At sunset on Columbus Day, the temperature dropped, and some shutters were going up along Circuit avenue.

Signs in the shop windows told passersby that this place and that were now closed for the season. There was melancholy in the air, but just beyond the avenue, some lights yet glowed in a few houses on the Camp Ground, a reminder that even in the heart of that historically summer place, some year-rounders have planted a flag.

So it is official: The off-season has begun.