Editor’s note: This is third in a three-part series on one town’s experience with tourism, the state’s largest industry. In Part 1 on May 25, we looked at getting ready for the start of the busy season. In Part 2 on July 20, we looked at the vital role of the second-home owner.

Charles Goude craned his neck out the third-floor window for a peek at the brand-new sign dangling under him, its gold, foot-high letters spelling “Rangeley Inn.” He yanked off bubble wrap off the sign and hustled outside for a better angle, smiling the whole time.

The outside of the inn, he said, needed some new appeal. He’s also adding trim to each of the historic inn’s 181 windows, using a design inspired by an old Wiscasset house. Goude and his wife, both Canadians, bought the property five years ago and haven’t stopped investing, but the economy means he’s cut back on handymen. The chef came out of the kitchen to help hang the new sign.

His revenue was off 60 percent in July, off 20 in August.

“Certain days, it has been like the mud season. There were no cars in the street,” Goude said.

Yet as he darts around describing improvements – new boilers, remodeled guest rooms – he sounds, well, chipper.

“I am old. I have seen other times,” Goude said, still grinning. “There is always another crisis. This will pass.”

Rangeley took a hit this summer.

Gas prices started the season high on Memorial Day. Part of June and July rained. The U.S. economy invited uncertainty. And like other Maine towns that rely on tourism – the state’s biggest, multibillion-dollar industry – Rangeley’s business was down. Consumer retail sales dropped 13 percent for June and July, according to state receipts. (August won’t be out for two weeks.)

Bar Harbor and Kittery took dips in June, then recovered. Camden and the Brunswick area were also off from last year, but not by as much as Rangeley.

“The season started slow, reservations were slow,” said Rob Welch, who owns the five-room Pleasant Street Inn Bed & Breakfast. “Come Thursday before the weekend, we might have a room left, which was not the case last summer. We were booked a month ahead of time.”

But like elsewhere in town, there’s hope winter will be better and confidence that Rangeley has something worth driving for.

Abner and Diana Kingman, Maryland retirees who summer in Islesboro, had never been up before.

“We think of gas and that sort of thing,” Abner Kingman said, but it wasn’t enough to cancel their 300-mile road trip with one night each in Moosehead and Rangeley.

The couple found Welch’s inn online. Welch carried their bags to a waiting SUV last week, wearing an apron and an orange ball cap, after cooking up eggs with fresh basil, aged cheddar cheese and tomato. The day before, the couple hiked Bald Mountain and looked out the watch tower.

Not to knock Moosehead, Diana Kingman said, but they enjoyed Rangeley more.

“It’s beautiful. I couldn’t believe how much wilderness there is. Most pretty lakes have houses climbing up the hills.”

Last peek behind the scenes

With four of every five jobs pegged to tourism, and as much as 70 percent of the tax base picked up by second-home owners who stay for months or weeks on end, the town goes out of its way to stay pretty. Rangeley has a deal with Poland Spring that keeps tanker trucks from driving through downtown during festivals.

Up in the mountains, winter is big. Summer is traditionally a little bigger.

Welch said business this August was the same as last for him, but September looked to be down 20 percent. This season, he saw more one-night guests, fewer foreign travelers and more motorcycling couples. He thinks word got around: Welch lets people park their Harleys in his garage overnight. A small detail, but in a tight economy, details count.

Faced with a $1,000 bill just to heat water at the inn this summer, he’s already planned to keep the house 2 degrees cooler this winter, burn wood that he’ll harvest, and explore pellet boilers and solar tubes for down the road.

If any projects get put off, it’ll be in places guests won’t notice, like rehabbing the barn.

At Ecopelagicon, an eclectic store off Main Street that sells swimwear and books on how to cook trout, store owner Linda Dexter said people came in during the rain to buy puzzles and crafts and even, to her surprise, rent kayaks.

“I still seem to be right on track, numbers-wise. I didn’t gain, but didn’t lose either,” she said. “You go, go, go for so long and then September comes and you can’t understand why you’re so tired. We live for the seven busy weeks.”

Her electric bill is up, so soon she’ll walk the store looking for things to turn off, place a small order for Christmas-themed products and add more insulation under the foundation.

In retail, “If you don’t buy stuff, you don’t sell stuff,” so scaling back in the store is tough, she said. “In my personal life, I am trying to tighten things up a little bit more and wait and see.”

Matt McGuire went through the 12 cases of toilet paper he ordered for Rangeley Lakes State Park. Camping nights were down 10 percent, as of August, but day trippers were up 17.5. The new ranger believes more locals drove to the park to swim, boat and fish instead of the usual getaways like Old Orchard Beach.

Park gates close Wednesday. After that, floats and log booms come out of the water. He’ll inventory picnic tables and fire rings, retire the chain saws and oversee the start of a new wash station with 10 toilet-sink-shower combos built with state bond money.

Last week McGuire started exit interviews with seasonal staff.

“Everybody says, ‘Oh, it’s nice and quiet,’ but this is when everything gets done at once,” he said.

Eye on winter

For the past 15 years, the Rangeley Lakes Chamber of Commerce has pushed the area to leaf-peepers this time of year. Radio ads reach Vermont and Massachusetts.

“It’s the best foliage in the world,” said Executive Director Evelyn McAllister.

The municipal budget includes $25,000 for advertising. The chamber about matches that. They’ll spend as much promoting spring, fall and summer combined as promoting winter through TV commercials. The area had a strong December and January with moderate gains the rest of last winter, according to state sales figures.

This coming winter, Rangeley will host the popular New England Pond Hockey Festival, the Snowmobile Snodeo and cross country ski races. There’s interest in bringing dog sledding events back – again, always trying to expand that tourist draw.

“I think regions like us take it for granted,” Welch said. “You know that, ‘Build it and they will come?’ They may come once. Once isn’t enough.”

Goude, at the Rangeley Inn, said he’s started to see Canadian guests after years advertising up there to no avail. His plan: Keep improving the inn, then sell and retire in five years. Before this, he’d never owned anything like a hotel. The appeal, Goude said, was buying something with history and charm.

He and others are ready for the coming lull between Columbus Day and Christmas, when visitor numbers trickle, then ramp back up.

“The cycle is very simple. You have two, three months in summer to make your money. You survive until December,” Goude said. Then repeat.

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