GAYLORD, MI - On a cool morning in northern Michigan, a pack of elk lay in the grass soaking up beams of sunlight cutting through the clouds.
Fred Tolley, whose ringtone is an elk bugle sound, peered through the fence at Gaylord’s City Elk Park.
“I always make a stop here,” he said on his road trip from Ohio to the Upper Peninsula.
Jennifer Lawson sat on a bench nearby holding a mug of hot coffee.
“It’s just so peaceful. And right now, it’s mating season, can you hear?” she said as an elk bugled.
This was a much quieter scene than four months ago when a tornado with 150 mph winds whipped through Gaylord killing two people, injuring dozens, and leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.
“At least a big chunk was spared,” said Lawson, a hometown tourist who left Gaylord more than two decades ago. “That’s huge for this area, which depends so heavily on tourists. They’ve got to get back on their feet right away.”
The city of Gaylord maintains a herd of elk for visitors to observe. It's one tourism draw in the city that's "all outdoors." (Photo by Rose White | MLive)
The May 20 twister struck the northern Michigan town only a week before the summer tourism season kicked off on Memorial Day weekend. But Gaylord bounced back.
“We’ve made tremendous progress, but it did not have any effect on travel and tourism,” said Paul Beachnau the executive director of the Gaylord Area Convention and Tourism Bureau
The tornado carved a path through Gaylord, destroying homes in the Nottingham Forest Mobile Home Park, crashing into box stores in the busy M-32 business district and battering a neighborhood four blocks north of downtown.
The rest of town was largely untouched.
Related: ‘We’re open’: Gaylord welcomes summer tourists only days after destructive tornado
Casey Buckleitner was standing in the back of White Birch Outfitters when the tornado struck only a few blocks away.
“I don’t think besides that week, 10 days afterwards, we didn’t really have much disruption in business,” he said, noting overall sales were up at his clothing and outdoor gear store this summer.
About a mile east of downtown Gaylord, the storm knocked down several trees at the Otsego Resort. But minor property damage didn’t stop 83-year-old ski and golf club from hosting a wedding the next day.
“There was debris that we had to pick up. We worked as a team, we got all that picked up and it looked beautiful for the wedding,” owner Kathie Vollmar said.
Brothers Corey and Lance Harmer were prepping for a May 23 soft launch of their new restaurant Marmalade & Co. when they heard the twister roar through town like a freight train. They rushed to the basement, and their Main Street breakfast restaurant emerged unscathed.
“As far as the tornado, I don’t think it affected us,” Corey Harmer said.
Brothers Lance and Corey Harmer opened Marmalade & Co. about a week after a tornado swept through Gaylord. Despite the setback, they said it's been a busy summer. (Photo by Rose White | MLive)
For Gaylord tourism, it’s “all outdoors.”
The northern Michigan town of about 4,200 people draws tourists to its 90 lakes, winding trails, more than a dozen golf courses and herd of elk. It’s also home to breweries, restaurants and a wildlife museum.
Key to Gaylord’s economy, tourism supports nearly 12% of Otsego County’s employment. Visitor spending peaked pre-pandemic at $107 million, state data shows, while still bringing $102 million to Otsego County in 2020.
After two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the tornado almost dealt another blow.
But with help from an estimated 1,500 volunteers clearing debris, a $1.5 million tornado relief fund and a waning pandemic, Beachnau said it was the first normal summer in years.
“Gaylord is a very welcoming community. We’re very much like helping your neighbor out. And that came through loud and clear from such a tragedy,” Beachnau said.
Related: Dozens of cats were lost in tornado debris. One Gaylord woman is rescuing them.
This summer, Gaylord celebrated its 100th anniversary as a city. Thousands showed up to the Big Ticket Christian music festival. And large crowds attended the 57th annual Alpenfest.
“The only word I can describe it: Everything feels more normal,” Beachnau said.
Even though the Harmer brothers pushed back the opening of Marmalade & Co by a week, it was still a busy summer for the new downtown Gaylord eatery. Corey Harmer said weekday lulls were followed by “crazy” weekends packed with tourists.
“People seem to be coming more downtown,” he said. “For a few years, downtown was just dead. And it seemed like this summer more people are starting to get back into that downtown routine.”
Otsego Resort, founded in 1939, had minor property damage from the May 20 tornado. But some downed trees didn't stop the ski and golf resort from hosting a wedding the day after the storm. (Photo by Rose White | MLive)
At the sprawling 4,000-acre Otsego Resort, Vollmar said a slight drop in hotel bookings was counterbalanced by a 15% jump in tee times this summer. But as the resort transitions to its busy winter season, Vollmar is concerned about staffing levels.
“I’m very nervous. Because of the winter, we are just slammed here — just slammed every weekend,” she said.
Even though about 44% of the city’s hotel room sales take place in June, July and August, according to a Petoskey News opinion column written by Beachnau, Gaylord also thrives in the winter.
Tucked into a snowbelt, Beachnau called Gaylord the “best winter vacation destination in the state of Michigan” because of its skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling and dog sledding. And after the pandemic and the tornado, the Farmer’s Almanac delivered some good news: An “unreasonably cold, snowy” year for the Great Lakes.
“We’re expecting a very robust winter season,” Beachnau said.
More on MLive:
Gaylord tornado was Michigan’s first EF3 since Dexter twister in 2012
His dad built the house by hand in 1945. Then a tornado struck.
‘Pitch in and lend a hand’ Gaylord community cleans up after tornado ravages city
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