TOWNSEND, WI (WTAQ) – A peek outside the window reveals a winter wonderland that was just about a week-or-so too late to provide a White Christmas.
While in some areas, such as Townsend, they haven’t seen enough snow to bring in important outdoor recreation dollars.
A recent dusting was just enough for sections of the Nicolet State Trail to open over the weekend.
“Trail conditions are early season, at best,” explains Gary Wagner, President of the Red Arrow Snowmobile-ATV Club. “There are some areas that are really nice, good as could be expected, some areas are dangerous, icy.”
The sooner those trails can be opened the better to bring in winter traffic that carries with it an economic impact that’s vital for the area.
“We were able to get them open for the New Year’s vacationers and help the businesses out with some vacationer dollars,” he says.
Even with some trails opening and some outdoor enthusiasts trickling through, it’s not the same compared to past winters.
“Over the weekend it was really busy, because we had a little bit of snow,” explains Jodie Murphy, with Lotter’s Townsend Shell. “But, it’s not as busy as we normally have it.”
And as Murphy would put it simply, more snow equates to more money in the winter destination of Townsend.
“Tourism is a very big deal in the winter up here for us, for all the businesses,” she says. “And they’re all hurting a little bit, because we don’t have enough snow, but hopefully in the next few weeks we’ll get more.”
Murphy estimated that traffic through Lotter’s Townsend Shell is down as much as fifty percent.
Unfortunately, a predicted upcoming forecast of more mild temperatures shouldn’t do anything to help improve trail conditions.
“This weekend they’re talking about in the ’30s again,” says Murphy. “Hopefully that doesn’t spoil things for us.”
About 60 of the 475 miles of snowmobile trails throughout Oconto County are maintained by the Red Arrow Snowmobile-ATV Club.
