The sorry state of the economy nationwide and locally is a big reason. Then there are changing tastes by demographics. All of our old customers have aged even more. Many are changing their patterns and interests accordingly with less distance in travel and/or more service-oriented travel such as cruise-type experiences. Rustic adventures are no longer in their wheelhouses. The 20-30 somethings have pretty much traded in all things wilderness for all things digital. You can tell this is true by noting the big lines around the block every time Apple launches yet another iPhone. The 40-somethings are struggling with the economy, debt, and family.
Who does that leave us in the resort business? Independent, single, 20-something & 50-something women and older.
How do I know this? Women in their 20's and 50's tend have no kids at home. The youngin's may not yet be married with no interest in getting married soon or if ever, and respectively, the 50 YO's tend to be divorced, separated or hopefully at a point in their marriages where they are seeking to independently try something different after being "relegated" in a more custodial life role for so many past years. Their hubbies know how to cook, won't burn down the house when they are gone, and they can actually do something for themselves with spousal blessings. Both groups have some money and can afford doing things. They also want to experience something "interesting and useful" with the time they have left being in reasonably good health. And where are the young males in all of this? Good question. They used to be on canoe trips by the car load. Don't even see them any more in just 5 short years.
Tie all of that together with the fact that I have the need to "switch gears" in my business for survival plus the fact that I, too, like to do different things as well. My bus man's holiday is art and I'm willing to share and want to encourage it.
I know how to paint. I enjoy painting but left it almost entirely for about 33 years. During those paintless years, I attempted to get back into painting but I struggled with my artwork. I was unable to find the mojo to make it go for a broad variety of actual reasons. Well, the same reasons above that have caused our regular business to falter somewhat have opened the door to painting for me and the mojo is back in full force.
Time and priority did it. I have more time available in between customers plus I have a lot of orders for commissioned works. I'm now painting at level much higher than when I was young as far as volume. Also, after 40+ years of teaching people how to do many different skilled activities, I'm confident that I can share my abilities in a productive way with people who are interested in learning and having fun while doing it. Paddle a canoe correctly, ski up a hill, set the hook on a walleye, sweat a copper joint, ride a mountain bike, and now how to paint - they are all very similar in end result and I have taught them to many people.
Another reason I decided to pursue a painting instruction program is in my real concern and alarm for the falling off of wilderness use in general. America is aging. Fishing and hunting license sales are dying in Minnesota. The canoe parking lots in the BWCA are 25% full when only 4 years ago, they were 110% full. With the exception of the Blueberry Arts weekend time slot which used to be just another event in summer (and is now the peak of summer), the parking lots at all the Boundary Waters Entry Points are too big for the numbers of cars there. Something drastic has happened and for inexplicable reasons, a lot of people up here are not noticing it or are simply in denial.
For employment, people moved into metro areas and have left the trappings of rural and wilderness living. After going soft, they are not only turning their backs on wilderness as being too difficult, and too rustic to do, they are forgetting all about it as well. How do I know this? In 2014 an advisory panel of 21 Minneapolis "experts" were hired by a local organization up here to solve Ely's decline. After 3 days of study, they suggested putting a footbridge over Miners Lake in Ely as an "attraction". Most notable of their expert foibles was the installation of "pocket parks with free WIFI" throughout downtown Ely Minnesota. Ely is the gateway to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Canoe Capital of the World and almost surrounded but one million acres of undeveloped wilderness. The expert panel forgot all about the actual real wilderness in Ely MN located 5 minutes from town. Instead they want to give visitors to Ely "a secluded wilderness experience of sorts" while they wander among the "for sale" signs of all the abandoned and closed businesses on the streets. People actually DO come from the metro areas now to walk around in Ely, never venturing outside. It's like a sci-fi movie where the aliens surround the town but never bother anyone who doesn't venture beyond the city limits. If YOU can't figure out how messed up that is, there is no saving you.
Even a complete fool would question pocket parks in a northern Minnesota town surrounded by a massive, real, gorgeous, wilderness canoe-only park with thousands of clean lakes, good fishing, and wildlife. You know we are in trouble with "saving the wilderness" if this is how low city people can go. They are seeking out "fake" wilderness and can't see the forest because of all the trees. Un-friggin'-believable!
The truly sad part is that the expert panel was most likely correct in the pocket-park idea. We now live in a world of internet "pretenders" who want to be in a "safe space wilderness" and feel like they have actually accomplished something by sitting in one and looking at their iPhone. With this attitude and practice will come the decline of wilderness in the future.
And that is why I started Into The Brush. Learn about wilderness and how to put in on canvas for the whole world to see. Painting is one part the skill of the hand and eye, and one part the inspiration of one's soul put to canvas. No stupid pocket parks with free WIFI will bring this about true inspiration compared to REAL wilderness in a nice cabin in the woods with NO concrete side walks and park benches upon which to sit. Somebody's gotta do something in this world gone mad. I can paint, I can paddle, and I can do a whole bunch of other stuff quite well. Do you want to learn how to begin? Click the link and read the program:
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Comment if you'd like. I'd also like to hear your stories of staying at Northwind Lodge.