“Really it doesn’t feel like Memorial Day”: Portlanders opting to stay in this holiday given high prices, rainy weather

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - It’s almost Memorial Day weekend, but a lot of people we’ve spoken with say it doesn’t really feel like the kick-off to summer.

“Really it doesn’t feel like Memorial Day so it hasn’t really even crossed my mind that it is Memorial Day weekend,” Susie Gass said.

Gass and her friend Wendy Mitchell are catching up over coffee and said the weather and the pandemic are still throwing them for a loop.

“You feel like you’re in a time warp still even though for many people things are normalizing, I still am quite cautious,” Gass said.

“Memorial Day feels like the entrée to summer and the fact that it snowed in April, it doesn’t feel like summer coming,” Mitchell said. “I started looking at what was available to volunteer but then I looked at the weather and saw that it might rain so I’m re-evaluating that.”

Another thing keeping people home this holiday is high prices.

“Everything’s expensive, you do what you can and I’m not going to complain because everybody’s going through it. I really feel it on the gas,” Jody Thurston said. “I wish I could say oh I’m going on a great trip or I’m having great parties. I’m going to be pulling weeds in the garden if the rain permits and I’m going to be reading a book and being glad I’m not on the highway.”

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