It’s the start of December and still not enough snow for people to ride the trails, it’s delaying a winter rush for local businesses.
The snowmobile trails are bare across the region.
Some local businesses are at a standstill while others manage to use the warmer weather to their advantage.
“The ones that do save us are those guys that come up for the snowmobile vacations.”
Just a few weeks ago Kalkaska County had 10 inches of snow, but now that’s all melted away leaving nothing, but grass and mud.
Owner of Lakes and Trails Powersports, Ryan Ascione, says, “People stopped raking leaves, got the snowmobiles out the garage, got in the spirit a little bit, sparked a little interest, more foot traffic, but those people still didn’t expect to ride in that snow.”
And while trails are bare, begging for snow, snowmobile dealers like Lake and Trails in Kalkaska County are using the unusually warm weather to their advantage.
Ascione says, “We’re just winding down with our summer stuff, we still have a lot of summer work left to finish up, we’re very busy with bringing snowmobiles in now and very busy with sales still because snow isn’t expected until later.”
While for others that short lived snow wasn’t enough. Tevin Nygren manages the B&B Express in Kalkaska County only a few short minutes from local snowmobile trails.
“It’s a little lull from hunting season till now, we’re a little slower, but once that snow starts coming it usually picks right back up so especially if it’s right around the holidays.”
Snow fall seems like a distant dream, but local businesses are confident this year’s winter will be impactful.
Ascione says, “We’re about in line with last year; we weren’t expecting as much lake effect snow, we’re actually in better spirits this year for the winter than last year.”
Nygren says, “We’re always busy in the summer nothing’s going to change that, but if you have a good winter it turns a good year to a great year.”
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