Summer’s last hoorah

Jenny Marder

Labor Day weekend was bittersweet for Cristen Silvers, 13, and

Alexandra Polley, 14, for whom the thrill of starting a new school

year was mixed with the sadness of bidding farewell to summer

vacation.

“The first day of school is exciting, but after that I wish it

wouldn’t have started,” Cristen said.

Cristen and Alexandra spent eight weeks training with the junior

lifeguards this summer; running barefoot in the hot sand, swimming in

and out of rip tides and practicing ocean rescues.

Otherwise, it was a lazy summer.

“We’d hang out and bodysurf, boy watch, lots of barbecues, stuff

like that,” Alexandra said.

The families of both girls own homes on the Balboa Peninsula and

spend every summer in the seaside town. But trips to the beach become

less frequent as school begins and time gets swallowed up by swim

practice, science labs and history tests.

There are many in Newport Beach though, who can’t wait for the

traditional calm that settles over the coastal city as soon as the

tourists clear out post-Labor Day.

“Tuesday will be the automatic shutout,” said Newport Beach

resident Sharon Fairborn, who has a home along the boardwalk. “Next

weekend is going to be glorious.”

Fairborn, a first-grade teacher at Harbor View Elementary School,

enjoyed watching youngsters like Cristen and Alexandra train for the

junior lifeguards, which was outside her beachfront home. From time

to time, she’d catch sight of former students and cheer them on.

“It was fun to watch,” Fairborn said. “I’d go out and say, good

job, Beth.”

Some residents say that this summer has been less hectic than

others.

“It’s been really quiet,” Cristen said. “During the day, there are

a lot of people, but at night there’s no one.”

Becky Schuler, a peninsula homeowner, attributes the calm to the

string of overcast days that lingered until the end of June.

But Newport Beach lifeguards say that the depart of June gloom and

the hot weather that followed triggered swarms of beachgoers.

Swimmers were enticed to stay at the beach until late evening hours

by the warm ocean water, which reached temperatures as high as 80

degrees, said Eric Bauer, a lifeguard captain with the Newport Beach

Fire Department.

“It was the crummiest June I’ve ever seen, but then summer came in

with a bang,” Bauer said. “Some weekends were the most crowded that

I’ve seen in my career.”

Beaches remained consistently busy, but inland, Newport-Mesa

police report a slow summer overall.

“It’s been pretty tame,” said Newport Beach Police Sgt. Rob

Morton. “I’ve been here 19 years, and it’s seemed relatively quiet

compared to other summers.”

For Tony Azevado, 51, it was the heat that set this summer apart.

“It’s been hot lately, hotter than normal,” Azevado said.

Labor Day for the Costa Mesa resident was a day of rest and a time

to quietly enjoy the last unofficial day of summer. He spent the

morning at Fairview Park with his dog Shadow.

“I thought I’d treat him to a walk,” he said.

Although the school year is sure to bring in a different kind of

chaos, Schuler is looking forward to Sept. 3, when the noise and

crowds caused by floods of tourists, beach traffic and boardwalk

pedestrians quiets down.

“It’s not so bad,” said the mother of three, bent over a cluster

of purple and red impatiens that she’s planting for the fall season.

“A couple months of hectic for nine months of peace and quiet.”

Schuler, still tired from a recent family vacation to Hawaii, had

a quiet Labor Day evening planned to bid farewell to the summer.

“I’ll finish my weeding and planting, have a beer and barbecue,”

she said.