Northwoods tourism entities ask state for financial help amid mild winter

Oneida County tourism council executive committee president and Let’s Minocqua Visitors Bureau president and CEO Krystal Westfahl issued a press release Monday advising that a coalition of local tourism entities are seeking assistance from state lawmakers on behalf of local businesses.

“The coalition of chambers and visitors’ bureaus in the Northwoods of Wisconsin counties (Forest, Iron, Langlade, Lincoln, Oneida, Price and Vilas) has talked with local Representative Rob Swearingen and Senator Mary Felzkowski’s offices in hopes of securing some state or federal funding to mitigate the losses from lack of visitors in the wake of an unprecedented mild winter with minimal to no snowfall,” the press release states. 

Westfahl referred to the impact of the lack of snow on local economies as a “crisis.”

“We rely on the weather to provide us snow in winter months similar to our farmers relying on the rain, but our businesses have no immediate path to funding when a negative weather pattern happens,” she said. “This will be catastrophic for our Northwoods economies.” 

The press release states an estimated revenue of roughly $6.5 million has been lost due to snowmobile trails not opening this late into the winter. It goes on to state that many businesses are reporting 75-80 percent year-over-year losses from the first few months of the season, “and many are closing their doors.”

Westfahl said she hopes the state will be creative and help this part of the state, which “relies on tourism.”

In 2022, the press release concludes, tourism accounted for over 6,000 jobs among the seven Northwoods counties, with $747 million of visitor spending in the area.

Vilas County tourism and publicity director and Oneida County supervisor Collette Sorgel said tourism entities in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan made a similar ask of the Michigan Legislature due to minimal snow.

“So many things have been canceled or postponed,” Sorgel said. “Many creative people have repurposed the events.”

One thing Sorgel said she’s noticed this winter is an uptick in hikers. 

She said this season hasn’t necessarily made her job in tourism harder, but simply different. 

“It has made us rethink what we’re talking about, how we’re sharing things, what’s on our website,” Sorgel said. “Obviously, we have promotions going asking people to come up here to enjoy the winter weather and we have to repurpose those to talk more of the snowshoeing and the hiking and the visiting and helping support the community.”

Speaking to Vilas County business owners, Sorgel said she gets two different impressions. On one hand some business owners expect unpredictable weather. On the other is concern as to how business owners will continue to navigate a winter like this. 

While Sorgel is saying she hears about businesses struggling, Matt Hammes of IncredibleBank in Minocqua is seeing it.

“Customers are struggling just with the lack of snow and the lack of revenue,” he said. “We’re not seeing the visitors right now.”

Specifically, Hammes said businesses related to the snowmobile industry are being impacted directly. Snowmobile sales might have been good, he said, because most snowmobiles were purchased before the winter, but decline in selling services, parts, apparel or accessories is what’s hurting.

Hammes mentioned snowmobile rental businesses are obviously hurting too.

A “spinoff” of that, he said, are surrounding businesses like restaurants and hotels not seeing the usual winter tourism dollars either. 

Speaking to The Lakeland Times Tuesday, Swearingen said his staff reached out to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) to see if there is anything the state can do to help. 

He said there really isn’t any type of funding available to communities for a lack of snow.

One funding source Swearingen did mention, is from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). He said Gov. Tony Evers could decide to use it in this instance if there is any left. Appropriating that money, he explained, is solely up to the governor’s discretion and the legislature has nothing to do with it. If ARPA money is dispensed by Evers, it would probably have to come through the WEDC, he added.

“So the short answer is, unfortunately no (there is nothing the state can do to help).” he said, however, adding he will still continue to look into helping in some way. “ … But, from the initial contact we had with the WEDC, where are we gonna get the money? That’s essentially it. I mean we could argue there’s a surplus, but that’s the money we wanted to give back to the taxpayer.”

Trevor Greene may be reached via email at [email protected].