Northern Wisconsin Gearing Up For Winter With An Eye Toward Tourism Dollars

Tourism officials, resort owners and businesses are waiting for northern Wisconsin to transform into a winter wonderland. They’re hoping lower temperatures will soon mean more revenues up north.

Lakewoods Resort and Lodge owner P.C. Rasmussen in Cable said most of their clients come up the day after Christmas. But, he said they already have bookings through March and are hoping for more snow in the forecast.

“Everybody up here loves to see that and most of our guests love to see that … They can’t wait to get in the car to get up here,” he said.

Bayfield County Tourism Director Mary Motiff said they’ve been working hard with county, state and federal partners to prepare snowmobile and hiking trails that were damaged by summer storms and flooding.

“The great news is that we have not only the reroutes in place that we needed, but also the trail repairs done and everything along with the help from the clubs getting out there and doing the brushing and signing and all that work – we’re going to be in great shape once we get some snow,” she said.

Still, Motiff said it’s unlikely the snow would generate enough tourism dollars to make up for the loss in sales tax revenues by the end of the year. After this year’s July storms, Bayfield County saw a 10-percent dip in sales tax revenues this August compared to the same time last year. As of the end of November, sales tax revenues are down about $30,000 overall this year compared to 2015. But, the county has seen more visitor spending in recent years after attracting international attention for the Lake Superior ice caves.

In Iron County, Forest Administrator Eric Peterson said their trails weren’t hit as hard as their western neighbors this past summer.

“We had five or six washouts on our trail system and a bunch of trees down, but our forestry department crew got out and got those taken care of,” he said. “Our trail system will be open as soon as we get snow on it.”

In Superior, Mac Sport and Marine co-owner John Cahill said they’ve been servicing a lot of snowmobiles and area ski hills before winter hits.

“Early in the season, people anticipate the cold weather coming and the snow, and it’s pretty active. Then if we hit November and it’s still not showing sign of winter, then it kind of slows a little bit,” he said. “As soon as that first foot of snow comes, then it’s crazy. Everybody’s trying to get this running and get this fixed or coming in and buying a new ATV with a plow on it – things like that.”

In Bayfield, Mt. Ashwabay Assistant Manager Nick McGee said they’ve been getting skis and lifts ready before the snow falls.

“We put in two new lifts this year so getting those set up. We’ve had an electrician out here volunteering his time to get electricity put into those,” he said. “We’re starting to look at making snow, starting to be the right weather for that – finally getting cold.”

With highs expected in the teens and 20s later this week, McGee said they should be making snow this weekend.