Despite Pandemic, Spirit Mountain In Duluth Reports A Profit So Far This Year
Despite the pandemic, Spirit Mountain was happy to announce that they had more people on the slopes this year than last year. I am sure what has accounted for this is the fact that people wanted to get outside and as long as the hill was open and each person respected the safety regulations they were just happy to be out doing what they love.
According to The Duluth News Tribune with this boost in skiers and snowboarders the ski hills revenues were up 17% compared to this time last year. During a budget meeting this week with members of the Duluth City Council, Ann Glumac, Spirit Mountain's interim executive director said even though she expected a dip in business, so far this year she was happy to report the opposite.
Glumac went on to say that she expects they will come out with a small profit for the year but won't have solid numbers until around June. Of course Spirit Mountain could not even realistically have re-opened after the pandemic without the $300,000 funding given to them recently from the city of Duluth.
But a positive is a positive in my book. Ever since I can remember all that you seem to ever hear is about the constant financial struggles that Spirit Mountain has had and how they keep needing more money in order to stay in operation. Obviously I do not know all the ins and outs but given the fact that the facility is weather dependent for the skiing,snowboarding and tubing they are going to have winters that may not be as busy. But, it does seem like they have tried to utilize the facility for other things as well like The Adventure Park and of course being a site for weddings and special events in the off season. The banquet revenue is expected to be down as well because of limited seating capacity still in place.
But they are still looking into other ways to make Spirit Mountain Profitable Glumac said:
They want to increase community use of the Grand Avenue Chalet, Spirit Mountain plans to open a skating rink close by. They hope the chalet will become a headquarters for people interested in outdoor recreation opportunities in the area. They would like to offer snowshoes, hiking poles and binoculars for rent at a modest cost.
We are really fortunate to have such an amazing recreational facility right in town, so let's hope that things keep looking brighter for Spirit Mountain so it can become even bigger and better than ever before.