Bush’s Port Settles Into the Shadows : Kennebunkport commanded the world stage 3 years ago. It’s getting back to normal, but the tourists are different.

There was a time three years ago when this seaside village was the center of world attention.

True, the guns were far away, trained on the Iraqi army occupying Kuwait. But on a rocky promontory known as Walkers Point, the President of the United States--pulled here as if by some ancient migratory instinct--was putting together an international diplomatic and military response, unprecedented since World War II, to oust Saddam Hussein’s forces.

As happened each summer during George Bush’s presidency, the once-sleepy fishing village of Kennebunkport had assumed the patina of a misplaced world capital. Where else would the Izod alligator and the tourist’s tank top meet the gold-flecked robes of Saudi royalty?

This week, the distinction once attached to Kennebunkport has slid south to the Massachusetts coast--to Martha’s Vineyard, President Clinton’s playground for a time. And Kennebunkport, like the President that brought it fame, is adapting to life post-White House.

“It was a wild ride while we had it,” Donald Fiske, a retired sea captain who is a member of the town’s governing board of selectmen, said this week. “But the town will appreciate going back to its original life.”

At least that’s the way the Port, as it is known, wants to see its future spent happily out of the fast lane.

Now it must decide at what cost.

The return to the gilded shadows is being accompanied by an economic shaking out. Merchants and politicians talk gingerly but with self-conscious relief about the slackening of the “day-tripper” tourist traffic that kept the town afloat during much of the national recession. But there is little agreement about just what niche Kennebunkport is finding for itself.

“I’ve seen more people back in the area spending time,” said Brian MacGillivray, owner of Alisson’s restaurant, once a favorite of the White House staff. “They’re in the nicer shops again. The type of tourist has changed. The people who are here are here for what we offer, the aesthetics, the amenities. The people who were here before were Bush watchers. We’ve got our town back.”

Police Chief Robert Sullivan, reflecting on his 22 years on the police force, said that August has traditionally been “the month when the people with real money come to Kennebunkport--and it’s holding true, to my knowledge.”

Tina Hewett, general manager of the Nonantum Resort hotel, said the midweek occupancy rate has doubled this year. “We’re seeing a higher class of people,” she said, making her judgment “just by looking at the cars people drive--more BMWs, Saabs, Mercedes, Lexus, Jaguars. And people aren’t asking rates when they come in.”

But others say that business is down as much as 30% and visitors who previously may have rented homes for a month are staying for two weeks.

“Anyone who tells you business is great in Kennebunkport--he’s crazy,” said Robert Lindsey, owner of the Pheasant Run Motor Inn and president of the town’s Bureau of Tourism.

Longer visits or shorter, richer visitors or those watching their dollars, the flow of traffic entering Dock Square, the center of the roughly three-block business district along the banks of the Kennebunk River, has not slowed appreciably since Bush was President.

According to a dated state Department of Transportation survey that Sullivan cites as still seemingly accurate, as many as 1,200 cars crawl through the square each hour. Each summer day, 10 or 15 tour buses, down from a daily presidential rate of 30, deposit their cargo for an hour of fried clams and T-shirt shopping.

What’s In Store manager Michele Findlay said sales are “way up” in such items as spoons, mugs, magnets and plates featuring the former First Family. Her biggest winners this summer were 100 $1.29 bumper stickers that sold out in six hours. The printed message? “OK, the joke is over. Bring back Bush.”

From Kennebunkporters there is this bit of repeated advice for their kin in the Democrats’ Martha’s Vineyard: “Stay cool and enjoy,” Fenner said. “Enjoy it while you have it,” said Lindsey, touting his hope for the next presidential election. “It’ll be over. Then Dole will be in.”