DULUTH – Vitta Pizza owner Brad Erickson has always seen Grandma's Marathon weekend as the official kickoff to summer.
The finish line is yards from his 10-year-old restaurant, and sales that weekend are "very significant," he said.
When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the race to be run virtually last year, there was a "strange and sterile" quality to that weekend and the rest of the season, he said, in direct contrast to what he's witnessed in the days running up to Saturday's live race.
"Let's start the party. People are fired up to have some fun," Erickson said.
Because of the pandemic, the number of runners was cut in half — to 9,500 — for the three races that make up the 45th Grandma's Marathon event. But many Duluth business owners, like the Blue Heron Trading Co.'s Jane Jenkins, are expecting a largely typical race weekend as COVID-19 activity declines.
"With a smaller field that helps us feel safer," said Jenkins, whose shop is in the Canal Park DeWitt Seitz Marketplace. "But we're still expecting a good crowd."
Hotel occupancy rates in Duluth are typically near capacity for the marathon, said Anna Tanski, president of Visit Duluth. Hotels were 70% full during last year's race weekend, but with reduced occupancy and room rates, "it was a double whammy" hit to tourism tax collections, she said. Hotels were 80 to 90% full on weekends in late May and early June this year and about 60% full during the week around that time. That weekday rate was double what it was last year.
"Recovery has begun," Tanski said. "There is every indication this will be a strong weekend."
