WILLOW CREEK — A dry August followed by cool September nights has produced what forestry experts say could be one of the most vivid foliage displays in Aroostook County in more than a decade, and visitors are arriving in numbers the town has not seen since the mill era.
The Maine Forest Service’s foliage report issued Monday rated Aroostook County at near-peak conditions, with sugar maples showing deep orange and red across the upper elevations. Willow Creek sits at the western edge of the Downeast Lakes region, where the mix of hardwoods and conifers along the Mattawamkeag River corridor creates what leaf-peepers call “the cathedral effect.”
Maeve O’Donnell of the Willow Creek General Store said she sold out of pre-made sandwiches by noon last Saturday.
“We had a tour bus from Massachusetts pull up — a full bus, 52 people — and I had nothing left but soup and crackers by 1 o’clock,” O’Donnell said. “That’s never happened before. Not ever.”
The Dry Dock reported its first full-booked weekend since opening in June, with Dean Moreau adding a second seating on Saturday night.
Randy Boucher at Boucher’s Irving said gas sales doubled from the previous September as out-of-state vehicles lined up at the pumps.
State Route 11, which runs through the center of town, has seen an estimated 40 percent increase in traffic compared with last September, according to unofficial counts kept by the town office.
Amos Homan, the three-time Ice-Out champion who keeps weather records going back to 1977, said the combination of soil moisture and temperature delta this year is “as good as I’ve seen since ‘98.”
Jed Thorne, the town historian, noted that the last time Willow Creek saw this many visitors was likely the town’s bicentennial celebration in 1997.