Glacier's big crowds good for business

The big crowds in Glacier National Park this summer may have meant a few more people on a favorite trail, but they’ve been good for business.

With the Park Service celebrating its centennial year, low gas prices, good weather and no wildfires, Glacier has been busting at the seams with tourists.

Park visitation in August was up a whopping 27.3 percent over last year, and last year was a record in the Park. Glacier saw 736,868 recreational visits in August alone.

In the first eight months, Glacier has seen 2.253 million visitors.

Randy Gaynor is co-owner of Montana Raft Co. and Glacier Wilderness Guides in West Glacier. He said this summer was the best the business has ever had in its 34th year.

“We had a really good year,” he said.

The company is the only licensed summer hiking guide in the Park. He said what’s really taken off as of late is guided day hikes. Folks like that extra attention the company gives them, including meals and shuttle service. The company has been offering guided overnight trips since it started and that business did well, too.

The rafting end depended on the weather. On cool and wet days, folks have a tendency to cancel trips. But on sunny days the pent-up demand meant they were slammed.

The company also runs a lodge in West Glacier and that was up as well. Lodges across the board were very busy.

“We had a record year in lodging again,” Noreen Hanson, marketing and public relations manager for the Belton Chalet in West Glacier.

She said the lodge, with its 25 rooms, two cottages and one rental home have been booked since June 1 and will remain that way through Oct. 1.

She said the staff is ready for a break this fall.

“Everyone is ready to take a vacation and regroup,” she said. “It’s been a fun year.”

The chalet’s restaurant, which offers a premium dining experience, was also very busy.

Hanson said customers came from all over the country, with every state represented. Texans like Montana in July, by comparison, it’s cool and comfortable, she noted.

For Backslope Brewing in Columbia Falls, it was much busier than expected.

“We expected the summer to be busy, but we were busy from the first day,” said Carla Fisher, who owns the establishment with her husband and brewer, Darin.

At the height of the season, customers drank so much beer that they were down to just one beer variety on tap. They’re back up to eight again now, Fisher noted.

The summer traffic was primarily tourists, who either drove by or by word-of-mouth.

“We have to say thank you to all the local businesses who sent customers our way,” she said.

Fisher said when the business started last spring, she had 14 employees. Now they have 30.

She noted Columbia Falls is a changing community. With all the new businesses, lodging and other establishments, visitors are staying here and not going to other places in the valley.

The city, it seems, is beginning to live up to its Gateway to Glacier billing.