Downtown Belfast quiet as storm passes through
Post Office Square in Belfast on Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 27. Except for an army of plows and a few intrepid souls, downtown was mostly shut down for the blizzard. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
Two city plows pass on Main Street. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
Workers clear the roadway and sidewalks on Church Street. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
Cross Street, facing Rollie’s Bar and Grill. The business was open on Tuesday while most others downtown remained closed for the storm. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
A casualty of plowing, drifting or both on Front Street. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
Heritage Park on the Belfast waterfront. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
The public launch at the foot of Main Street and Belfast Harbor. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
An inlet from Belfast Harbor at Heritage Park. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
Winds left some spots, like this section of the Harbor Walk almost completely clear. In other spots, the snow drifted knee high. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
A city plow near the post office, Belfast. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
Snow laps over the dome at the water treatment plant on Front Street. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
Outdoor seating, put away for the season. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
Through the snow, the view north from Marshall Wharf along the Belfast Harbor Walk frames a massive boat at Front Street Shipyard. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
Post Office Square in Belfast on Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 27. Except for an army of plows and a few intrepid souls, downtown was mostly shut down for the blizzard. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
Two city plows pass on Main Street. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
Workers clear the roadway and sidewalks on Church Street. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
Cross Street, facing Rollie’s Bar and Grill. The business was open on Tuesday while most others downtown remained closed for the storm. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
A casualty of plowing, drifting or both on Front Street. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
Heritage Park on the Belfast waterfront. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
The public launch at the foot of Main Street and Belfast Harbor. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
An inlet from Belfast Harbor at Heritage Park. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
Winds left some spots, like this section of the Harbor Walk almost completely clear. In other spots, the snow drifted knee high. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
A city plow near the post office, Belfast. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
Snow laps over the dome at the water treatment plant on Front Street. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
Outdoor seating, put away for the season. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
Through the snow, the view north from Marshall Wharf along the Belfast Harbor Walk frames a massive boat at Front Street Shipyard. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
BELFAST - One business was open.
Inside Rollie’s Bar and Grill, a half-dozen patrons leaned into their tables. They talked, occasionally glancing up at television screens that outnumbered them two-to-one. Sports events in sunnier locales. The daily special had been temporarily rebranded to match the name given by The Weather Channel to the blizzard blowing silently beyond the plate glass windows at the front of the restaurant.
You could see it right there, piling snow in the doorways of shuttered seasonal businesses, mocking their cheerful, handwritten farewell messages.
“Thanks for a great season!”
Otherwise, it could have been any other Taco Tuesday.
Rollie’s was pretty much alone among downtown businesses. The four cars parked in front might have been dinghies tied up at some remote dock. The only other vehicles on the road were plows, and once in a while an SUV large enough to suggest there might be a governor or foreign dignitary inside.
On Washington Street, a front end loader heaved drifts of snow into great piles. Another tank-like deployment from the city’s public works department — a grader, maybe — was visible further up the hill at Post Office Square. When they disappeared in moments behind buildings, Main Street was all but empty. The photos and video here were taken in downtown Belfast at around 3 p.m. Jan 27.
Ethan Andrews can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com
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