Wildfires Parching Chelan Area’S Tourism Communities Unleash Pr Blitz To Regain Lost Business

There’s more elbow room than usual in some of central Washington’s vacation hot spots.

Firefighters and locals have had gift shops to themselves in Leavenworth. Lakeside hotel rooms are available without reservations in Chelan. National Park Service tour buses are running nearly empty in Stehekin, on the remote west end of Lake Chelan.

This summer’s wildfires in Eastern Washington have blackened 200,000 acres, most of it in the rugged North Cascades.

The towns themselves have not burned. But they’ve been shrouded in smoke at times, cut off from Seattle by road closures and bombarded by the media.

“There was a German newspaper that ran a story that the village burned to the ground and that everybody was fleeing for their lives,” said Laura Jobin, director of the Leavenworth Chamber of Commerce.

Tourists began trickling back into the towns over the weekend, when U.S. Highway 97, the most direct route from Seattle, reopened after being closed eight days. The coming weekend should be better, because U.S. Highway 2 and Stevens Pass reopened on Monday.

But shop owners and innkeepers can’t guess when business will be back to normal. The state Department of Tourism estimates restaurants, resorts and stores in Chelan alone lose $10 million each week the fires burn.

“We’re only running about 25 percent of capacity,” said Art Campbell, co-owner of Campbell’s Lodge in Chelan. In a normal year, “we would have been full every night.”

“A lot of people on the East Coast decided not to come,” said Mary Milka, receptionist at the Mazama Country Inn, tucked along the North Cascades Highway.

There’s a fire named after Mazama, but “I saw only smoke, not flames,” said Milka.

Business owners are working on strategies to convince tourists the towns still are great places to visit.

In Chelan, the public relations effort started Sunday, when about 300 townspeople gathered for a group swim. The story was reported by television stations across the nation and should help counter reports that the lake was permanently harmed by ash, said Rahm.

Next, the town plans to send hand-written thank-you notes to each of the 4,000 firefighters who worked out of Chelan. Each note will include an invitation to come back soon - as tourists, of course.

“We have all their names and addresses,” said Rahm. “They’re an incredible untapped market.”

As tourists return to Chelan, business will improve in Stehekin, as well. The only way to get to the wilderness town without a long hike is by boat or plane from Chelan.

“The first week of the fire, we lost about 80 percent of our business,” said Jack Raines, owner of Lake Chelan Boat Co. and North Cascades Lodge in Stehekin. “Right now, it’s about 60 percent of normal.”

In Leavenworth, owners are washing the soot from their windows and preparing for the autumn leaf festival and the town’s popular Christmas lights display. The Black Swan gift shop already is selling out of T-shirts commemorating the forest fire.

“The perception is that there’s a danger to public safety,” said Laura Jubin, director of the Leavenworth Chamber of Commerce. “We can assure the public that that is not the case.”

Nonetheless, Forest Service roads and trails remain closed near Leavenworth. That means slow business at Der Sportsman, where fishermen, bicyclists and backpackers stock up before heading to Lake Wenatchee, the Enchantment Lakes or other popular destinations.

“About our only customers have been firefighters” looking for sunglasses, boots and souvenirs, said Tim Richardson, store clerk and bike mechanic.

Seven miles up the road, on Highway 97, Gene Field reopened his Ingalls Creek Lodge on Saturday, after being ordered to evacuate nine days earlier. Things still are slow, partly because the state Department of Transportation has told drivers not to stop anywhere along the highway.

“I assume there will be a lot of businesses with severe problems,” said Field, who hopes the federal government will offer loans to businesses hurt by the fires.

“I myself would apply for one,” he said.