Grand Marais Recreation Park Manager Dave Tersteeg reported that 2016 was indeed a banner year for RV and tent camping in the park as the year ended with a new benchmark for both revenue and occupancy.
“We finished with a six-month occupancy at 56 percent, up five percent over 2015 and our revenue approached $1,125,000, up eight percent over 2015,” he told the park board at its Tuesday, December 6 meeting.
Rates, said Tersteeg, have increased roughly 20 percent across the board in the last 10 years. However, he added, “rates on prime lake sites have risen 50 percent in the past 10 years and are scheduled to go up another 10 percent for 2017.
Helping to drive profits are the revenues gained from the campground’s 15 lakeside sites which have electric, water and sewer hook-ups.
“On our best 15 sites, our average revenue has increased $1,798 (43 percent) per site in the last five years,” he said.
Another profit driver has been occupancy gains in the months of May, June, September and October. Tersteeg said from 2007 to 2016, occupancy at the park has grown 40 percent on a six-month composite (from May to October), and he said much of that was because of gains made on the “shoulder” season.
Tersteeg asked the park board to begin thinking of reviewing the 2009 recreation park Master Plan and updating the map of the park, which doesn’t show water lines, shut-off valves, or other items a park manager might need to know in the case of an emergency or problem that needs immediate fixing. The board said they would discuss the Master Plan at their January 3 meeting and, once they have ideas of some changes they would like to happen, will call a public meeting to discuss those possible changes and get further ideas for improvements from the public.
In other matters, Tersteeg noted the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) staff of Matt Bronikowski and Jeff Eliasen, “who deserve big thanks for making the Christmas tree in Harbor Park possible, especially after it blew over in a windstorm on November 18. They picked it up and got it ready for the big tree lighting ceremony after the parade on Friday, November 25.”
Barb Backlund’s term will be up at the end of the year. Barb began serving on the park board this past summer when she filled in to replace Walt Mianowski, whose three-year term would end on December 31, 2016. Tersteeg said the position would be posted in January, but added Backlund was welcome to serve another term, and if she was interested, please notify this in writing to City Hall.
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