OCR Text |
Show i .' , : ) "' i i .. - Square dancers added to festivities at Rubys Inn over Presidents Day weekend as visitors flowed in for the Third Annual Bryce Canyon Winter Festival. The Garfield County Travel Council's Bryce Canyon Winter Festival: A Seasonal Economic Booster BRYCE -- Lack of the usual amounts of snow seemed to have little impact on the Third Annual Bryce Canyon Winter Festival held over the President's Day weekend at Bryce as motel owners in the BryceBryce Valley area pooled their efforts to make the event a success. Room reservations spilled over from Rubys Inn, where the event was held, to nearby PinkCliffs Bryce Village, Fosters, Pines and Tropic's Friendship Inn, giving motel mo-tel owners a taste of what future winter activities can bring to boost the local economy. Restaurants at Rubys Inn, The Pines, Fosters and at Dougs Place in Tropic all benefitted bene-fitted from the crowds that flowed in for the festivities. The Garfield Travel Council pro booth which is usually reserved for travel shows out of the area was set up to provide weekend festival participants with information infor-mation about the county's attractions during the rest of the year. vided matching funds with Rubys Inn to advertise and sponsor the event. This year's activities included in-cluded not only the popular 10K cross country ski race but also saw a big surge in the numbers participating partici-pating in ski archery. Other activities activi-ties included a people-powered sled race, limited snow sculpturing and, because of the warm weather and lack of snow, some mountain biking. bik-ing. Snowmobiling also proved popular with area visitors who were introduced to the network of area snowmobile trails. The county has worked closely with Duck Creek snowmobile promoters to provide a growing network of interconnecting trails. Kodachrome Basin State Park saw an increase in visitors for the weekend where many took advantage advan-tage of some warmer sightseeing. Garfield County's travel show booth was set up in the lobby of Rubys Inn and many visitors took advantage of learning what the county has to offer during other seasons of the year. Inquiry cards were signed by most booth visitors. Their names became part of the travel council's direct mail list, and they were asked to check off their interests: possible real estate pur-See pur-See Winter Festival Page 4A Winter Festival From Page 1 chase, business opportunities in the county, retirement, business relocation, reloca-tion, cross country skiing, snow-mobiling, snow-mobiling, lodging, mountain biking, bik-ing, RV camping, Bryce Canyon Rim Run, etc. The travel council's Jean Seiler said that its lists are available to area businesses for the asking, and that the travel council is eager to help area business owners in any way it can. He said the travel council is interested in helping area merchants to learn how to work with travel agents, with mountain bikers whose needs differ from road bikers, and in promoting a cooperative coopera-tive effort among local business people to achieve a common goal of a fully developed area economy that makes the most of its potential. poten-tial. He said he will be glad to arrange ar-range mini-meetings with business owners to provide helps if they will call. Seiler reported that many weekend week-end visitors indicated they anticipate making a return visit for this year's "Fat Tire Festival" in mid-June when mountain bikers are expected to gather in substantial numbers for the county's second annual event. This year's Winter Festival crowd was very flexible and relaxed, Seiler said, and there seemed to be plenty to keep them busy and interested. inter-ested. Music was provided by "Fire on the Mountain," a Salt Lake City group, for Saturday night's dance. Square dancers also provided enter-tainmenL enter-tainmenL Larry Davis, superintendent superinten-dent at Anasazi Indian Village State Park in Boulder offered an entertaining entertain-ing lecture for Sunday evening and Jimmy Cooper, the music. The next travel council meeting will be held at Rubys Inn on Feb. 26. Business owners are encouraged encour-aged to attend to become better acquainted ac-quainted with its activities and to learn what helps are available to help plan a better future for their business activity. |