Leavenworth left out in cold when state cautioned travelers

LEAVENWORTH, Chelan County — This tiny Bavarian-theme village just east of Stevens Pass, aglow with Christmas lights and covered with snow, relies on tourist dollars, particularly during the holiday season.

So when travelers heeded Gov. Christine Gregoire's warning to stay home over Thanksgiving because of a rockslide that had blocked part of Snoqualmie Pass, few towns felt it as hard as Leavenworth.

Leavenworth is on Highway 2, which many motorists prefer to take over the Cascades, especially when traffic on Snoqualmie Pass stacks up. But the governor's warning apparently scared away travelers from both routes.

Nancy Scribner, who owns Leavenworth Chocolates, said her business is down 40 percent since the Nov. 6 rockslide.

"It killed us," she said. "Christmas carries us for the next three to four months. We're so dependent on the pass, it's very scary for us."

Added Bill Wells, who owns Alpen Hansel Gifts: "We need to do little things, like impeaching the governor for what she said."

Up and down Front and Commercial streets, the retail core, merchants blame the governor, the state Department of Transportation and the media for scaring travelers from crossing Stevens Pass.

Leavenworth lights


Leavenworth will have its traditional Christmas Lighting Festival this weekend and next. It begins at dusk in downtown Leavenworth, along Front Street, where visitors are invited to sing "Silent Night" before the lights are turned on. The ceremony will be staged tonight and Sunday night, and again Dec. 17 and 18.

The Chamber of Commerce spent $15,000 to run print and radio ads trying to counter the dire predictions of massive traffic jams.

"Fire! Rockslide! One week traffic backups! Earthquake! Hurricane! Blizzard! Avalanche! The passes are impassable! The sky is falling! There is no Santa Claus!" one ad says. "Don't believe everything you hear. The Bavarian Village of Leavenworth is open for business as usual."

Leavenworth has just 2,000 residents but more than 500 businesses. Each year 1.5 million people visit the tourist town, 100,000 alone in December.

But this fall, rockslides put a chill in some travelers. A Sept. 11 slide killed three women as they headed across Snoqualmie Pass. Almost two months later, another slide swept across. The highway reopened, but with just two of I-90's four lanes open.

Worried about 30-mile backups on Snoqualmie Pass over Thanksgiving weekend, Gregoire urged motorists "to avoid travel through the Cascades ... if at all possible.

"As much as we all want to be with loved ones, a trip across the mountain pass is not advisable."

Dwayne McMahon, owner of Der Sportsmann shop, said, "That was as powerful as it gets. ... There was a clear buzz in town that it was a disappointing weekend."

Rob Eaton is chairman of the town's Christmas lighting ceremony and works in marketing at Kris Kringl, a Christmas store. He said he understands why the governor told people not to travel through the Cascades, but the economic impact was huge.

State officials acknowledge the stay-home advice hurt business but say they had little choice.

"Communicating about holiday traffic over Snoqualmie Pass was a challenge," said Linda Mullen, spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation. "On the one hand, we knew we had the potential for serious problems if people didn't change their plans. We could have seen hours of delay and miles of backups. We knew there was a risk of being seen as crying wolf, but because of the safety issues surrounding a worst-case scenario, we knew we had to warn people. That worst-case scenario didn't pan out."

Carl Evans, who owns Kris Kringl, said he had scheduled an invitation-only ornament signing with a famous artist and had 40 cancellations. "The state overdramatized the long waits," he said. "People who came over said it was a breeze."

John Dawson, who owns The Black Swan gift shop, said his business also suffered. He was angry about the travel advice put out by the governor. "Our state shouldn't be in the baby-sitting business," he said. "If I choose to travel, it's my choice. We're all grown-ups. We don't need Big Brother telling us what to do."

Nancy Smith, executive director of the chamber, said she worries the media coverage generated by the reopening of the lanes sometime next week will be minimal compared with the torrent of coverage generated by the rockslide.

"We were up against people who have the ears of the travelers, and they're telling them not to go over the pass," Smith said. "The story not to travel was huge."

She said her own family in Seattle opted to stay home over Thanksgiving weekend rather than brave the passes.

Leavenworth won't know for two months, when new tax receipts are counted, how much the pass problems harmed business. But many merchants say they already know.

Jessica Robinson, who owns the Obertal Inn, said her hotel is always full over Thanksgiving, but this year she had many cancellations.

"I know there's a safety issue, but we've really felt it," she said. "Let's make a big deal about [Snoqualmie Pass] reopening."

Added Eaton, the Christmas lighting chairman: "I'd like the governor to say 'The pass is open. Travel again.' "

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com