A number of observers, including the county sheriff and some long-time merchants, said this year’s Fourth of July crowd in Westcliffe was the largest ever seen for a single event.

 

Whether that guesstimate is precise hardly matters. The downtown pedestrian traffic, the highway traffic and the crowds at the Lake DeWeese fireworks display were huge.

 

In today’s economy, that’s good news. But perhaps that’s the reason why, too.

 

The fact that the Fourth fell on a Saturday provided a long weekend for many city folks. With high gas prices, it’s believed that many summer travelers are staying closer to home, which means that many visitors were likely traveling here from the Front Range cities. And we suspect that many cabin owners, perhaps, are spending more time these days at those get-aways.

 

Unfortunately, though, the big crowds didn’t necessarily translate into big spending. It seems the ice cream shops and restaurants were busy. But it didn’t seem folks were buying big-ticket items at our shops and galleries.

 

Still, the fact that folks were traveling to the Wet Mountain Valley is good news. There seemed to be lots of first-time visitors. We suspect they’ll return. And when the economy shifts back into overdrive, we imagine they’ll buy things that didn’t fit into their discretionary spending this time around.

 

Our merchants certainly hope so. A Chamber of Commerce spokesperson said many local businesses that rely on the tourist trade say sales are off by as much as 25 percent compared to last year.

 

Ours is certainly a summer economy. And the Memorial Day weekend notwithstanding, our tourist season really runs from July 4 through Labor Day. 

 

We’ll keep our fingers crossed that those eight weeks and the various festivals, rodeos and fairs that accompany them are as comparatively busy as was this past weekend. And, that spending patterns reflect that trend.