Tourist Etiquette Fail (A Monday Mommy Rant)

Ahh..there is nothing like an afternoon out at the park on a sunny weekend afternoon. Birds are chirping, children are laughing, trees are blowing in a gentle breeze, and picnic tables are smoking. Wait a minute..picnic tables are what now?? And so begun our last outing of Summer vacation on a seemingly pleasant labor day Monday. Tourists – we as a small community welcome them with open arms. Summer months for small downtown businesses can be bustling enough to sustain families throughout the rest of the year thanks to the extra foot traffic. Beaches are flooded with happy families taking a weekend tour up to our pretty beach town. Small shops are crowded with curious out of towners eager to take in the local fares. Unfortunately with the good sometimes comes the not so good and that is what I, and my dumbfounded family, bared witness to today.

So, back to the smoking lawn furniture. As my happy children ran towards the park we first noticed our usual resting place was looking a little worse for wear. A picnic table which makes its home directly under the maple trees and in front of the playground itself was scarred with a deep ugly burn and surrounded in powdery ash. A gaping bag of overflowing garbage was left carelessly in front of the table, spewing it’s contents in a 6 foot radius around the table. We noticed another parent with his children attempting to bury a pile of charcoal, dumped out by the same guilty culprits, which had been abandoned directly next to the swing set where my little ones so often play. Only moments later a car came screeching into the playground lot. A group of 4 or 5 young adults climbed out and one made their way over to the playground to retrieve a small barbeque he had hidden amongst the equipment. Yes you read that right. These careless, self centered morons actually stashed a hot barbeque in a childrens park within reach of where children play. Directly on top of a climbing apparatus shaped like a fire truck. I was shell shocked. I was confused. I was confused until I watched them then set up at the next picnic table over and light their small hibachi directly on top of the table. One member of the group called out to the others to retrieve a garbage bag from the car. A pale yellow bag the same color as the one left in the playground. Rage does not begin to describe what I felt at that moment. This park is a popular place for local families. I bring my own children here once or twice a week. What could possibly consume a person to treat a beautiful place like this, or any place for that matter, as if it simply doesn’t matter at all. I could have walked away with my sadness and my anger but instead I picked up my cell phone and did what I would hope any other proud citizen would do. I phoned the police.
Yup – I’m a nark. And I am damn proud that because I decided not to turn a blind eye to something so many people have complained about the people responsible for the damage to our local park were held accountable. We discovered after making our complaint that the police had already been contacted earlier that day regarding the same individuals in the same location, which was why the bbq had been stashed away.

We have had a problem in my hometown with weekend visitors arriving with barbeques, ignoring posted signs, leaving behind trails of garbage and used up piles of charcoal that resemble something from my cats litterbox.  Of course not every person visiting our community is guilty of this, in fact it’s the few that do that ruin our beaches and parks for everyone else, locals and tourists alike. Unfortunately today was one of the worst instances I have personally bared witness to. So, next time you are visiting some place new, or perhaps a spot you have been to dozens of times before, please keep this in mind – that place is someones HOME. Perhaps it’s a little girls favorite spot to have a tea party, or a single Moms only place to get away and grab a few moments of peace all on her own, or a families special place to reconvene and enjoy eachothers company at the end of every week. For me it was a place where my autistic son feels at peace, where my husband and I can sit beneath the trees and enjoy eachothers company while our two older children play together almost miraculously without fighting, where our baby daughter stares happily into the trees and we can exhale for what seems like the first time in days. What could possibly feel more like home than that??

The morale of the story. If you’re going to make a mess, pick up your damn garbage. The locals are not your personal maid service. Leave your barbeques at home. Perhaps consider helping our local economy by purchasing some refreshment from any number of our competitively priced shops and restaurants. We want you to love our community as much as we do. Let’s keep it clean, let’s keep it beautiful. Otherwise I’m more than certain there are a whole lot of people out there just as concerned as I am who won’t be afraid to pick up a phone.