The financial struggles of
MINOCQUA WINTER PARK
Lack of snow, skiers have put the financial
squeeze on this Wisconsin Nordic ski center
By Greg Marr It seems like Minocqua Winter Park has
been around forever. Actually, what seems like forever is just 25 years for the north central Wisconsin cross country ski center. In 1978, following the financial failure of the Squirrel Hill Corporation, which had operated a small downhill center at the site since the early 1950s, the Lakeland Ski Touring Club took over. The club cleaned and repaired the chalet, the first cross country trails were cleared and groomed, and Minocqua Winter Park was on its way to becoming one of the top XC ski
centers in the country. Today, Winter Park boasts over 70 kilometers of trails with a reputation for excellent snowcat grooming, a comfortable facility in which to socialize and relax, and is the host of numerous high quality events. The question now is whether there will be a tomorrow for Minocqua Winter Park.
The answer, from those closely involved, is an emphatic "yes." Despite rumblings of a dire financial situation for Winter Park and there is truth to this people in
charge of the ski center are determined to see that it remains open and offers the quality skiing its users have come to know.
"We are not going under," points out Llona Clausen, former manager of the ski center and currently on the Lakeland Ski Touring Foundation board, which runs Winter Park. "We will do whatever it takes. We're in the process of seeking grants, doing fund raising. We'll make sure it doesn't disappear."
That said, Winter Park faces an
intertwined layer of problems that make a simple solution to its financial woes difficult to come by. The root of the dilemma is, simply, snow or rather, a lack of snow. Little or no snow means fewer skiers, and that's means less revenue. And Winter Park is almost completely supported financially by its users.
That Winter Park is having financial problems may surprise some skiers, who think Winter Park's fees $10 for a daily pass, $25 for a family are already high. By Midwest
standards, that's true; even the foundation recognizes that (industrywide, however, what Winter Park charges is pretty much standard). It's something of a Catch 22: Winter Park needs the revenue but by charging what it does, it might be driving people away.
"We do hear that we're too expensive. We hear that a lot. But every penny that comes in goes right back out to pay for the cost of keeping the center open and operational," says Clausen, "and even that doesn't cover
everything. If it's expensive, that's what it costs to run the place."
The foundation, Clausen adds, is currently working on several levels to try to bring in more money from outside sources, which would eventually allow them to lower daily user fees.
That user fees aren't covering expenses is because expenses are huge for a major ski center in the neighborhood of $110,000 annually.
"That's if we have a normal year, grooming all the time," says Clausen.
"It's tied to the number of people we have here. With more people, there's more cleaning, more heat, more electricity, more grooming. At $110,000 we can cover all costs and reduce the debt a little bit. Our payment on the Pisten Bully (groomer) alone is $10,000 per year."
"I did a budget and whittled it down to just under $100,000 but that's with hardly anyone coming here."
Without the necessary income from user fees, Winter Park is forced to borrow funds for its
daily operation, and it's essentially borrowing from itself. The foundation had money set aside for grooming equipment but has had to borrow from that fund for operations.
"We've been living off that money for a couple of years," says Clausen, "and when we use this money, we will eventually have to pay it back. We've just borrowed it to stay afloat." The current crisis looms because that money is running out.
"Basically, we had about five bad snow years
with one good one," adds Raulf LaMarche, president of the foundation. "We were in a growth mode for years but when skier numbers started falling off, we went into a loss position. At the same time, we were buying a big Pisten Bully, which was an additional burden we didn't have in the past."
The quickest fix to Winter Park's problems is a simple one more skiers.
"At this point, skier visits are key. Lots of people who love Winter Park and love to ski here haven't
been here for several years. If those people came back just once during the winter, take just one winter vacation in the Minocqua area, it would make a huge impact."
Of course, skiers won't go to Wiinter Park if there isn't snow, and not necessarily snow at Winter Park. If casual skiers aren't able to ski where they live, they are also less likely to drive to ski. And when they hear reports of poor snow conditions at places like Minocqua, they're even less inclined to make
the trip. They give up on winter. Yet even in a winter like last year warm and brown for weeks on end Minocqua staged a massive operation to provide more than adequate skiing.
"We had an assembly line going," Clausen points out. "Trucks with blades were plowing snow into piles on Squirrel Lake. A snowblower would blow it into another truck, then that truck would take it to crews shoveling on the trail. We opened right before Christmas, managed to keep 30K opened, and stayed
open through everything right to the end. When the snow finally came in February, we had excellent skiing."
It's not hard to imagine a skier last year sitting in snowless Milwaukee or Madison thinking there's no way there can be good skiing in Minocqua yet there was.
Regardless of how many people hit the trails this winter, the foundation assures there will be quality skiing at Winter Park.
"We don't want to cut back on the quality of the services we
offer," says Clausen. "The people involved are dedicated and will make sure, if at all possible, to offer something of quality to ski on. We want to continue to try to do that."
Clausen points to another problem getting people to Winter Park perception.
"Somehow people have the impression Winter Park is not a good place for beginners. A lot of people just getting into skiing are scared off the place. The truth is, it's the exact opposite. We have a lot of
beginner to intermediate trails, we offer lessons, and we have good grooming. People walk in and see lycra and get scared. We have a lot days when you hardly see any lycra out here."
Winter Park does receive help from the town of Minocqua, but these days it's in the areas of maintenance. In 1979, Minocqua Winter Park became a town park. Thanks to two grants, Winter Park was able to hire two employees, one to manage the center and the other to groom the trails. The town funded the
park and all activities were free. Then the grants ran out. To help out, in 1981 the Lakeland Ski Touring Foundation was formed to run the center. Winter Park would remain a town park, funded through trail fees and money from the town of Minocqua.
The money came out of the general fund property taxes and while only $5,000 per year, the foundation asked that the funding be stopped to prevent any animosity with the nonskiing public.
Today, the town provides plowing, handles the
care of the well and septic system, takes care of the building and mows the trails.
"Mowing alone can be very expensive," says Clausen, "and they're a big help with the building. They put in a new ceiling last year, replaced the doors a few years ago and they're looking at replacing the roof after some recent storm damage."
Considering the current financial situation, however, the foundation is going to meet with the town in January to discuss alternative
local funding, which could be room tax money. This makes sense, considering the economic impact the ski center has on the surrounding community, skiers and nonskiers alike. Although ski dollars don't equal snowmobile dollars, in low snow years when snowmobile trails lack the necessary snow to open ski dollars are about the only winter tourism money coming in.
"There was an economic impact study several years ago," says Clausen, "when we had 15,000 17,000 skier days per
season. It was estimated that each visit produced $30, and that's half a million generated into the community. And that's moderate. We could handle 30,000 skier visits as long as they didn't come at Christmas."
And the Christmas season is vital; as it stands right now, 50 percent of the season's income is generated during the holiday break.
One way out of the financial morass would be through donations. Winter Park had tried for a coveted 401(c)(3) nonprofit status, which would
allow individuals, businesses and organizations to make tax free donations. They were declared a nonprofit status but at a 401(c)(4) level, and that single decimal meant donators would not be able to take a tax deduction. The problem was the kitchen, another Catch 22: Because they were generating income from food service (meager in the big picture but still helpful), they couldn't get the (c)(3), blocking the tax deductible donations.
Now the foundation is in the process of
establishing a Trail Fund that would be elgible for the c3 status, thus allowing donators to make tax deductible contributions.
"The main function of the Trail Fund is to pay for new grooming equipment and serve as a land trust," says Clausen. "We're hoping for sizeable donations into that fund."
The thinking is that the Trail Fund would finance all the grooming equipment, upkeep, wages so trail fees could go to the chalet and other service, and hopefully allow that
reduction in the trail fees that would no doubt bring in more skiers.
Even without a current tax free opportunity for donors, the plight of Winter Park has already inspired skiers. The Nordic Fox Ski Club of Naperville, Ill., is appealing to its members and other clubs to pitch in with donations.
"It's such a great place and the Clausen's have helped my skiing and teaching so much that I thought those of us in the Banana Belt could try and help out," says Scott Smith,
president of the club. "In addition to our club, I also (contacted) other Nordic clubs in the area with whom we started an alliance this past summer. I don't know if they'll do anything but I heard that the Joliet board will be discussing the possibility. I hope our club will respond generously because most of them have enjoyed Minocqua Winter Park many times over the past years."
Besides funding grooming, the Trail Fund's other key aspect is to protect the future of the
trail. As it stands now, the town has only 40 acres most of the trail system is on land owned by large corporations. While this hasn't been a problem in the past and there's a good working relationship with the current landowners no one knows what could happen in the future.
"Long term, we're looking for funding to buy the core trail system," says Clausen. In the short term, money from the Trail Fund will help assure the future of the trail.
In addition to all these
possibilities for raising revenue, Winter Park is trying other fund raising strategies. Winter Park's parking lot and walkway to the main building will take on a festive look this year, as it will be ringed with flags representing a dozen countries, including the U.S. and state of Wisconsin. Skiers can add their names or the name of their business to a plaque that will be fixed to each flag pole. The suggested donation is $100.
Then there's Jim Didominico, an elite skier, part time
northwoods resident and frontman for the popular Chicago area rock band, Underwater People, who's planning to recruit area musicians, among them Danny Lincoln, for a benefit concert.
Last spring, a May mountain bike race, the Winter Park Bailout, was held and attracted about 100 adults and 25 kids. This year organizers will talk with the Wisconsin Off Road Series to see if an affiliation is possible. The race is a rare opportunity to ride the trails; because of easement issues, mountain
biking isn't normally allowed at Winter Park. Should the foundation one day buy the core trail system, that could mean Winter Park might be able to be a summer mountain bike park, generating even more income but that's in the distant future.
The foundation has also been busy writing grant applications, including one for snowmaking equipment. Snow could be blown onto the trail in a large open area in front of the challet and hauled onto bare spots.
"Even if we could have
just enough to supplement a base, that would be a huge advantage," says Clausen. "You need a big area to make snow and we have it."
The Lakeland Ski Touring Foundation has a lot of cards in play in its effort to keep Minocqua Winter Park operational at its current level. If it can put in a winning hand, the future is reasonably assured.
"At this point, skier visits are really the key," says Clausen. "The worst case (if skier visits remain down)
would be having to look at getting bailed out by the town. We'd have to cut back on hours and wages in the fall. We wouldn't be able to buy anything."
LaMarche agrees.
"We have to watch our costs. We'd have to cut back on grooming. We have a good reputation for grooming but we wouldn't be able to continue to groom 75 kilometers."
"But if we get snow," he continues, "and watch our expenses, we'll be around for a long time." | |
