Bear Lake Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau Report

Anita Weston, Reporter

Rich Civic Times

GARDEN CITY, Utah. September 19, 2019. Tammy Leonhardt, Bear Lake Valley Convention and Visitor Bureau, said that during the summer months more people came this year than last to go through the Wilford Wood house in Woodruff:  These were figures of the number of people who stopped for information and to learn more about this site.

              2018                           2019

     June        176                         578

     July         236                         702

     August    186                         723    

A grant has been given to the Tourist Bureau to be used for restoration of some logs and the roof on the Woodruff building before October 1, 2019.  It was noted that the building has about two to five years before more work would be needed. 

The count of individuals stopping at the Scenic Lookout near the top of Logan Canyon is as follows:

              2018                                2019

     June      5,411                            7,546

     July       7,637                            9,475

     August  7,946                           10,192

There are probably many more visitors that stop there than the above numbers reflect, these are the numbers of people who sign in.  The hours when the area is manned is from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. seven days a week.  Water is a problem, when Sun Rise campground turns off the water, the Scenic Lookout’s water is also turned off.   This makes water problems with the toilets at the lookout.  To help, porta potties  were brought in this last Tuesday.  It is difficult to find out how to handle the water and solve the current problems.  Work is being done to try and solve the water problems.

There were 154 buses in June that called the City for information.  The Oregon Trail Center is also getting more business and more buses are stopping to use their facilities.

There are some groups who love to snowmobile.  They are attempting to come both before and after the regular season.  Thirteen billion dollars was spent in Utah from tourism.  This means this money will help each household so that they will need to pay less taxes.  It also helps the local businesses here in Garden City.

The area is getting more visitors from foreign countries and are also getting a lot more winter visitors.  There will be bunch of runners in the area soon for running and bicycle races.  FaceBook advertising is booming, and the Garden City Web Page is also helpful.