Nancy and Jeff Poferl consider themselves on the “younger side” of their Minnesota snowbird flock. They say they are “relatively healthy” and aren’t overly concerned about traveling during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But before they headed south to the Alabama coast this month from their home in the St. Paul suburb of White Bear Lake, their family members had some questions.
“Our families, of course, were asking, ‘Are you still going?’” said Nancy Poferl, 65, president of the Minnesota Snowbird Club. “People are not wanting their families going down to take the chance.”
The Proferls were undaunted, but plenty other of the usual winter visitors are staying home this time as the coronavirus grips the country.
That’s been another blow for cities like Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, which are still getting back to their feet from Hurricane Sally in September. Sally flooded entire neighborhoods, and ripped into condos and vacation homes alike, putting many of the usual vacation rental properties on the sidelines awaiting extensive repairs.
“I know several people who did cancel because of COVID,” said Pat Brush, 66, of Fairfax Iowa, and president of the Iowa Snowbird Club. “We also know several people who canceled because their condos are not available. It’s maybe 50-50.”
For those who have returned, the virus has left them far fewer things to do than in years past. Morning coffees have been scrapped; potluck dinners are canceled. Low-country boils and sausage fundraisers are off, as are the bus trips to Biloxi or New Orleans.
The lean snowbird scene is, in turn, making things hard on restaurants and attractions that rely on the retirees during the otherwise slow winter months.
“Typically, by this time, there is a snowbird convention and it’s full force by the third week of January,” said Kelly Stringer, general manager with Cosmo’s Restaurant and Bar in Orange Beach. “I’ve only seen a handful of the regulars.”
The snowbird season typically runs from New Year’s Day through mid-March, and it’s been part of the Alabama coastal calendar for decades. But no one can remember a season as slow as the present one.
Although Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism estimates occupancy rates down only slightly from a year ago, the presidents of the snowbird state associations say that attendance appears to be down at least 30%.
Some of the association presidents even put the fall-off at 50%.
Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism believes that rental occupancy rates are being boosted, somewhat, by contracting teams that continue to work on hurricane-recovery projects.
The tourism bureau’s data doesn’t differentiate between a snowbird or a contractor or leisure traveler, according to spokeswoman Kay Maghan. January occupancy, she said, is about 1% behind last year while February bookings are down about 10% thus far.
“We do know we still have many workers here related to Hurricane Sally repairs,” she said. “We are seeing visitation from newer areas than we usually do from license plates, so we may be making up the difference in new snowbirds as opposed to the same ones we see year after year.”
‘Take our chances’
Snowbirds have long been enthusiastic volunteers at places like the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo in Gulf Shores, and they’ve regularly ginned up fund-raising events for firefighters and libraries, and filled the offering plates at coastal churches.
“It’s quite the challenging year to have our visitation where it is,” Joel Hamilton, the zoo’s executive director, said as he reflected on the snowbird shortage.
“It’s normally pretty quiet at this time of the year. It’s even quieter this year than last year given that only 40 to 50 percent of them are returning this time around,” he said.
Grant Brown, a spokesman with the city of Gulf Shores, said that snowbirds still can find plenty of socially distanced diversions, mentioning, for example, the sandy spaces and trails at Gulf State Park.
“We recognize that for a lot of the snowbirds getting out of the North that it’s more important to be down here where there is more of an opportunity to be outside instead of being couped up,” Brown said.
Golf is also a popular activity and remains one of the few official snowbird gatherings still advertised in the “Mullet Wrapper” news publication.
“Rather than the cold, cold and the snow where we’d be stuck inside, we decided to come down and take our chances,” said Pat Brush, who heads up the Iowa snowbird club and is spending the winter in a condo on Gulf Shores’ West Beach. “One a nice day, we’ll do beach games. We’re finding a lot of things to do.”
She enjoys quilting, she said, so if it’s a bit chilly at the beach, she’ll get out her sewing kit.
Brush said she expects that the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines has been another factor in the odd snowbird season. She said that some snowbirds might be awaiting their first shots, and are hanging close to home to get the second one, too.
In Iowa, for instance, the state’s next vaccination phase – which will include people age 75 and over, as well as other high-risk populations – begins on February 1.
Snowbirds, due to their age, are particularly vulnerable to the most severe effects of the coronavirus. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people ages 75-84 years old are eight times more likely than someone ages 18-29 to be hospitalized from COVID-19, and 220 times more likely to die.
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‘The new normal’
Snowbirds to Alabama have long enjoyed a reputation for super-social gatherings. And they take great pride in their home states. The biggest contingents typically come from Michigan and Wisconsin, which share a combined 18% of the total visits to the Alabama coast during winter months, according to Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism. Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana are also strong states for winter visits.
In the past, hundreds of snowbird would turn out for Michigan Club meetings at the Eerie Meyer Civic Center in Gulf Shores. But those meetings are on hold this time, as are the Iowa club’s huge breakfast affairs at the Perdido Beach Resort.
As for Wisconsin, its state club usually has welcomed 800 snowbirds at Gulf Shores and Orange Beach during the winter. This year, by some estimates, that number has been cut by a third.
Some of those who did come down are getting together in “small groups,” of maybe two or three couples and “going out to eat,” according to Kenn Krouse, president of the Wisconsin club.
“But I think there is a large percentage of our people not going out to eat,” said Krouse, 75, who lives in Athelstane, Wisconsin. “I know my wife and I have not been out to eat since last March.”
Krouse and his wife, Lora, have a home in Gulf Shores and stay in the region longer than most snowbirds: They arrive in mid-October and leave at the end of May.
“We realize that this virus is not going to be gone in February or March and probably not ‘til July or August,” Krouse said. “Hopefully, when we come down next year, it will be back to the new normal, whatever that is going to be.”
‘Comfortable to travel’
Alabama's Gulf Coast in Orange Beach, Ala.
The snowbird shortage comes after a solid financial year for the city of Gulf Shores, even factoring in Sally’s rampage. The city enjoyed a “big summer” with visitors after strict quarantines throughout the country were lifted around Memorial Day.
Brown, the city spokesman, said Gulf Shores was able to cut spending by around $500,000 simply because it didn’t have expenses related to canceled festivals.
As for rental agencies, they’ve been welcoming a lot of last-minute short-term visitors versus the longer-term snowbirds. A similar trend occurred last year, when shorter-term stays – the visits that go from three days up to one week -- were popular following the spring shutdown of the beaches.
Robert Kennedy Jr., a spokesman with Brett Robinson Vacation Rentals, said the increase in short-term stays illustrates the changes that could occur in the overall occupancy as spring 2021 approaches. Brett Robinson -- which manages the Phoenix Condos in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach – estimated that occupancy rates would be down 20% in February, with a bounce-back in March and into April.
“Even though I say, ‘I’m looking at the February numbers and they are down,’ as you go day-by-day, you can see those numbers are increasing,” said Kennedy.
At Liquid Life Vacation Rentals, only about half the 334 rental condos are ready for occupancy right now; the rest are still in the midst of post-hurricane repairs. But nearly all the damaged condos will be back open in time for Spring Break.
“Before Hurricane Sally, we were having a great year in 2020,” said Randy Hall, president/owner of the company. “We see that resuming with March and beyond.”
Hunter Harrelson, owner of Beachball Properties and who oversees 106 units including at buildings that remains closed from hurricane damage, said “everything is fluid.” He said that his Spring Break bookings are down compared to the 2019 season by 72%.
“That is not ideal,” he said, but added that the “trend over the past couple of years has been for guests to wait longer before they commit to a vacation.” He said that families could be waiting to see final school calendars, which are themselves being twisted this way and that by the pandemic.
“Based on 2020′s summer, we should be just fine once the schools let out for summer,” said Harrelson. “We also hope the vaccine is more available by then and people are more comfortable to travel into the late summer and fall.”
Related content: Alabama vacation properties in high demand as COVID pandemic rages on
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