- The Minocqua Chamber of Commerce is keeping a watchful eye on the impact of COVID-19. With the Memorial Day weekend in the rearview mirror, what was learned to move forward for the rest of this summer season? Krystal Westfahl is the Executive Director of the Minocqua Chamber of Commerce. We spoke with her earlier this week. And, Krystal, thank you very much for being with us.
- Thank you for having me.
- So what was Memorial Day weekend like? Was it busy?
- Surprisingly, yes. We actually were a little taken aback by how busy it actually was. We knew that folks were looking to come here early on when the safer-at-home orders were put in place both in Illinois and Wisconsin. We had seen a rush of folks coming up, especially for second homeowner, those second homeowners. We were not tracking leisure travel quite as closely. We knew we were having second homeowners coming up. Resorts, they were still going strong. They could socially distance, but leisure travel actually spiked. And we had, on average, pretty close to a normal Memorial Day weekend up here.
- Wow. That is actually amazing to hear. What steps are businesses taking to stay safe both for their employees, but for their customers as well?
- Well, we certainly have a mixed bag up here. You know, with the Supreme Court ruling coming so close to Memorial Day weekend, some of our businesses were just completely unprepared for opening as quickly as they needed to be. Personal protective equipment for themselves, their employees and visitors were a scarcity within our small businesses. You know, we're talking, you know, two or three employees per retail shop, you know, and small, tight quarters. These are old businesses that have been around for a long time, old building structures. So social distancing was something that we were all working through kind of on the fly. I would say that, you know, it was split almost by thirds with people that were not opening because they just weren't ready. Those that were going to be open due to the fact that they had sort of already been preparing for this. And then thirdly, we had some businesses that were just able to, you know, kind of make it work. So it was all across the board. We were just really encouraging folks to call ahead. Make sure that the business they were going to be going to was open and able to accommodate what they needed.
- How were any of the restrictions being met by the visitors who were coming into town?
- That is also a mixed bag. We noticed on average in the Northwoods as a whole, not just in the Minocqua/Arbor Vitae/Woodruff area which I support, but all the way up through Boulder Junction, Sayner-Star Lake, Presque Isle, all the way up to the border. We were seeing businesses reporting, you know, folks not social distancing, no masks being worn to the other extreme where people were just coming up and staying, you know, in their resort, not leaving the place that they were coming to visit. So, again, it was just--it was a matter of extremes through the weekend between businesses and visitors. A lot of folks didn't know quite what they were supposed to be doing at this point, I think.
- So is there a certain amount of trepidation on the part of the local community as tourists flock back into the area? Or is this exactly what businesses have been waiting for?
- Again, it's a matter of extremes. We do have a lot of locals that, you know, are letting us know daily that they are nervous about this. We do have a rural hospital system and we know certainly an older population, you know, per capita. So we're looking at that with worried eyes. But I'm thinking that the people that are able to take the steps to make sure that they are safe are going to continue to be safe. So, you know, we have had a little bit of a, you know, a clash, I would say, between locals and tourism and what they're looking to the tourists to do on a local standpoint and the tourists thinking that this is the same vacation they've always experienced and they want to continue to come up to the Northwoods and experience that same vacation, that same experience. From Oneida County's standpoint, I'm part of a tourism council, multiple chambers of commerce prior to Memorial Day weekend, we actually put together a PR piece to be played on the local news to talk about making sure that everybody is personally responsible and to be nice. There are a lot of people that are afraid right now, and we want everyone to, you know, be nice to one another. That's what we pride ourselves on here in the Northwoods.
- In the absence of statewide safer-at-home rules, you spoke about businesses having to kind of scramble when that ended so soon before Memorial Day. Do you wish there were firm kind of local orders that would give guidance?
- I think we do have local orders that give guidance. I think the bigger issue is that if people aren't following those those guidelines, there are no repercussions. So they are just guidelines. So businesses can do -- follow those or they may not.
- What lessons were learned from the Memorial Day weekend? I know that some tourist spots in the state are kind of rethinking some of their distancing methods.
- Yeah, that is something that we are actually discussing today through a countywide phone call with our local businesses to find out what were the things that they learned from their experience and how they're going to do better with the next big rush. Of course, that will be coming up fairly soon with Fourth of July holiday weekend and week. That is really kind of our next big benchmark. We certainly see tourism through the whole course of the summer. Memorial Day really kicks it off. I mean, I would even say that the opening fishing weekend really kicks off tourism in the Northwoods. But we're wanting to make sure that we have the steps in place and the guidance to give to our businesses. But it's all of us working together. You know, we as chambers of commerce and as leaders of our communities, we don't always have all of the answers right now either. We're all kind of you know, we're all in this together. Right. We've heard that enough. And it's very true. So we're looking to learn from one another and make those best practices.
- All right. Well, we really appreciate your time on this, and we hope that you have a successful and safe summer. Krystal Westfahl. Thanks very much.
- Thank you so much.