matter scheduled for July 29 and 30. 'No, it wouldn't,' Bowser responded when asked whether the name being changed – even to the former name – would affect her support of the current stadium plan. The topic has been of growing interest to Trump. On July 6, Trump told reporters that he wouldn't have changed the name, although he elaborated that 'winning' could make the name for palatable to him personally. Steven Kiekel, 36, said Trump's threats to block the stadium came as little surprise – even though Trump announced May 5 in the Oval Office with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Harris and Bowser standing beside him that the 2027 NFL Draft is being held in D.C. 'Sounds like typical Trump being Trump,' he said. 'If they wait long enough, he'll get distracted, and it'll go through.' Kiekel, an engineer and Washington native, isn't an avid sports follower, apart from some soccer. But he lives near the proposed stadium in the shadows of the U.S. Capitol. 'It's tricky' because of Washington's unique relationship with the federal government, Kiekel said. Questions over Trump and the federal government's actual oversight of the land, especially under the new law, have emerged. Don't mess with success and leave the name, fan says James Anderson, 47, said he hopes Trump's threats don't force the Commanders to revert to their former name, mainly because he wants the team's good fortune to continue. 'They've been playing much better so I don't want them to change anything again,' he said. Last season, the Commanders advanced to the franchise's first NFC championship in 33 years. Maureen Brown, 57, said it would be a 'huge step back' if the Commanders returned to their former name. 'I don't want to see them go back,' she said. 'The Commanders is a fine name. 'The Red Wolves' would be good, too.' Brown, who has lived in Washington for 18 years, said she has never seen a game because their current stadium is inaccessible without a car. The team moving to Washington − especially to her neighborhood − would give her plenty of chances to see her favorite player, quarterback Jayden Daniels, in the flesh. Daniels was the 2024 Offensive Rookie of the Year after a record-setting season in which the Commanders went 12-5 under first-year coach Dan Quinn. Anderson, who works as security guard for federal buildings, moved to Washington from Texas 15 years ago and promptly dropped the Dallas Cowboys to support his new home team. He said if the Commanders leave Maryland for a new stadium in Washington, he would be able to go to their home games. 'I was a Redskins fan much longer than I've been a Commanders fan,' he said. 'But they have a good thing going now.' Trump's threats, he added, are 'only about himself' – not the team or its fans.
The Hill
24 minutes ago
- The Hill
Thune keeps door open to nixing August recess after Trump request
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said on Monday that he is open to President Trump's call to cancel the August recess as part of the GOP's push to quickly confirm his nominees. Thune told reporters that he was considering the move, alleging Democrats broke precedent by not allowing the expeditious confirmation of any of Trump's nominees. 'We're thinking about it. We want to get as many [nominations] through the pipeline as we can,' Thune said at the Capitol, adding that it would be 'nice to have' Democrats 'act more according to historical precedents when it comes to this.' 'Trump's the first president in history that hasn't had a [nomination] adopted by this point in his presidency either by unanimous consent or voice. Not a single one,' Thune continued. 'Trying to get his team in place is something that we're very committed to and we're going to be looking at all the options in the next few weeks to try and get as many of those across the finish line as we can.' In addition to nominations, the South Dakota Republican said government funding and the annual National Defense Authorization Act would top the to-do list if members are kept in town. Thune also said he and Trump have discussed the idea. Trump on Saturday urged the GOP leader to keep senators in Washington. 'Hopefully the very talented John Thune, fresh off our many victories over the past two weeks and, indeed, 6 months, will cancel August recess (and long weekends!), in order to get my incredible nominees confirmed,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. 'We need them badly!!!' Republicans have scores of nominees waiting to get the green light for confirmation, including via the Foreign Relations Committee. GOP leaders have also started to move judicial nominees to the floor.
