(NECN: Ally Donnelly, Essex, Mass.) - Joe Wojtowicz has been slapping mustard on dogs on this stretch of Western Ave in Gloucester for 42 years, he couldn't spot a bus load of tourists to save his life Thursday.
"There's nobody here," he says.
With weather predicted to be lousy through the bulk of Memorial Day weekend, Joe Hot Dog isn't even gonna clock in.
"I'll be working around the house. I gotta do something," he says.
All along the tourism-dependent North Shore, business owners, locals and visitors are keeping an eye to the sky.
Vermonters Mark and Ellen Leavitt came to check out the famed Good Harbor Beach -- and had plenty of options for parking.
"It's just pretty blah, pretty blah, but it's nice it's not snowin'," Mark Leavitt says.
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At least they realists, since Brian Dockerty is in from Seattle and brought plenty of sunscreen.
"Going to visit some family, they have a pool," he says.
Yeah, good luck with that. You might want to make Plan B Woodman's of Essex.
On a beautiful day, there's a line down the street for fried clams and cold beer, but a cold and rainy season kick off could mean a hit of thousands of dollars.
"It's big, because you can't make it up. There's only one of these weekends a year," Ian Woodman of Woodman's says. "It can be devastating when you really lose a weekend."
Across the street from Woodman's, at Howard's Flying Dragon Antiques, Cathy Galli she might actually get a boost in business.
"If it's too nice everybody goes to the beach or stays and has their barbecues in their backyard or that kind of thing, so sometimes, if it's a little off, it works to our advantage," she says.
Maybe, Delorese Gregoire Manson -- in from Honolulu -- could pick up something nice for her granddaughter's graduation from Brown.
"I don't care if it's pouring down rain, I'm going," she says.
Circling back to Gloucester, we ask Joe Hot Dog if he'll at least open Monday for sunny skies, but he says it ain't worth it.
"I play it safe, honey," he dead pans.
Many others say they'll take what they can get. It is New England, after all.
