At Old Orchard Beach, Canadians right at home
Thanks to strong dollar and welcoming flavor, 6 of 10 summer visitors are from north of the border
OLD ORCHARD BEACH, Maine -- When they eat fried dough, sip Bud Lights, and ride the Tilt-A-Whirl, they are like other tourists. Then they squirt gravy on their French fries, unfold beach chairs emblazoned with maple leaves, and speak.
They are French-Canadians, and they are flooding this honky-tonk beach town like never before. Six out of every 10 visitors to Old Orchard Beach are Canadian, 20 percent more than last summer, according to the local Chamber of Commerce.
Buoyed by the strong Canadian dollar and the easy drive (about 6 hours from Montréal), Québécois have made this town their own.
In many parking lots, license plates from Quebec outnumber those from Maine. French fills the bars at night. And the souvenir shops cater to Québécois with signs that read "De vraies dents de requin" -- real shark's teeth -- and "Votre nom sur un grain de riz" -- Your name on a grain of rice.
"This is like Florida for Canadians," said Megan Brown, 24, a bartender at The Pier, where about 75 percent of the clientele is French-Canadian. "That's what Old Orchard Beach is for them. It's their Daytona Beach."
On Wednesday, Jean-Claude Monette, 52, a customer service representative for Quebec's provincial energy company, and his wife, Céline, 52, an aesthetician, were among dozens of tourists speaking French along the T-shirt shops, tattoo parlors, and fried food shacks of Old Orchard Street. The couple, who had driven from Saint-Jérôme, just north of Montréal, sat on a park bench, eating pizza and French fries. Céline clutched a colorful umbrella to shade them from the blazing sun.
"Last year, we went to Thailand for vacation," said Jean-Claude, who wore a Hawaiian shirt, checkered Speedo, and sandals.
"They had beautiful beaches but there were no waves. The waves in Old Orchard Beach are the best!"
Nearby, Mireille Côté, 54, a real estate agent, and Céline Rousseau, 54, a mental health counselor, ate lunch outside Beach Bagels. They had driven from Quebec on their motorcycles, and were staying at Paradise Park Camp Sites, which is owned by a French-Canadian couple who moved to town 37 years ago.
"We forget about everything while we're here, that's for sure. Just food and the beach," Côté said.
Canadians first flocked to Old Orchard Beach about 30 years ago, and have come and gone with the changing fortunes of their dollar, said James Harmon, executive director of the town Chamber of Commerce.
This year, the Canadian dollar fetches 95 cents US, up from 65 cents in 2002. And Canadians are visiting in record numbers, Harmon said. They are also spending more, to the delight of everyone.
"Thirty years ago, the Canadian market was such that they came, they brought their groceries, they stayed for a weekend at a time, and they cooked in their rooms and went on the beach during the day," Harmon said. "And I see a difference now -- there's a lot of shopping going on and a lot of dining out."
Jim Halle, 32, the manager at Paradise Park Camp Sites, said 50 percent of his customers this summer have been Canadian.
"They're great for the economy. Any business is happy to have them, and if it wasn't for our Canadian customers in town, we would not be full," Halle said.
Locals say they appreciate the business, but some note that there have been a few cultural clashes between Canadians and Mainers. Brown mentioned tipping, among other quibbles.
"French-Canadians who don't speak English, I'll get 75 cents for four drinks," Brown said. Teenagers from Quebec, where the legal drinking age is 18, will try to buy beer with Canadian IDs, she said.
And some will pretend they do not speak English when told not to take their drinks outside, she said.
"Then you get serious and, all of a sudden, they can speak some," said Chris Tweedie, 34, a security guard wearing mirrored shades at The Pier. "The language barrier sometimes makes it difficult."
But Steve Leahy, 71, a retired mailman who has lived in Old Orchard Beach for 65 years, said he likes the cultural mélange.
At his part-time job as a parking lot attendant, he takes pride in dusting off the French he learned from his grandmother as a boy and welcoming tourists in their native tongue.
"People say, 'Do you speak French?' And I say, 'I do -- two months out of the year,' " Leahy said, chuckling.
"My other statement is, nobody here in the wintertime speaks French other than me."
Of course, not every Canadian falls in love with Old Orchard Beach. Julien Lacoursière, 61, a tourist from Quebec, said he was unimpressed with the town's 7-mile beach and frigid surf.
"The best sea is in Shediac," Lacoursière said, recalling a beach town in New Brunswick that is licked by the edge of the Gulf Stream. "If you have to take Old Orchard and Shediac, I love better Shediac, because the weather is better and the temperature in the water is warmer."
Still, he said, it takes him 11 hours to drive to Shediac, too long for a quick vacation.
Leahy said the town could not survive without Canadians. And many Canadians said they consider Old Orchard Beach their own.
"We expect that Canada will annex Maine soon," said Jean-Guy LaPointe, a civil servant from Quebec, laughing as he tanned on the beach. "We could exchange the Yukon for Maine."
Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com. 