|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
February 13, 2005Businesses run into tough sleddingMild winter puts skids on snowmobilingByand Record-Eagle staff writers GAYLORD - Long stretches of above-freezing temperatures, rain, melting snow and a hint of early spring marked much of the winter of 2004-05. And that's extremely bad news for John Kress. Kress operates the Best Value Royal Crest Inn on Otsego Avenue in Gaylord. Like many other owners of motels, restaurants, bars and gas stations, much of Kress' winter business relies upon snowmobilers zipping around northern Michigan's trails, spending money as they go. With trails in bad shape since early February, Kress and others are seeing their profits sink in the mud. "It's a huge hit," he said. "We're projecting as of right now we've lost four sold-out weekends of revenues." Best Value has 44 rooms that typically rent for at least $70 a night, and Kress said he's lost nearly $50,000 in snowmobile-fueled weekend business during The Not-So-Great Thaw of '05. Sil Mazzella owns Mama Leone's Italian Restaurant adjacent to a snowmobile trail head on Old 27 in Gaylord. His business is off more than 30 percent from last year, he said. "We've had to cut back hours with our regular employees because there's just nothing going on," he said. Dennis Fyock owns River Park Campground in Grayling, a popular take-off spot for snowmobile groups near Hartwick Pines State Park in Crawford County. "It's like somebody turned the faucet off," he said. "If we don't have snow, we don't have business. Everything up here is predicated on snowmobiles." There hasn't been this little snow at this point in the winter for five years, said meteorologist Kevin Sullivan of the National Weather Service in Gaylord. Only 46.3 inches of snow has fallen in Traverse City thus far this season, and just 76.6 inches in Gaylord, below average in both areas, Sullivan said. Gaylord received more than 180 inches of snow last winter and Traverse City more than 109, he said. The weather service's climate prediction center's long-range forecast for the rest of the winter calls for well-above-normal temperatures the rest of February, with near-average snowfall of 26.7 inches, Sullivan said. The March and April forecasts call for temperatures near normal and snowfall slightly below average, he said. That doesn't sound like what's needed to salvage the snowmobile season, said Kress, who is also on the Gaylord Area Snowmobile Trails Council. "The base is completely gone," he said. "We're really back to square one over here, in terms of the trails. We need a lot of snow to get going again, probably a good 15 to 20 inches." Many hotels are in "really bad shape financially" because of recent winters with snow starting late and ending early, Kress said. The economic impact goes beyond businesses with obvious connections to snowmobiling, he said. "It's really hitting the economy very hard in Gaylord," he said. "If we don't rent any rooms the housekeepers don't work, the front desk people don't work, and they don't spend money at other local businesses." Business has gone from "full to empty" at Fay's Motel near Grayling since the big thaw, said co-owner Keith Miles, a member of the AuSable Valley Snowmobile Association. "We're basically like farmers here; we rely so much on the weather," he said. "There's not a lot to do around here if there isn't any snow on the ground."
|
|
