Minocqua attractions gear up for summer tourists
MINOCQUA, Wis. (WJFW) - In recent years, the tourism industry has brought billions of dollars in Wisconsin and more than 150,000 jobs statewide. One of those communities is Minocqua where area businesses are bracing themselves for the three month long season.
With the unofficial start to the summer just a few hours away, Memorial Day weekend is just the start of a marathon for a variety of businesses in this town that nearly triples in population this time of year. Looking out on highway 51, many of the vehicles are headed Northbound.
“Look at the traffic already, its Thursday," said Krystal Westfahl, president and CEO of the Let's Minocqua chamber of commerce.
Minocqua area businesses like Northwoods Zipline are preparing for the steady flow of customers this summer at the start of Memorial Day weekend and there’s a lot of work that goes into that process.
“They know what to do, this is their bread and butter and so they are working hard to basically cater to all the folks that are coming to see us," said Westfahl.
Some would call it the calm before the storm.
"It is, a lot of the guides and a lot of our office staff are just having a good time and easing our way into it, because we know that in the next couple of weeks, we’re really going to get slammed," said Northwoods Zip Line general manager Makenzie Meendering.
Tour rosters for Northwoods zip line are starting to fill up, as they begin welcoming visitors for the summer.
“I think it’s about the joy of the Northwood’s is being outdoors and being in the North, I mean you have the fishing, you have the boating, you have the other extracurricular activities that you can do outside and zip lining is just one of those ways that really gets you in the treetops," said Meendering.
Before opening, they had an annual inspection of the course.
“A lot of tightening up of lines, there’s also some work on the trees that we do, so we make sure that all of the trees are clear from our lines, feet, you don’t want to hit anything on your way down," said Meendering.
After ensuring that all of their safety measures, their guides are ready to share the fun with others. It’s what bringing tourists back year after year.
“They’re driving our economy, we can’t say enough about how much money they put here and how much they do to support our communities," said Westfahl.
At this time, Northwoods Zipline has 30 guests booked for Saturday alone. They’re still looking for more guides to employee before they get even busier entering June
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