Restart will still roll in the dough

MAT-SU — Four-legged racers continue flowing cash into Wasilla.

Known as The Last Great Race, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race challenges human and canine competitors to push past personal limits, through the Alaska wilderness and over rugged terrain. For more than 1,100 miles, competitors battle against harsh weather and each other to reach the finish line in Nome.

But when it comes to communities staggered along or at the beginning of the trail, the annual event produces more than fantastic finishes and coveted championships.

Cheryl Metiva, executive director of the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce, said the Iditarod provides a healthy boost to Wasilla’s economy, and the Willow restart is just a little bump on the trail of tallying up what the Iditarod means to the Mat-Su Valley economy.

“Even with the restart moving to Willow, we still win,” Metiva said.

Although the traditional restart of the race has been moved to Willow for the foreseeable future, Iditarod dollars will still find a place in local cash registers because many Iditarod attendees and visitors rely on services in Wasilla that are not available or not as plentiful in Willow, Metiva said. Businesses in Wasilla like hotels, grocery stores and restaurants provide the infrastructure many visitors need.

“You have to remember that 90 percent of the people are stopping at our grocery stores; they’re stopping at our restaurants,” she said of those visitors on their way to Willow.

According to an Iditarod Restart Financial Impact Study conducted by Northern Economics Inc. in 2006, the most recent study done on the economic impact of the race, the restart generates an estimated $1.6 million of direct spending in Wasilla. That spending produced $40,000 in local sales taxes from a 2.5 percent tax.

An estimated 19,000 people attended the restart in 2006, the study says. Of those 19,000 spectators, about 11,400 — or 60 percent — were area residents. On that one day, visitors spent more than $1.2 million in Wasilla and residents spent a little more than $340,000.

The study focuses its spending categories in 14 areas that range from parking to personal items. From visitors, about $257,945 was spent on lodging, the largest expense for nonresidents. A close second was money spent at restaurants, about $223,801. A majority of the dollars spent by residents was focused in the arts and crafts sector, where an estimated $166,796 was dropped. Locals also spent just over $54,000 for groceries and in restaurants.

With more than $1 million of direct spending in Wasilla even though the race’s restart is held in Willow, Metiva said the city is still in good shape and realizes a significant economic benefit from having the race and its headquarters locally.

“Obviously, if the restart were to take place in Wasilla, sure we would have a greater impact. But when you look at the whole picture let’s not be greedy,” she said.

Not only does the restart benefit residents and businesses in Wasilla, having the Iditarod Trail Headquarters located in Wasilla also helps, Metiva said.

“Our chamber is very, very committed to the celebration of being the home of the Iditarod on a year-round basis,” she said. “We continue to say the restart is only one day out of the year and we can share that one day with Willow.”

Overall, Metiva said Wasilla, Willow and other areas of the Valley can be thankful the restart is staying close to home. When the restart moved to Fairbanks in 2003 because of a lack of snow locally, the money followed.

Contact Chris Gillow at chris.gillow@frontiersman.com or 352-2284.