WILDWOOD - The summer of 2009 will go down in the books as the season nobody wanted to talk about.

At least not at the Jersey Shore, where anxious merchants, lodging proprietors, and tourism officials prefer to say, simply, that they're counting on a strong "shoulder" season to carry them out of a year marred by bad weather, a poor economy, and a Labor Day weekend too late to pack much of a wallop.

Early reports indicate that the Shore's tourism economy was down 10 percent to 15 percent from last summer, said Diane F. Wieland, director of the Cape May County Department of Tourism.

"Overall," Wieland said, "I think we had a middle-of-the-road kind of summer."

A tip-off to business owners' glum mood was the lukewarm response to a survey her office mailed Chamber of Commerce members in beach towns from Ocean City to Cape May. Of more than 800 questionnaires, Wieland said, fewer than 60 were returned.

"More than 20 days with rain in June and a little more rain in July didn't help anybody. When the news isn't great, nobody wants to talk about it," Wieland said.

Last summer, which exceeded expectations tempered by high gas prices and an unusually cold ocean, 80 percent of the survey recipients responded. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the highest, the average rating for the season was 2.9.

This year, Wieland said, the grade was close to 4.

That's how David Roach, who owns Laura's Fudge in Wildwood, said he would sum it up. And the candy business is supposed to be recession-proof.

"We're holding our own," said Roach, whose shop, off the boardwalk at East Wildwood Avenue, has weathered a lot of economic ups and downs since it opened in 1926. The store, which features 28 fudge varieties, has been in the family since the 1950s.

"I'm hoping and praying for a good weekend this weekend weather-wise - and for a really strong fall," Roach said.

A cold, wet spring and an early Memorial Day brought a meager wave of tourists to the Shore, he said. It wasn't until July and August that visitors flooded in and "brought the place to life."

Debbie Fisher's first summer running a Sea Isle City motel was nerve-racking.

"Everything was very last-minute. Advance reservations were not the thing," Fisher said. "We would have rooms available right up until check-in time on a Friday. Then boom - by 6 or 7 o'clock, as people would get off work and drive down here for the weekend, the rooms would all be gone."

Larry Hanker, who has owned Neptune's Jewels and a clothing store called Pappagallo on 96th Street in Stone Harbor for 28 years, said he had noticed fewer visitors strolling in the evening.

That was a bad sign, because research shows that 80 percent of Shore tourists make most of their purchases after 6 p.m., Wieland said.

"It really wasn't a good season for anyone," Hanker said. "We knew going into it this year that this was going to be like a season of survival. I wouldn't want to be a new business starting out."

Michele Gillian, executive director of the Ocean City Regional Chamber of Commerce, said "last-minute" also had been the rule at "America's Greatest Family Resort."

She doesn't care if visitors skid into town late, she said, only that they keep coming. Like most Cape May County resorts, Ocean City has myriad events scheduled through the winter holidays, and fall hotel and motel reservations are running on par with 2008, Gillian said.

During the summer, people held out "to see what the weather was going to do before they made firm plans," she said. "I think, with the economy the way it is, people had less resources, and they felt they needed to spend them more wisely, so they waited to see."

But when they did roll in, it was often in a caravan.

"We saw a lot more families traveling with two and three generations or even with extended family, aunts and uncles, this year," Gillian said. "Even though they were watching their pennies, people still wanted to have meaningful experiences and create wonderful memories."

Hanker said the sentiment carried over to the retail setting: "Customers seem like they aren't buying as many clothes that they'll wear for a few seasons, but surprisingly they are buying jewelry. It seems like they want special pieces that create a memory they can hold on to."

Contact staff writer Jacqueline L. Urgo at 609-823-9629 or jurgo@phillynews.com.