Merchants are our Groundhogs

Communities across the country have various methods of predicting spring’s arrival. The most noteworthy occurs on Groundhog’s Day when Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil looks for his shadow. His shadow indicates six more weeks of winter.

Island Park has a much more effective predictor of spring. When vigilant business owners see fewer snowmobiles and mud begins to appear, spring is around the corner. As retailers shorten their hours and restaurants close until late May, it affirms that Old Man Winter has left the building. Unlike the eastern rodents, the caldera’s merchants are as accurate as a Swiss watch.

The selection of dining establishments in Island Park dwindles to four until Memorial Day. Stores reduce their hours during mud season or close completely. Those who live on the flat don’t realize how slow spring business can be in the caldera. The best that a business can hope for is to break even during this difficult time. This period of isolation is peaceful. Not many tourists have a hankerin’ to slog through the mud and remaining slush.

The slack time does not go unused however. Residents use it to make needed repairs and prepare for the visiting hoards that will begin arriving at the end of May.

The citizens of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania have a rodent that is removed from its Gobbler’s Knob burrow each February and held high for the cameras. Island Park has not only developed a more accurate way to predict when spring is arriving but we have grizzly bears that emerge from their dens at the same time. I’d like to see someone from Gobbler’s Knob hold up a griz for the cameras!