“We got crushed,” said Grand Marais Parks and Recreation Director Dave Tersteeg, who was speaking about the recreation parks January 2, 2020, 8 a.m. opening for summer reservations.
“It was a tidal wave of business. Six days later and we’re still sorting it all out.”
This year more than 40 people came from near and far to make sure they could reserve the spot they wanted for one of three peak events, said Tersteeg.
“We filled up the 4th of July weekend, the Fisherman’s Picnic weekend and nearly filled up the weekend for Radio Waves,” he said.
A new feature this year was opening reservations up online at 8 a.m. “We actually opened reservations last year at midnight online, and we got about a hundred people booked but this year we advertised the service and start time and we were amazed at how many people tried to get through. It didn’t crash our system, but it came close. The online system was overwhelmed and had to be temporarily disabled around 10 a.m. The programmers from BookYourSite.com were able to push through pending reservations and get the site back up around noon. Some people tried to book twice because we couldn’t respond fast enough. That’s caused some confusion but we are sorting it all out.”
First in line this year was a local couple, Donna and Orvis Lunke. “They were in line at 4 p.m. the day before we opened. I’m not kidding. They were there making reservations for friends. Once people started arriving the next morning Donna played host, meeting and greeting people. She did a great job and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.”
Park board meeting
Tersteeg met with the park board on Tuesday, January 7, to discuss the opening day turnout.
“We had 128 bookings in December and roughly 2,500 unique visitors to our website in the past week that resulted in 1,258 reservations. We received 642 reservations on the opening day.”
Out of the 1,200 plus reservations received, noted Tersteeg, “Not one person asked about price.”
Last year the park received 1,203 reservations the first week, with 445 made on the opening day.
“We turned on the BookYourSite machine last year unannounced at midnight after the first day rush and received about 100 reservations,” Tersteeg said.
Given the glitches with the online booking and the dedication of the folks who showed up in person, Dave said the park staff was wondering if there was a better way to handle the opening day.
“By physically showing up here, it shows a lot of commitment by these people. Many come a day early, book a hotel room, eat at local restaurants; they show a lot of dedication and I think they should be rewarded for their efforts,” he said.
Dave suggested several alternatives to the way opening day reservations are handled.
Open up bookings for folks in line earlier than online phones.
Delay the online booking machine.
Create a booking calendar where you can book 365 days ahead of the current day.
Create “VIP” booking status—for a fee you can book before the general public.
Craig Schulte, the park board liaison from the city council, said it was typical for online booking sites to have first day glitches when they opened to sell tickets for a concert or a football game. Tersteeg agreed with him but said he “felt frustrated because people couldn’t get in when they first tried.” He noted that the park had bumped up the speed of the server in anticipation of the opening day but they still ran into trouble by the volume of emails received. “I will go over this with folks at BookYourSite and see what we can do for next year.”
In the meantime, the park board took Dave’s suggestions about making some changes to opening day reservation and will discuss them at a later meeting. But the last one mentioned about creating “VIP status” didn’t receive much initial support from the board members, especially with a lot of former locals trying to book the Fisherman’s Picnic weekend for class reunions, and that seems mute at this point.
In other park board news:
Tersteeg informed the park board he has been working with the Minnesota Department of Transportation on potential impacts the work on the Eighth Avenue intersection might have on the park entrance when construction begins next spring. He added he has also been engaged in discussion with MnDOT about the community connection path that will replace the current path linking the park to the walking path near North House next to Highway 61. That work will take place 2021.
Plans are also ongoing to use the park for alternative parking when the Highway 61 roadwork amps up through Grand Marais in 2021, noted Tersteeg.
If all goes as hoped, the old public work garages in the park will be demolished this spring to make way for the new Public Parkside water access project. The $2 million project is being funded and headed up by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Some of the improvements include replacing the dock and inner rubble boulder breakwall, and expanding and improving the parking for vehicles, boats and trailers. Dave said the plans for the public access should be 90 percent completed by June 2020 and then a schedule for the work to be done will be made.
Leave a Reply