Stories Related to After A Slow Summer Start, Bar Harbor Businesses Fear For Survival

Click here for the latest coronavirus news, which the BDN has made free for the public. You can support our critical reporting on the coronavirus by purchasing a digital subscription or donating directly to the newsroom. The numbers are in for Memorial Day weekend, traditionally considered the start of Maine’s summer tourist season, and the returns have hoteliers and other businesses in Bar Harbor fearing that 2020 will be a bust. Local tourist industry officials fear that some won’t be around to reopen in 2021. Shop owners and restaurateurs in Bar Harbor say they had the slowest summertime holiday weekend they can remember. “It was a ghost town,” said Michael Boland, who owns Havana restaurant and Choco-Latte cafe, adding that business was down at least 80 percent at his operations from the past two Memorial Day weekends.