Spring Break in the back yard
Panama City, Daytona Beach, Cancun, Jamaica and Fort Collins —
wait a second, something doesn’t seem to fit.
Although Spring Breakers are often overloaded with getaways to
choose from, some are left with only one option — to stick around
home. However, staying in Fort Collins or Colorado over break has
some benefits, especially for local businesses.
Samantha Griebel, a junior sociology major, wanted to get away
for the week but spent it working instead of vacationing.
“I really needed to work more and our plans fell through,”
Griebel said. “I know a lot of people that had to stay here just
because they couldn’t afford to go anywhere.”
Even though financial strain prevented her from traveling,
Griebel did her best to make the most of her time off from
classes.
“As long as I am not in school I’m relaxed. I went hiking and
rock climbing, rode my horse,” Griebel said. “And instead of losing
money I was saving and making it.”
Since she did not have to go to classes, Griebel also decided to
go the local bars during her break.
“I normally don’t go to the bars and I went out a few times this
week,” Griebel said. “I’m sure it benefits the businesses here when
people stay in town because they are spending their money here
instead of going away and spending it somewhere else.”
Bars hope to profit from students who decide to stay in Fort
Collins. In fact, many count on the students who choose to party
here instead of leaving.
“It would be awesome if people stayed in town, especially if you
could get more of them to,” said Jason Emmert, a cook at Sullivan’s
Tavern, 820 City Park Ave. “St. Patrick’s Day was Wednesday so that
helped out a little bit.”
Emmert said business stayed basically the same throughout the
past week.
“You can’t blame people for going away,” Emmert said. “They just
want to get out of here.”
Local businesses are not the only ones who hope students spend
time in Fort Collins during vacation. The skiing industry would
also prefer that students stay in Colorado.
“We have had quite a few Spring Breakers this week, definitely a
lot of college-age kids,” said Kori Grice, association manager for
Arrowhead Property Management in Vail. “A lot of students drive up
for the day and ski. We would certainly prefer it if they decided
to stay in Colorado and ski instead of leaving.”
Grice said that the party atmosphere in Vail is not as wild and
is more expensive than many foreign Spring Break destinations but
said that many people come from all over the county to ski and
local students are not the only ones who recognize the resources
here.
“I would say 20 to 30 percent of them are in-state kids,” Grice
said. “We had kids from all over the U.S. come for the week.”
Still, some college students, like Griebel, would prefer to
spend their week somewhere farther away.
“I have never gone on a real vacation over Spring Break so I
would probably still want to go somewhere else,” Griebel said.
“Hopefully next year I will get to.”
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