Winter's late arrival impacting Aroostook businesses
The winter’s late arrival and its seeming inability to stick around for more than a few days at a time has resulted in the decline in seasonal business for some Aroostook County merchants, the St. John’s Valley Times reported.
“It’s killed everybody in Aroostook County,” Peter Ouellette, owner of Ouellette’s Trading Post in Van Buren, told the paper about the difficulty many stores are having during this winter season.
That trend might continue. According to a Natural Resources Council of Maine report, ski professionals, along with climate scientists and conservationists, are warning that climate change is harming Maine winter sports industries.
Winter sports and recreation have long been an essential component of Maine’s economy and traditional way of life, the report said. “These include downhill skiing and snowboarding, Nordic/cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, snowshoeing and ice-fishing. The Maine Winter Sports Center in Aroostook County, for example, has become an international destination for training and competition in cross-country skiing and biathlon, training several U.S. Olympic athletes who competed in Sochi, Russia and previous Games.”
Ouellette, who sells sporting goods, supplies and gasoline and serves food at a small sit-down café, told the paper that sales across the board have been down.
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