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.”