New West Feature

How Hockey, and Its Money, Help One Idaho Town Make It Through Winter

By Gina Knudson, 3-22-11

	Downtown Salmon. At Country Candy, the corner building in this shot, the owner knows she can't leave during the girls' hockey tourney because of the business it generates. "I'd be hung."

Some of Salmon, Idaho’s, most ardent hockey fans rarely make it to the rink.

“I’ve taken the grandkids up to the rink a couple of times, but it’s cold,” said Shannon Fayle. “I’m not part of Salmon Hockey, but I sure am glad it’s here.”

Fayle, who owns and operates Country Candy on Main Street, said that players and their families who come to tiny Salmon for youth hockey tournaments help keep businesses alive through what used to be dismal winter months.

Since the small-town hockey association added a mechanical refrigeration unit to tits outdoor rink, the Salmon Rapids have been able to host youth tournaments nearly every weekend in January and February. The nostalgic feeling of the outdoor rink and the mom-and-pop shops downtown attract teams from as far away as Portland. With only one sheet of competition ice, a big Salmon tournament can accommodate about eith teams with most of the teams consisting of around 10 to 15 players.

Because Salmon is so remote—about 150 miles from the nearest competitors in Idaho Falls and Missoula—tournament weekends often involve a two-night stay in the town’s hotels.

Kerrie Burley, a manager for the Stagecoach Inn, doesn’t mind the floor hockey that’s going on down the hallway with a group of rambunctious “PeeWees” or 11- and 12-year-old skaters. “Hockey is a blessing to us in the winter,” she commented calmly. A good hockey weekend can book up to 70 rooms per night.

Nick Bertram, owner and brewer of the eponymous Bertram’s Brewery, pitches in for Salmon Hockey whenever he gets the chance. He donates vats of soup to the concession stand up at the rink on big tournament weekends, and he spent years campaigning for a Local Option tax that could support activities like hockey. The tax passed in November 2009, adding 4 percent to lodging bills in the city of Salmon. Salmon Hockey has been a recipient of some of the generated funds, which have were pumped into rink improvements like lighting and electrical upgrades.

He brushes off his efforts as somewhat selfishly inspired. “Mid-winter, all we have is hockey and the locals. Construction isn’t going on, and sales reps aren’t making many trips through here. A good hockey weekend for us actually doubles our weekend business,” he reported.

“It’s wonderful. We love it,” Bertram said.

Although nearly all of the visiting teams are from larger towns with more shopping options, Fayle said the hockey families do some serious shopping in Salmon. When asked how she is so sure they are hockey shoppers, she laughs. “It’s not hard to tell. It can be 24-below out and the girls or the boys come in wearing shorts.”

When she first started her business making homemade goodies in 2007, Fayle didn’t know what hockey would mean to her. “Last year, I caught on,” she recalled. Repeat customers would ask for the fudge flavor or candy they had found in Salmon the year before. And she connected the dots that the girls hockey tournament at the beginning of February was economically noteworthy. She knows better than to leave town that weekend, especially. “If I’m out of suckers when they get here,” she said, “I’m hung.”

The rink has been idled for a few weeks now after a grand finale adult tournament that brought hundreds to town the last weekend in February. The whir of the refrigeration units has gone silent for the next eight months or so. The whir of hockonomics in Salmon has also gone quiet and downtown business owners like Bertram and Fayle have moved on to the less-predictable tourism of steelhead fishing. “Scheduled events like hockey tournaments are nice,” Fayle said, now left wondering if fishermen braving the blustery day would get cold enough to get off the river and roam around downtown before she closes her candy store at 5 p.m.

“Did you notice if the river was muddy when you crossed the bridge?” Bertram inquired. For the next few months, Bertram will depend upon things beyond his control, like the clarity of the Salmon River and the luck of diehard fishermen. Then the weather and river flows influence the summer whitewater rafting season—another staple for Salmon’s businesses. As unwelcome snow pelts us in March, it may not be popular to look fondly toward winter, but locals are already pining for the chill of the next hockey season.

Gina Knudson, a hockey mom of two, spends much of her winter making an economic impact in other teams’ cities. She is not sorry the season is over.

Like this story? Get more! Sign up for our free newsletters.