Cold, Wet Weather Forces Many People Inside On Memorial Day

LONG BEACH, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- The cold, rainy weather was a washout for a lot of people's outdoor plans on Memorial Day.

As CBS2's Elise Finch reported, the Long Beach boardwalk was far from busy Monday. The handfuls of people who came out had plenty of room to walk and bike.

The beach had even fewer people. It was mostly empty except for a few volleyball enthusiasts who ignored the chill and a few dedicated surfers out to catch some waves.

"If it was hot out inland, all the people from inland would be down at the beach, and this whole boardwalk would be loaded right now," said Scott Cali, of Long Beach.

Streets were empty in Freeport after cold, stormy conditions forced the cancellation of the village's annual Memorial Day parade.

"It's a little depressing, honestly," said Mercedes Rios, of Freeport. "I was really excited to walk down the streets and have people with flags coming about."

"Feels kind of gloomy," added Justin Merrill, also of Freeport. "There's nobody on the streets really. Everybody's inside. We're probably going to go grab a bite to eat actually and then just stay inside for the rest of the day."

The weather had a lot of other people opting to stay inside as well, and that was bad for business along Freeport's Nautical Mile.

"It's probably one of the top three weekends of the summer, including Fourth of July and Labor Day, so it hurts to lose two of the days," said Jonathan Bracco, co-owner of Bracco's Clam and Oyster Bar. "We basically had a good night last night. Friday (and) Saturday was half-full, so we did OK. But today is a big day. We lose that, we lose a lot of food, a lot of fun, a lot of everything for everybody down here."

When it comes to the weather, most people consider Memorial Day to be the start of hot, summer conditions. But Monday felt like anything but.

"It feels a little like fall, besides the trees," one young girl said.

"It feels like winter," said another woman. "It's cold. I'm cold. I have layers on."

As a result, many people changed their outdoor plans to indoor ones. According to people CBS2 spoke to, movie theaters, bowling alleys, stores and shopping malls were popular destinations.

One owner of a beach business said he's hoping better weather forecast for the middle of the week will help him recoup some of the money that he lost Monday.