Holiday weekend kicks off summer in Steamboat
Mountain hotels to be 82 percent full
Friday, May 27, 2011
Memorial Day events
■ Steamboat Springs
Saturday: Army physical fitness test at 9:30 a.m. at Emerald Park. The event is free, but donations for the American Legion are accepted. The test is two minutes of push-ups, two minutes of sit-ups and a 2-mile run. Event organizer Tina Kyprios said participants don’t have to complete all three portions. The test is meant to raise awareness for soldiers serving our country.
Monday: Coffee and doughnuts at 8 a.m. at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4264, 924 Lincoln Ave.; ceremony practice at 9 a.m. at Steamboat Springs Cemetery; shuttle service to cemetery begins at 9:45 a.m. at Stock Bridge Transit Center; Memorial Day ceremony begins at 11 a.m. at cemetery.
■ Hayden
Today: Placing of flags at Hayden Cemetery, 6 p.m.
Monday: Memorial Day ceremony, 6 p.m. at Hayden Cemetery, with 21-gun salute, flag lowering and presentation for citizens; public reception and meal at the Benjamin J. Hofstetter American Legion Post 89, on Third Street in Hayden, after the ceremony
■ Yampa
Monday: Memorial Day ceremony, 11 a.m. at the Yampa Cemetery, with traditional bugling and reading of names of veterans buried at the cemetery.
Steamboat Springs — The hotels at the base of Steamboat Ski Area are leading the way as Steamboat Springs’ resort community gets a jump on the summer season with the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
The lodging barometer published Wednesday by the Steamboat Springs Chamber Resort Association projects that more than 5,600 visitors will spend Saturday night in Steamboat, with 40 percent of the available 17,352 guest pillows occupied.
Sheraton Steamboat Resort General Manager John Curnow said Thursday that his property started summer early this year.
“We had our earliest summer opening in many years on May 20 due to a nice scientific conference that stayed with us for five days going into Memorial Day weekend,” Curnow said.
Of the different types of lodging properties, the Chamber expects mountain hotels, at 82 percent occupancy, to be the busiest in town this weekend. Mountain condominiums, by contrast, will be 15 percent full.
The Chamber did not issue a lodging barometer in advance of Memorial Day 2010, but research conducted after the holiday showed that with late arrivals, the number of visitors last year swelled to 7,100.
The Steamboat Grand Vice President and General Manager Mike Lomas said that as it was last year, his hotel will be busy during the Memorial Day weekend with a mix of wedding parties and athletes in town for the Steamboat Classic Lacrosse Tournament. The annual Yampa River Festival and Paddling Life Pro Invitational also are this weekend.
“It’s the second (busy) year in a row for us,” Lomas said. “Memorial Day didn’t used to be a big kick-start for us.”
The Chamber’s early projection for Saturday night occupancy foresees that downtown properties will be 55 percent full and U.S. Highway 40 hotels and motels will be 60 percent full.
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