Business owners are offering mixed reviews of this year’s Memorial Day weekend – the traditional beginning of the summer visitor season in Leelanau County.

“The weekend came a little earlier on the calendar this year,” noted Edie Aylsworth, manager of Glen Craft Marina & Resort in Glen Arbor Township. “I think that made a lot of local businesses rush to get things ready for the weekend – I know it did with us.”

In fact, the long weekend has been moving ahead with Memorial Day itself falling on Monday, May 28. Most people coming to Leelanau for the weekend arrived here on Friday, the 25th.

Tammy Both, the owner of Nature’s Rental Vacation Properties based in Maple City, said she had several vacant properties available over the weekend, although most of the 15 properties she manages were occupied.

“We received a lot of bookings early this year but still had a number of vacancies until a few people booked at the last minute,” Both said. “Right now, we’re looking good for the summer, but we’re still not booked solid as we’d like to be. Hopefully, we’ll be able to count on a few more of those last-minute people as the summer progresses.”

In Northport, the president of the Northport-Omena Chamber of Commerce and owner of the “Dolls and More” shop, Sally Coohon, said “the town was buzzing” over Memorial Day weekend.

“It was kind of exciting,” Coohon said. “Business seemed to be very good, and I think the car show we had in Northport helped bring in a great group of people.”

Observers disagreed over whether high gasoline prices made a difference over Memorial Day weekend.

“Things were a little bit slower than usual here at the Suttons Bay Marina,” said “veteran” dock hand Katie Mentzer. “But our feeling is that it had more to do with the cool weather than with high gas prices.”

A Michigan State University junior, Mentzer is beginning her third season at the marina since graduating from Suttons Bay High School in 2005.

“I didn’t see too many people wandering around the village either,” Mentzer added. “I think that must have been a little disappointing for some people.”

The executive director of the Leelanau Peninsula Chamber of Commerce, Jan Lindley, agreed that “the numbers appeared to be down a little this Memorial Day weekend,” and she believed that high gas prices may have played a significant role.

“It also didn’t help that the weather forecast called for rain all weekend even though it didn’t rain very much at all,” Lindley said. “In fact, it was a wonderful weekend and I know that some places were very busy with lodging sold out.”

On the other hand, Lindley added, “with school so close to being out, I think some people decided to wait until school is over before heading north.”

Back in Glen Arbor, Aylsworth noted that weather seemed to be a significant factor, and that much of the traffic she saw came from longtime seasonal residents opening up their cottages for the summer.

“We had a lot of people coming in for boating supplies, and had a lot of people getting their docks and boat hoists in the water,” Aylsworth said. “As far as lodging goes, though, it was pretty much normal for this time of year.”

Chamber of Commerce director Lindley summed it up this way: “Memorial Day weekend 2007 was not bad. But it could have been better.”