Calendar confusion: An extra-long summer
We just put the snow shovels away and Memorial Day weekend is already passed.
Thanks to a quirk in the calendar, the long, cold winter seems to have morphed into the long, hot summer in the blink of an eye. With Memorial Day falling "early," on May 25, and Labor Day coming "late," on Sept. 7, this year we're getting a whopping 105 days of unofficial summer.
Memorial Day was pinned to the last Monday in May when Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act on June 28, 1968. As a result, this year there was a full week between Memorial Day and the end of May.
There will also be a full week between Sept. 1, which falls on a Tuesday, and Labor Day. That means the length of "cultural summer" is a week longer than it will be next year. The last time cultural summer was 15 weeks long instead of 14 was in 2009. It won't happen again until 2020, and then in 2026.
Actual, official summer — usually shorter than cultural summer though not that much shorter — runs from the June 21 summer solstice to the Sept. 23 autumnal equinox, a mere 94 days.
"I think it's great," said Manny Lebron of White Plains, who was in full summer regalia — shorts, T-shirt and sandals — as he walked down Mamaroneck Avenue on Wednesday. "I had to work on Memorial Day so I'm off today. The earlier summer comes, the better, as far as I'm concerned."
Few would argue.
"Sales have been up for a few weeks leading up to Memorial Day weekend," said Susan Liberati, a manager at Love By Bella Fiora, a Larchmont boutique that features designer womens clothes and swimwear. "People have been coming in, looking for summer things, and we did do some planning for it, making sure we had inventory and setting up the displays."
Although it's open year 'round, Brewster's Red Rooster Drive-in is a traditional symbol of summer in the lower Hudson Valley. Jon Callahan, a manager there, said he's noticed an influx of customers lately.
"The bulk of our business is between Memorial Day and Labor Day, but we've been getting bigger crowds than usual over the past few weeks," Callahan said. "We're ordering extra food and supplies because of the longer summer season."
Stuart Leventhal, owner of the Down to Earth nursery in Pomona, said the "early" Memorial Day weekend brought in early business.
"Mother Nature really doesn't care about the calendar, but people do," he said. "We're getting people purchasing certain materials because they want to dress up their property for the summer."
Leventhal said the nursery doesn't have to order extra merchandise for a long summer.
"We have an enormous inventory that we replenish throughout the year, so that we can accommodate our customers whenever they come in," he said.
Early Memorial Days and late Labor Days don't affect school planning, said Harrison Schools Superintendent Louis Wool.
"The school calendar is planned a year in advance, so there's really no impact," he said. "And for all the talk about how many snow days were used this winter, by spring no one cares about the weather anymore. It's something that adults focus on but, believe me, the kids are already in summer mode."
Memorial Day weekend has traditionally been a busy one for elected officials and potential candidates, and this past weekend was no exception.
State Assemblyman David Buchwald, D-White Plains, marched with presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton in the Chappaqua parade on Monday — one of four Memorial Day events he attended that day.
"I think the biggest impact of an early Memorial Day and late Labor day is that people will have a longer summer to enjoy," he said. "And, with the winter we just went through, we've certainly earned it."