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  • Crowds gather near the food and beverage area during the weekend's Winter WowFest. Record-Eagle/Keith King

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February 21, 2012

Not much winter, plenty of Wow at fest

Winter WowFest turns out to be cold version of Cherry Festival

By Bill O'Brien bobrien@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — A winter festival weekend brought big crowds reminiscent of the summer season to local shops and sidewalks.

"We were shoulder to shoulder with people in here," said Susan Summers, who manages the Cherry Republic store in downtown Traverse City.

Traverse City retailers, restaurants and lodges reported brisk business during Presidents Day weekend, thanks in part to the Cherry Capital Winter WowFest.

"It was like the Cherry Festival — except in snow boots, hats and mittens," Summers said.

Workers at Union Street's The Dish Cafe offered a similar reaction.

"The kids were calling it Cherry Festival 2," cafe co-owner Randy Waclawski said. "It was a great weekend. There was tons of foot traffic."

Randy Glynn, a bartender at Phil's on Front, said his downtown eatery was busy, too.

"There were lots of people walking around, lots going on," said Glynn. "Lots of shoppers were coming in with bags of goodies from the other shops downtown."

Sidewalks bustled with people throughout the weekend, said Brad Van Dommelen, president of the Traverse City Convention & Visitors Bureau. Visitors milled about "Celebration Central," the parking lot along Grandview Parkway where many festival activities took place, he said.

"It was jammed in there," Van Dommelen said, of a soup contest event.

Hotels also reported strong numbers over the weekend.

The 600-room Grand Traverse Resort & Spa in Acme was nearly full Saturday night, spokesman J. Michael DeAgostino said.

The festival drew some visitors, and the long holiday weekend also helped.

"Presidents Day weekend, historically, is a strong weekend in the Traverse City area," DeAgostino said.

The resort canceled some of its activities such as snowmobile rides because of little snow, he said. But guests crowded the resort's indoor facilities. WowFest also planned activities such as the soup competition and bed races that didn't rely on heavy snow, he said.

"The lack of snow, I don't think it dampened anyone's spirits at all," he said.

Weekend events in other communities also drew solid crowds, organizers said.

Saturday's 6th annual Lake Ann Winter Pine Fest received just enough snowfall to make for good sledding and children's events, organizer Tanya Struble said. Breakfast and lunch events drew good crowds, and there was a steady stream of visitors who checked out the local museum's vintage snowmobile exhibit.

"It was a beautiful day, and the weather couldn't have been any better," she said.

Reporter Vanessa McCray contributed to this report.

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