For the week of July 2 - 8, 2003

Big holiday travel expected

Hailey prepares for big weekend

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By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

The Wood River Valley’s business gurus are bracing for a busy Fourth of July weekend, and the Idaho branch of the American Automobile Association is projecting the heaviest holiday travel in at least nine years.

Early this week, advance bookings in Ketchum, Sun Valley and Hailey approached 100 percent. By the weekend, "we expect accommodations to be full," said Carol Waller, Sun Valley-Ketchum Chamber and Visitors Bureau executive director.

In Hailey, ticket sales for the Fourth of July rodeo are going very well, and the Hailey Chamber of Commerce has been flooded with questions about the Fourth of July parade and numerous weekend events, said Natalie Turner, Hailey Chamber executive director.

Along with the Northern Rockies Folk Festival, held each year in August, the Fourth of July is the busiest weekend in Hailey, Turner said.

"It’s a good time to be staying here, because there’s no night you won’t have something to do," Turner said.

Community events aren’t the only thing drawing people to the Wood River Valley this weekend. The Fourth of July also signals the beginning of the busy season for officials at the Sawtooth National Forest and Sawtooth National Recreation Area.

"We start simmering on Memorial Day, start boiling by late June and we’re boiling steady by the Fourth of July," said Ed Cannady, SNRA public information officer. "It’s fabulously beautiful out there right now, so people should get out and take advantage of it."

Cannady said most of the area’s trails are dry, except for a few mountain passes, which are still covered with snow. And stream crossings, while not raging, are still a little high.

According to AAA, 37.4 million Americans will travel more than 50 miles from home this Fourth of July weekend—the highest total for the holiday in at least nine years. The projected total is nearly 2 percent more than the estimated 36.8 million who traveled a year ago.

"Sunny temperatures, the great outdoors and the opportunity to turn this year’s holiday into a good old-fashioned three-day weekend may have something to do with what could be the busiest July 4 holiday in the past decade," said AAA Idaho spokesman Dave Carlson.

Carlson said AAA bookings for hotels, car rentals, maps and other travel services indicate that interest in drive trips has been strong during the past few months.

According to AAA’s projections, towns and rural areas lead the list of popular holiday destinations this year, followed by oceans or beaches and then lakes.

"Mountain retreats and lakes will be popular destinations for Idahoans, but we remind folks the extreme fire danger caused by drought means fireworks should stay at home," Carlson said.

Cannady said the fire danger on the SNRA has not yet become severe, but continued hot and dry weather will eventually bring on tinder dry conditions. He reminded travelers that no fireworks are permitted on public lands.

"We will definitely have our antennae up for that," he said.

Waller said she believes resort town business is finally beginning to bounce back.

"People still aren’t spending a ton of money, but summer’s a time when people can vacation here relatively inexpensively," she said.

 

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