BELMONT, Mich. — Last time FOX 17 went to Cannonsburg, it was at the end of November and they had just turned the snow blowers on in the day for the first time this season.
There was excitement and hope for the future.
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Here we are on Christmas. The snow is basically gone and they still have yet to open.
Monday morning, FOX 17 reached out to Cannonsburg's Communications Director Danielle Musto to comment on this lack of winter weather, and instead of throwing on some ski gear, she was running trails in shorts.
"Not the kind of attire you were hoping to wear this time of year, probably" FOX 17 said.
"Are you kidding? No!" Musto replied.
The Christmas Day trail run is nothing new for Musto. She and her sister have made it a family tradition.
However, last year looked a lot different.
“Yeah, it was epic," she said. "My sister and I were in the woods and, like, snow drifts up to our knees. It was so much fun. We felt like we were in a Christmas globe.”
That globe is gone, and looks like it's far from returning.
Not everyone is complaining about this warmer weather, though, like Lori Schultz who was out there mountain biking.
“Well, it's not good for skiers, but it sure is for mountain bikers," Schultz said. "No shoveling, no treacherous roads. So, I'm loving it."
Musto can't say the same.
"Basically, I want to cry," she said. "I mean, there's no way that you can sugarcoat it. It's really sad.”
This is usually Cannonsburg's busiest time of year, from Christmas through New Year's Day. Kids are on break from school and people are visiting from out of town.
The lack of traffic is hurting them in more ways than one.
"Obviously financially, we're missing out on two to three of our busiest weeks of the season," Musto said. "But also, in mid-November, we hired 200 employees. We have employees who return every year from, you know, college, for Christmas break and are expecting to work.”
Cannonsburg isn't the only one dealing with this issue.
The website for Bittersweet in Otsego said it's also "closed until further notice."
The Facebook page for the Rosa Parks Circle Ice Rink said it was going to be closed anyway for Christmas, but that wasn't going to stop Ruben Taveras and his family from lacing up their skates — that is, until they saw the conditions.
“I was planning on getting on the ice today with the boys," Taveras said. "Maybe a little skate, but it's not looking like it.”
Back on the hill, Musto said there's a date to keep in mind — January 7. In her eight years working there, that's the latest they've opened for any season.
That's not a record they hope to break.
“We've worked for months for this moment," Musto said. "Now we're just at a standstill waiting for the one thing we can't control.”
Musto said they ideally need temperatures to be at-or-below 28 degrees to turn on the snow blowers, but based on the extended forecast, it looks like they are still several days from making that happen.
