Weigelwood Resort

 

As a teenager, during the summers, I worked at Weigelwood Resort on Two Inlets Lake in Park Rapids, Minnesota. Park Rapids is a little community that triples it's population every summer with tourists. It is also located in the Bemidji-Walker resort areas in northern Minnesota.

 

Many Iowans go to Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri and Colorado for vacations. On balance, living near resort communities can be a pleasant experience. I own a camper in Cooey's Hartwick Point on Delhi Lake near Manchester, Iowa. Manchester is like a pretty little resort town with attractive homes and churches and a main street right out of a Hollywood movie. In fact, there is the Turkey River that runs adjacent to the town and another lake on the other side of the community. Some folks have homes on the lake and the Turkey River provides fishing just off Main Street. There is even a gazebo near the river and a public park with a band shell that is located next to the lake. On summer Sundays, the town is over run with people who enjoy Lake Delhi and purchase sundries and perishables in the town. We could be like Manchester.

 

My wife, Jennifer and I are lucky to live near a " resort like atmosphere" of living just above the Mohawk-Ellis park pavilions on the Cedar River. During the summer, it is a great feeling to hear motor boats and ski-jets off in the distance.

 

By now you can imagine my feelings that Marion may get a resort. White Tail Lodge Resort and Spa sounds attractive to me and a wonderful addition to the city. However, what are the costs?

 

Years ago, on a sabbatical, I worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Among the many responsibilities that I had was to help calculate recreational benefits of river and Lakeland communities. Cost-benefits mean that for every dollar invested how much money is generated because of the addition of a lake or reservoir? As Gazette columnist, Mike Deupree noted, there could be a connection to Lake Mahoney in a state west of us and Lake Itasca near Park Rapids in Minnesota when discussing White Tail and it's social and financial benefits. There is a problem with state tax dollars going to a private venture. I can only second Deupree's suggestion that proposals are not ironclad contracts, but subject to change. I would really be interested if there is a public access area in White Tail, because I would like to use the trails and the fishing lake of this possible new resort.

 

 Again, besides the politics, there is the cost-benefit issue. If there is a place that the public could enjoy, what benefits are there to Marion and Cedar Rapids? In an article in PSYCHOLOGY: JOURNAL OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR (1994) a number of economists, accountants and myself presented an overview of social indicators that determine benefits for regions with new places like White Tail Lodge. Briefly, White Tail can attract visitors who travel across the state boundaries similar to Cedar Rapidians traveling on a day trip to Galena (Illinois) or a more lengthy visit to another state like Minnesota. They're also visitors who travel within the state to be at White Tail. There are those who stay an extra day here in Cedar Rapids, because of the resort, and last there are those who choose to stay home for the summer because White Tail is located here. All can generate revenue.

 

What all this means to Cedar Rapids is subject to much debate and controversy. However, if it is built, we may find that week-ends and vacations may mean something new to us, because we now have White Tail, Amana colonies, Lake McBride-Coralville, Ellis, Kent Park, Morgan Creek , Pinicon Ridge and Lake Delhi to enjoy.

 

In other words, we could live in a lake land community, and like it. We won't mind the tourists, because some of them could be ourselves.