Iditarod loss hurts city's businesses but not pride
WILLOW: Restart change benefits upcountry neighbor.
Published: February 28, 2007
Last Modified: March 1, 2007 at 02:14 PM
WASILLA -- Wasilla on Sunday lost its fifth straight bid to host the restart of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
No matter, say city boosters. The city remains the Home of the Iditarod, just like the signs along the Parks Highway say, even if the race was last launched from here in 2002.
Just because the race restarts in Willow doesn't diminish Wasilla's claim on the Iditarod, said executive director Cheryl Metiva of the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce. Two years ago it adopted a motto: "Iditarod 365," meaning Iditarod 365 days a year.
The race to Nome remains the "number one tourist attraction" in Wasilla, said Metiva, the chamber's executive director.
Race headquarters and myriad Iditarod-themed events are still located here.
Come Sunday, thousands of restart fans will follow the Parks Highway to and from Willow Lake, home to relatively few visitor amenities compared to the commercial strip in Wasilla.
Metiva said the Wasilla business community encourages those visitors to spend a little time in the city.
Iditarod Days are now under way in the city, with events ranging from the Junior Iditarod to frozen chicken bowling. A new Web site, www.iditaroddays.com, has so far scored 70,000 hits, Metiva said. A local gallery will announce the winner of an Iditarod poster contest. There's even the annual VFW pancake feed.
"If we support and believe in the Iditarod, and kind of claim it's our own for 365 days a year, (then) if one day a year it moves up the road it may be unfortunate for us, but we still remain with that pride and that support," Metiva said.
That doesn't mean Wasilla-area businesses don't feel the pinch when the community cedes the restart to its neighbor 30 miles up the highway.
By one estimate, the restart generates as much as $2.1 million for Wasilla area businesses from gas stations to restaurants.
That figure is based on a survey of spending by attendees of the race start in Anchorage and how much business might go up the road.
But business definitely shrinks when the restart moves north.
Terri Hudson, manager of the Windbreak Hotel, Cafe and Lounge in downtown Wasilla, said only two of her 10 rooms are booked for Saturday night. That compares with a full house when the race is held in town, she said. She also expects her restaurant business to be down by about half.
"We still get a few people passing through, but they just don't stay here when it's not in Wasilla," she said.
General manager Sandra Joynes at the Grandview Inn Suites said she's also seen business dip, though not so much this year.
Three quarters of the hotel's 139 rooms are booked Saturday, but she said she thinks most guests reserved rooms before the race was moved to Willow.
Business will almost certainly be off at the Knik Bar, a popular watering hole that serves as the Knik Lake checkpoint when the race starts in Wasilla.
Sunday, bar patrons will still find Hobo Jim singing refrains of "I did. I did. I did the Iditarod Trail" at the mic.
But there'll be no dog teams and mushers, and none of the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds that pile into the place when the restart swings across the lake.
So what will it take to get the Iditarod back to Wasilla?
More snow would help. So would fewer people. While a thin snowfall prompted the venue change, organizers also cite rapid growth as a problem.
An increasing number of driveways and roads slice across the trail along Knik-Goose Bay Road, and heavy snowmachine traffic can make for a dangerous, bumpy ride for mushers.
Metiva said she doesn't expect to see the race restart in town until a dedicated trail can be created between Wasilla and Big Lake.
The city, with $500,000 in federal funds, is exploring that option in conjunction with the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and state Transportation Department.
But even that's not a given.
Wasilla Mayor Dianne Keller said it's too early to say where a Wasilla-to-Big-Lake trail would lie or whether it will be a suitable Iditarod alternative. The chosen route would be the one deemed best for motorized and nonmotorized users, not necessarily the best restart route, she said.
Jon Brautigan, a Knik Bar employee and local trails activist, said the city should have done more this year to keep the race in Wasilla by investing in trail improvements and getting serious about trail grooming.
In the meantime, Willow residents quietly count their good fortune.
Kathy Huston, who runs the Alaskan Host Bed and Breakfast, said her four rooms are booked Saturday night and she's been turning people away for the past three weeks.
"I feel sorry for them (Wasilla) because they count on it ... but we really like having it up here," she said.
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