Perspective delivered by

Christopher Germain, AICP, EDFP

CEO, LSCP.

Winter is a time that we shine in the Upper Peninsula. From skiing, snowshoeing, and snowboarding to ice caves, sled dogs, and outhouse races, we embrace winter unlike anyone else. Our embrace of a season only tolerated by many others brings significant economic benefits. From filling hotel rooms and restaurants to retail sales and outdoor recreation, our businesses count on the snow and Heikki Lunta spirit. Embracing winter can even lead to population growth as we show off our region's year-round outdoor paradise.

You probably know where this is going: with record-breaking temperatures and a lack of snow this year, our businesses and organizations who count on a robust winter season are hurting.

It can be challenging to get exact impact numbers, but we know a few startling statistics. The big one: approximately 40% of a winter resort's revenue can come between the beginning of December and the first week of January. While that statistic may be limited to specific businesses, their services drive significant visitor traffic and encourage local socializing, which spills over to others. Looking at real-time hotel data available to us thanks to our friends at Travel Marquette, we know that from Christmas to the end of January, there was an 18% decrease in revenue across Marquette County hotels, with a decline every week in 2024 compared to 2023. When you factor in that hotel costs commonly only consume about 20% of a visitor’s spending on average, that additional 80% of missing revenue from other local businesses is felt across a wide swath of businesses in our area.

Many organizations have been able to pivot, such as updating routes for the Noquemanon Ski Marathon or activating downtown Marquette via the Festival of the Sled Dog. Tackling challenges and finding solutions is in our nature up here, part of our sisu spirit. And for those efforts, I believe those organizations – and the individuals who make them possible – deserve much praise. Thank you for all you do.

On January 26, I attended a Marquette Climate Adaptation Task Force event at NMU focused on identifying timely topics around resiliency and sustainability to dive into further. Ideas around diversification of food sources, building materials, and more could all be translated to the idea of our economy adapting to new trends around unreliable winter weather or extreme storms. Many of our businesses have already been working to add new revenue sources that can offset tough months like we’re now experiencing.

But we’re still working to adapt, and we’ll likely need help from outside sources to address the impacts of this year’s historically warm season. At the LSCP, we hope that our state or federal partners consider providing relief to businesses severely impacted by this year’s historic weather. With some going as far as to consider loans to keep their existing teams on payroll, the situation is very real for some.

Despite the UP200 race cancellation, we expect many policymakers and state officials to be in our area this week to enjoy the Festival of the Sled Dog. While they’re here, we’ve worked with our partners to build multiple opportunities to ensure they understand our needs and see the incredible work happening here around workforce development, housing, small business support, and more.

It’s been a rough winter for those businesses who rely on the snow. There’s no doubt about it. But we’ll continue to root for a turnaround in the weather while working with businesses to adapt, plan, and

recover as best they can. The vibrancy of our local and regional economy – our primary mission at the LSCP – depends on it.

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