Paws Up Closing Down for Winter, Drops 70 Workers

By Matthew Frank, 10-14-08

At the Blackfoot Valley’s Paws Up Resort, some 70 workers learned they will be out of winter jobs on or around Nov. 1, another sign that the high-end resort and real estate market in the West is deeply troubled.

As Kim Briggeman of the Missoulian reports:

“Current economic conditions are affecting many aspects of the luxury leisure travel market, which is what we cater to,” [Managing Director Terre] Short explained in a telephone interview shortly after the layoffs were announced.

She called Monday “one of the worst days of my life.”

Paws Up will open for the Christmas and New Year holiday period, then close again until mid-April. The first annual Wine & Bitch weekend that had been set for mid-November has been canceled.