Charlie Walker, director of the Chippewa County Economic Development Corp., said the recession was slow to hit the Chippewa Valley but is becoming evident here by such happenings as the closing of the Mega Foods grocery story in March and now the loss of the Renaissance fair.Losing $700,000 for a rural area like Chippewa Valley is going to hurt, both the government and the businesses. This in turn will hurt the workers and the taxpayers.
"Things are getting worse for Chippewa County when a tourism destination goes under," Walker said. "With rising gas prices, it was going to be tougher and tougher to make a profit."
For the fair to be profitable, it needed to attract fans from across the region. Without them, the venture wasn't profitable, he said.
"It's definitely a major blow to Chippewa County tourism, and it's going to have ramifications to a lot of businesses," Walker said.
The new owners talked about having more events on the grounds, such as a Wild West entertainment show in the fall, to go along with the Renaissance fair and the Halloween event.
"They were looking at it," Walker said. "They didn't have the capital to do what they needed to do."
In a news release Tuesday about the cancellation of the Renaissance fair, organizers claimed the event brought $700,000 in sales to the Chippewa Valley each year.
Yet somehow, I don't see Walker and his apologists being intellectually honest enough to figure this out.
No comments:
Post a Comment