Without the weather's cooperation it's difficult to keep business up at the lake.

At the main marina at Barren River Lake State Resort Park, business is slightly down from last year, but according to those on the lake, the July Fourth weekend helped increase those numbers.

"The July the Fourth holiday has picked up a lot," said Wayne Shelton, owner of the main state park marina and Walnut Creek Marina. "It's been probably as good this year as it has in the previous years, but up until July the Fourth it was a little slower."

Shelton says the slower business can be blamed more on weather than the economy.

"The cool weather, lots of rain, bad weekends," said Shelton. "That's what's brought it down."

Locals seem to come back year after year according to Shelton, so he doesn't see the economy affecting their business much at all.

"I feel like we're kind of lucky with the job that we're doing here," said Shelton. "People are going to kind of do their recreation. They're going to have a place to get away and enjoy life with all of the other strains they have, stresses they have in life, so being here on the lake is probably the best place they can be."

Seeing the numbers up this weekend did help, but the weather still didn't work out completely.

"We had a super day Friday," said Shelton. "We had a good day Saturday. Today has dropped off considerably. If the weather doesn't cooperate with us, we're hurting."

Many areas of the park, like the marina, are individually operated, and Shelton says they all seem a bit slower this year.

"I think the lodging's off just a little bit," said Shelton. "We're off just a little bit, but not enough to hurt nothing. As long as the weather stays pretty, we have a lot of pretty weather, dry weekends, I think we'll have as good a year this year as we did last year."

We also spoke with several locally owned businesses surrounding the lake who say they've noticed a slower season so far as well, and all they can do is hope it picks up again soon.