The Grand Marais Recreation Park office was very busy on Monday, January 4, 2010, the first day people could reserve campsites for next summer and its mostdesired weekend, Fisherman’s Picnic.
Four parties from as far away as the Twin Cities and Canada stood outside the park office waiting for it to open up at 8:00 a.m.
April Johnson and a couple of other women had come up to make sure they got the campsites they wanted and made a “ladies weekend” of it. Last summer, Johnson had asked the park board to consider revoking its new rule that only three campsites can be reserved in one phone call for Fisherman’s Picnic. Her family has been staying in the campground for 15 years, bringing about 50 people with them each year. She had to wait half an hour to get through to the park office the first business day of 2009, when reservations for Fisherman’s Picnic weekend filled up with 260 reservations in just 2½ hours.
Johnson wasn’t first to book her spots this year, either, however. Some of the others had arrived at the park office at 7:30 a.m. The four groups booked a total of at least 20 sites, with each individual booking up to their three-site limit.
Park Manager Dave Tersteeg wasn’t sure whether to give priority to those standing in line over those calling on the phone. He decided to have his staff alternate between phone reservations and inperson reservations. Tersteeg told the park board Tuesday, January 5, 2010 that the staff had been quite busy. “It’s even better that they got what they wanted,” he said. “It was fun!”
By the end of the day, 95% of the campground—225 campsites—had been booked for Fisherman’s Picnic.
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