Grand Marais Businesses Preparing for Winter Tourism Season

Businesses like Stone Harbor Wilderness Supply and Trout Lake Resort are doing what they can to keep their businesses safe to help visitors enjoy the outdoors.

GRAND MARAIS, Minn. – It’s getting colder and the ice are area lakes are continuing to freeze, meaning it’s time for more people to get outside.

“We’ll start getting busy in January and then we’ll stay busy until the ice and snow is gone,” owner of Stone Harbor Wilderness Supply Jack Stone said.

Stone Harbor Wilderness Supply, an outdoor adventure store in Grand Marais, has different types of skis and tents to rent, but they have changed some things this year due to the pandemic.

“We probably won’t do much ice fishing. We’re trying to stay away from any activity where we have to have a real close contact with you, it just doesn’t work in the days with COVID. We used to do a lot of ice climbing. We don’t do any ice climbing right now for the same reason,” Stone said.

The pandemic is also causing some issues for the store staying stocked with enough product, something many other businesses are dealing with too.

“COVID has destroyed our supply chains. You come in here and you aren’t going to see the things that you’re normally going to see, I like to have a lot more ice fishing equipment,” Stone added.

As Stone Harbor Wilderness Supply helps customers find what they need, Trout Lake Resort is getting visitors booked.

“Because of 2020, we’re expecting to be full on the weekends, but the weekdays are probably going to fill up as well because a lot of people are working from home,” co-owner of Trout Lake Resort Russell Waver said.

The resort has multiple cabins, giving visitors a variety of ways to get away and catch some fish.

“Everything goes to our customers first. Boats, motors, a pontoon as well. There’s all kind of ice fishing starts in January, mid-January to March, we have heated ice fishing houses,” Waver added.

And as the pandemic continues, both businesses are making sure they’re doing what they can to keep their places safe.

“Although we have our concerns about traveling virus but we can only do so much and we can accommodate people and we follow all of the strict guidelines we can,” Waver said.

As well as helping anyone who comes by find different opportunities  to enjoy the outdoors.

“If you’re going to live in Minnesota, don’t take six months out of the year and just sit inside your house, you’ve got to get out and enjoy it, it makes your life so much better,” Stone added.