A Sign of the Times?

THREE LAKES, WI - Tuesday, July 01, 2008 - Three Lakes, Eagle River, Minocqua, and several other Northern Wisconsin tourist towns have long been attractions for the rich and affluent from downstate Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. Just a few short years ago, it was not unusual to see fuel guzzling Mercedes Benz and Rolls Royces parked along the streets and at the resorts of these trendy tourist destinations.

The pocket-sized mini-car pictured above shows how times are changing! Traffic in Northern Wisconsin just a few weeks ago could have been classified as "very slow" to "non-existent." Today, there was a noted change in the amount of vehicles traveling about Minocqua, Three Lakes and Eagle River. Hopefully, Northern Wisconsin business owners will be able to pull in enough tourist dollars to keep them afloat. Many businesses throughout the region have either gone out of business; have sold out; or are in the process of selling.

Rising fuel costs; increases in the cost of goods; a relatively flat national and regional economy; and weather that hasn't exactly cooperated have all contributed to the summer's slow start in tourism. Cold, wet, raining weather hasn't helped matters either. Fishing tourism, until very recently, has been down considerably. For the first time in weeks, there appears to be vacationers out and about on the lakes, rivers and streams in Wisconsin's Northern Vacationland.

A couple of weeks ago, ATVS and four-wheelers in the Mercer area seemed to be up in sizeable numbers. The gas prices didn't seem to affect or influence that crowd from coming north. The Chronicle asked one of the vacationers if the price of gas has impacted their vacation plans he said, "A few cents per gallon isn't going to stop us from going out and having a good time. I noticed the ride up here, with our trailers packed, the travel north was a bit shocking... but we are here to have fun and that's what we are doing."