Sun Shines On N. Idaho Lake Resorts Hot Weather Gets Summer Season Off To A Strong Start

The cloudless, blistering hot weather this weekend was a rainmaker for Rockford Bay Resort owners Geri and Larry Hyatt.

After buying the resort last March, the couple invested thousands of dollars and a year of sweat equity refurbishing the restaurant, bar and marina.

The Memorial Day weekend heat produced the first big dividends: hungry and thirsty boaters packing the resort.

“It was fantastic here,” Geri Hyatt said. “We couldn’t have asked for better weather, especially considering how it was last year.”

Rockford Bay is one of three big lakeshore resorts which received significant improvements since last summers.

The renowned “Derailer” drinks formerly sold at Tom Robb’s Arrow Point bar and grill have moved south to Carlin Bay Resort. A wicked concoction of different liquors, Derailers come in hefty buckets with extra-long straws for thirsty boaters.

Robb sold Arrow Point in March 1994 to Arrow Point Development, which currently is finishing the upscale condominium development of the same name adjacent to the restaurant. Robb ran the casual barbecue and bar for Arrow Point last summer.

Carlin Bay Resort is about six miles south of Arrow Point by boat and eight miles south by car, he said.

Carlin Bay Resort will feature live music on weekends and an improved adjoining campground, said Sandy Johnston, a bartender at the resort.

Arrow Point Resort Bar & Grill remains, and has a more formal setup than before. The restaurant has added a second deck and has table service instead of the previous walk-up counter, said Michael Perez, general manager.

All three resorts had phenomenal weekends.

“I’m just burned out, let me tell you,” Perez said. “It was just unbelievable here with all the people we had.”

Last year’s Memorial Day weather was rainy and miserable, Perez said. “It has been rotten weather on Memorial Day weekend for the last 30 years, it seems, but this was a nice surprise.”

The lake resorts’ success was part of a strong kickoff weekend for recreation businesses in North Idaho. Silverwood Theme Park on Highway 95 and Wild Waters water slide park in Coeur d’Alene had strong weekends thanks to great weather.

“I don’t recall us having as good a Memorial Day weekend,” said John Kozma of the Coeur d’Alene Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The sunny weather provided a good start for local businesses depending on tourism, he said, but it doesn’t guarantee a strong summer.

The ski season also started with a similar boom last fall, but faded as unseasonably warm weather in January and February melted skiers’ desire to travel to North Idaho mountains.

The weather during July and August will be the biggest factor in determining how strong the tourism season will be. The industry has a lot of ground to catch up because of the poor second half of the skiing season this winter, Kozma said.

So, lakeside resort owners will keep an eye toward the sky and hope their improvements attract customers.

For confused boaters who come looking for a Derailer at the new Arrow Point Resort Bar & Grill, Perez offers a “Shipwreck,” an equally strong tankard of spirits.

“It sort of reflects our style a bit more,” he said.