Minnesotans Leave MN To Visit State Parks Over Holiday
HUDSON, Wis. (WCCO) -- The gates of the Willow River State Park in Hudson, Wis., are open, and many of the campers in the parking lot have Minnesota license plates.
Aside from wanting to enjoy nature across the border, many Minnesotans had to visit Wisconsin state parks because the parks in Minnesota are closed due to the government shutdown.
Two Minnesotans, Brad Erickson and Cody Heck, changed their weekend plans from camping in Minnesota to camping in Wisconsin as soon as they heard that the government could shutdown. They scrambled to grab one of the few remaining spots at Willow River State Park.
"It's a bummer that we can't go to the state parks and all the rest areas are closed," Erickson said.
Erickson and Heck expressed frustration that lawmakers were taking a weekend break and not sorting out the issues that caused them to change their holiday plans.
"Hopefully they're not enjoying their Fourth of July vacation too much without thinking about what they should be doing," Heck said.
Minnesota state parks usually see around 60,000 campers on a typical July weekend, and those campers usually spend around $1 million. Now that money will be spent in other states whose state parks are open over the holiday weekend.
