Late snow rough on area businesses

MAT-SU - While much of the Lower 48 was hit with winter storms recently, Mat-Su has seen comparably little of the white stuff, and that has left some local businesses hurting - especially in Big Lake.

"Big Lake is kind of the hub for the Valley as far as snowmachining," said two-time Iron Dog winner Todd Palin, who puts about 6,000 miles a year on his sled.

And when there's no snow, there's no business.

Usually the Valley sees snow by October or November, but this year, an appreciable amount of snow didn't fall until last week. The lakes are not freezing well either. The Mat-Su Motor Mushers recently held a couple of snowmachine races in front of Big Lake's South Port Marina because there wasn't enough ice on the lake in Wasilla.

But even parts of Big Lake are not completely frozen. There are spots where people should not go. Burt Kleinenberg, who owns Big Lake's Klondike Inn, was telling people as late as a week ago not to go past a certain point, called Burned Point, which is about three miles from his place.

Kleinenberg, who often sponsors snowmachine races at his inn, said business has been awful. Usually by now the place is buzzing with people all day long, but recently it was so slow he was opening late - sometimes not until 4 p.m.

"It's terrible," Kleinenberg said, "It's a double whammy, rising fuel cost and no snow."

Snowmachiners make up a large chunk of Robert Button's business. Button owns the Big Lake Super Store and right now his business is down anywhere from 35 to 50 percent, he said. He has workers on hold, just waiting for the rush.

"It's killing me," Button said. "Every time it starts snowing, I sit and pray it keeps on going."

Palin, who owned Valley Polaris in Big Lake from 1994 to 1997, said snow can generate a lot of money.

Take the couple, for instance, who, every weekend, hits the road with a couple of $6,000 snowmachines, a $1,500 trailer, a $25,000 truck to haul it all, while wearing $500 worth of gear, or more - they come into town and they spend money.

"Say the average couple drives from Anchorage to Petersville, that's what, 150 miles?" Palin said. "You're traveling 300 miles round trip. You've got gas money, there. If they have lodging, that'd be another $60 a night, minimum. You have to eat. You're going to probably put at least a couple hundred miles on your snowmachine. Usually a tank goes about 100 miles, so that's 20 gallons of gas per sled." It gets expensive.

In fact, a lone snowmachiner can easily drop up to $500 in a weekend, especially if he drinks, said Steve Scott, who owns the Forks Roadhouse in Petersville with his wife, Becky.

And Petersville is where the snowmachiners have been going, because that's where the snow is. Scott said they've been getting a foot to a foot and a half per week for the last month.

"On an average weekend we can see anywhere from 2,000 to 3,000 people," Scott said. Recently he had people come all the way from Homer, because it was the first place north to ride.

Steve Foster, who, when he's not working, will go with friends to Petersville twice a week, said he heard on a recent weekend there were as many as 5,000 snowmachiners up there.

Foster rides about 4,000 miles a year, training for the Iron Dog. "There's a lot more snowmachines out there than people think there are," he said.

During the Iron Dog and the Iditarod, Big Lake can see thousands of them, but for the meantime, people like Bill O'Hara just have to wait while business passes by and goes north, to Petersville.

O'Hara owns Bill's Cat House on Big Lake Road. For eight years he has sold and repaired snowmachines. He is also president of the Big Lake Community Council.

"Right now business is dismal," O'Hara said recently. "We have a fair amount of service work now, but usually we're buried."

O'Hara has spent a lot of time working on the thousands of miles of trails around Big Lake. The community has access to three groomers. If O'Hara had his way, the community would always include room for sleds.

"We need to manage the land so there's room for everyone," he said.

He estimates Big Lake gets about 50 percent of its snowmachine business from visitors, when there's snow. The other 50 percent comes from locals. He also said about 90 percent of the traffic on their trails is snowmachine traffic.

O'Hara's sled sales are down this year, however. Still, he said he's seen increasing interest in the sport over the last few years. The reason, he said, is that the machines have become more reliable, more comfortable, and more safe.

Jeremy Lindamood, a salesman at Big Lake's Burkeshore Marina, said sales there have been good, and he's getting a lot of first-time buyers, a lot of families.

"There may be no snow, but people are still buying machines," Lindamood said.

But over at Wasilla Arctic Cat, owner Dan Berg said business is pretty quiet. He's also seen an increase in family types purchasing sleds over the years. But this year he's wishing for snow, just like many other businesses.

"People need to see others riding," he said. "If they don't see 'em (snowmachines) they forget about 'em."

Randy Richards manages South Port Marina in Big Lake and South Port Marina Yamaha in Wasilla. He said his business is up 50 percent over last year. On his computer, Richards keeps track of all new sled sales in the Valley. He said he can do this because new sales require state registration.

His records show that 317 machines were sold in the Valley through November of this year: 57 Arctic Cats, 31 Ski-doos, 43 Yamahas, and 186 Polaris sleds. Compare that to the same time last year and you get an increase of 53 machines. Richards' total for last year was 264: 20 Arctic Cats, 57 Ski-doos, 37 Yamahas, and 150 Polaris snowmachines. This seems to show that even with no snow, people are still buying.

Richards said it could indicate more people are getting into the sport, or fewer people are going to Anchorage to purchase machines. And, of course, the Valley population is growing at a rapid clip.

Whatever the reason, every snowmachine dealer knows they have to move inventory, or it will cost them. Dealers who get their machines on a line of credit usually only get so much "flooring" time, which means they aren't charged interest to keep them on the floor until a certain date. After that date it can cost as much as $80 to $100 per sled. And then, on top of that, there's borough tax.

So, although some dealers say they're doing well and others not so well, what they'd all like to see - what several businesses would like to see - is serious snow.

"We'll never recover these six or eight weeks of no snow," O'Hara said. "Mother Nature does what she does. I just wish she'd be a little kinder to us right now."