SUMMER LIVING

You swear you can hear the lasting echoes of “Pomp and Circumstance” off the empty dorms. Hot sun rays bounce off the once hectic parking lot, absent of cars. The campus resembles what many describe as a ghost town. Many of the students at Central Washington University leave Ellensburg for the summer. How do the small businesses of Ellensburg survive the long days of summer without the students to hold them up?

The Months Before Summer

For many of the businesses in Ellensburg, April and May tend to be busy months. Not only does the weather warm up, but businesses tend to run big events during these months. Nate Horton, bar manager at Club 301, says his bar has two key weekends.

“April’s a big month for Club 301,” Horton says, “because we have a big event at the end of the month that we do. It’s our halfway to Halloween party, which is exactly six months to Halloween, it’s always the last weekend of April. And that’s kind of a really big kickoff.”

Many of Ellensburg’s businesses see an uptick in business the weekend of graduation due to the increased number of people staying in town.

“Graduation weekend is like a big send off,” Horton says. “Everyone goes out, people’s parents and families are in town, so they go out together.”

Daniel and Josey Williams, owners of Campus U-Tote-Em, share a similar business experience to Horton’s.

“May is generally our busiest month of the year,” Josey Williams says. “Just for people traveling like I said and then more events and stuff at the college but then yes when school gets out like after graduation weekend is always a pretty big one.”

Campus U-Tote-Em also benefits from the variety of events that happen on CWU campus throughout May and April.

“Even home games help too,” Daniel Williams says, “like rugby, soccer, softball, baseball, anything. Definitely helps.”

The Plateau Of Summer

Believe it or not, Ellensburg does not become a ghost town once summer hits. The college town keeps the doors of all its businesses open for the summer. The fall off may not be as significant as you expect either.

“We kind of plateau through the summer,” Josey Williams says, “it doesn’t go down drastically. It does go down a little bit, but there’s so many people that are traveling through town and vacationers and that kind of stuff that will come to us.”

Holidays like Fourth of July or Memorial Day, music festivals at The Gorge Amphitheatre and events in town like The Ellensburg Rodeo drive people right through Ellensburg. All this travel helps supplement the loss some businesses may experience when students go home for summer.

Bars like Club 301 do not benefit quite as much from the travel of summer.

“There’s kind of a downshift in business,” Horton says. “There’s not really a way to put a financial or numerical or statistical amount to it, but there is a significant downshift.”

Club 301 instead relies on the local population to keep its doors open. Some college students do not go home for summer as they may stay for a summer job or do not want to leave their apartment empty . .

Horton says that there are two big demographics that got to Club 301. There’s the party crowd and the more chilled out crowd. As the summer months hit, the bar receives much less of the party crowd and more of the chilled out crowd.

Summertime Changes

Internally these businesses do not need to make a ton of changes. Some student bartenders may be able to pick up more hours because they do not have to balance a work and school schedule. And some businesses may lose some staff due to graduation or staff leaving for the summer.

Other than those changes, do not expect to see your favorite business change its hours.

These establishments adapt externally to attract Summer customers. A change in mindset and how they think about getting people through their doors helps these businesses stay open.

“The difference is when you’re planning an event during the school year, you’re not necessarily trying to increase business” Horton says, “because the business is already built in, you’re kind of guaranteed to almost always get that. When it’s summertime and the business has taken a downshift, you’re trying to come up with an event or something that draws people in.”

During the school year, an event like Club 301’s halfway to Halloween party works. This party will pull in the college students that the club already gets.

A similar event would not work during the summer. The bar would need to run an event more focused on the older, less energetic clienteles it gets throughout the summer.

“That’s kind of the hard part and balancing those things,” Horton says, “when it comes to managing a business is understanding your clientele. If you’re trying to appeal to the same clientele, if you’re trying to draw in a new clientele, all of those things have impacts on the event you’re trying to put together.”

End Of The Dog Days

“Nobody’s hurting,” Horton says, “Nobody’s like, ‘Oh, God, I’m dreading the summer months, I hope we can survive.’”

Summer provides some unique challenges for business owners, but these establishments are not shutting down once the college kids leave town.