Locals enjoying fewer tourists in Monterey this month

Ice Skating by the Bay at the Custom House Plaza in Monterey is back this year and all the locals are loving it.

“You can do cool tricks and people teach you how to do stuff,” said one little girl who went ice skating on Friday.

But what parents are loving the most is that there seems to be not as many tourists around.

“Parking is easy,” said one parent. “We’ve scheduled so many play dates to come out on the ice, so that’s really cool. It’s been really cool, it’s been really nice.”

“It’s better. It’s a lot… I mean you’ve got a lot more familiar faces, it’s more families and just people out enjoying our town, our locals enjoying our town,” said Dorinda Schweiger, a Salinas resident.

The Monterey County Visitors Bureau says Monterey’s peak tourism season runs when it is warmer between July and September.

“Traffic gets congested and it’s just not the best to navigate. During the peak season, yeah we tend to stay away a little bit,” said Joseph Schweiger, a Salinas resident.

But between November and March, you get fewer crowds.

“During the weekdays from Monday to about Thursday, it’s very slow daily and generally we close pretty early,” said Simbhaba Baird, an employee at The Wharf’s General Store at the Old Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey.

Workers hope business picks up next during actual Christmas week. And they are counting on locals to help too.

“We have a more mix of tourists and locals, more locals than usual are out shopping,” said Baird. “But they’re not really shopping, they go up and down, they’ll eat some calamari and go down.”

And even if you have lived around the Central Coast all your life, you can still have fun like you are visiting for the very first time.

“It’s an attraction. It’s something to come see,” said Joseph Schweiger, talking about the Monterey area. “There’s a lot of things to see, you’re by the ocean, and we like to walk.”

The ice skating rink is open seven days a week until January, and it is located at the Custom House Plaza behind the Portola Hotel and Spa in Monterey.