High gas prices and a cool, wet start of the summer could not slow down the tourism trade in the region, as most resort and business owners report a terrific summer, some even calling it one of the best tourism seasons ever.
Nisswa Chamber of Commerce Director Susan Mezzenga has a highly scientific and perhaps foolproof way to judge the success of the season: the famous Nisswa turtle races.
"Our turtle races were not only very heavily attended, but we broke all records for attendance," Mezzenga said. "The turtle races are our No. 1 indicator. It really went through the ceiling - I don't know if it was because of more tourism, or if people were just looking for inexpensive entertainment, but our numbers were fantastic.'
Ironically, high gas prices may have contributed to a better tourism season, rather than putting a damper on it.
"We actually used gas prices to our advantage," Mezzenga said. "We promoted everything we did. We put a huge emphasis on our 'one tank of gas from the Cities' slogan, and maybe that had a lot to do with our great numbers."
Even so, there were a lot of people in the Nisswa area from much farther away than Minnesota - she said local guest books produced signatures from visitors who came to the region from all over the world.
Dave Gravdahl, general manager of Breezy Point Resort, said gas prices probably had no effect as his resort enjoyed an overall 5 percent increase in summer guests from the previous summer.
"Our golf packages were up, our social guests were up, about the only thing that was down a little were group meetings and conventions," Gravdahl said. "It was a good summer."
Gravdahl said the majority of Breezy Point guests come from perhaps within 150 to 200 miles of the resort, which is less than a tank of gas for most vehicles, and thus high prices at the pump were not a factor.
"I'll say the first half of the summer was terrible, but that was because of the cool weather," he said. "We had to work hard to catch up in July and August, but when the weather improved, so did the business. It was great."
Foot traffic is measured electronically at the Brainerd Lakes Chamber's Welcome Center on Highway 371 south of Brainerd, and Chamber Director Gretchin Ennis said the number of visitors recorded was almost exactly the same as last summer.
"We've had a busy summer," Ennis said. "I've talked to our members through the summer and asked many times, 'Are your books filling up?' and most of them said that they were. If some started out slow, they came back later and said, 'Hey, we're doing great now.' "
Creativity and innovation may have had something to do with bringing new tourists to the Brainerd lakes area - one of the best examples is the "Find Babe" campaign in which a series of "disguised" Babe the Blue Ox statues were placed throughout the area.
Visitors were encouraged to seek out the 24 Babe statues on which special codes were placed, which were then turned into the Welcome Center for a chance to win prizes, including a free stay at an area resort.
Based on information tabulated from the Babe campaign, visitors who participated were from:
50 percent Brainerd lakes area.
20 percent outlying regions of Minnesota.
12 percent Twin Cities.
3 percent Washington state.
Ennis said there were also names entered from many other states, including Missouri, Indiana, California, Wisconsin, North Dakota and more.
Local merchants are also feeling good about the 2008 summer tourist season. Crosslake businessman Joe Kraemer and his wife, Kristi, own and operate Lakes Area Gallery in Crosslake. He said the second half of the summer saved the season.
"When summer started and we were having all that cool weather, we were very worried," Kraemer said. "We were thinking, 'This isn't working.' But then in July the weather improved and, wow, business really picked up fast. It was amazing."
Kraemer said the second half of the summer was like an "entire summer" squeezed into a whole summer. It's interesting to note that although Lakes Area Art Gallery sells nondiscretionary items, such as art, custom framing, cards and clothing, people were still willing to spend money on items that are not necessities.
"I think the high gas prices are the new normal now," said Kraemer "and people are just getting accustomed to it. They are still willing to buy things like art ... we had a terrific summer."
In Pine River, Chamber of Commerce Executive Director John Wetrosky said there was some initial worry about the spring floods in northern Iowa because a lot of Pine River tourists come from that area.
"That's always been big for us because the Des Moines area, northern and northeast Iowa has always been a tremendous source of tourists for us," Wetrosky said. "The Iowa people stayed away during June but started to show up in just as many numbers in July and August."
In fact, Wetrosky said that "long distance people" - those from southern Minnesota, southern Wisconsin and Iowa - showed up in the same or even better numbers than previous years.
Wetrosky also said September and October are increasingly becoming more important months in the tourist trade in the Pine River area.
"I think it's the baby boomer effect," he said. "I think more people don't have to be back at jobs or have kids in school, and fall is a beautiful time of year, so we are beginning to see progressively more tourists in September, October."
Shamp's Meat Market just south of Pine River reports slightly less business during the summer, and owner Melissa Shamp thinks it may have had something to do with the weather and gas prices, although the dynamics of a food service is perhaps different from those businesses more concentrated on the tourist trade.
"We still get a lot of tourists ... and people always have to eat," Shamp said. "But our numbers were noticeably down, and I really think it was gas prices and the cool weather earlier in the summer."
But Shamp's also processes the boneless trim of deer and other wild game, and thus they see a significant spike in business when out-of-town hunters come to the Pine River area.
All in all, the verdict seems to be the same - the 2008 tourism season was at least as good as previous years, and in most cases, slightly better.
High gas prices, a national housing crisis, and a generally sluggish national economy produced no drag on the local tourism industry this year.
