On Friday, the town's supermarkets were obviously busier than usual, but certainly some of that traffic could be attributed to the 3-day Memorial Day weekend, but one checkout clerk at The Market said she "knew" at least some of the customers were coming from LaConner because they didn't want to venture to Mount Vernon.
On Saturday morning, local cafes appeared busier than usual. A co-owner at Island Cafe said they were handling many more customers than a typical Saturday morning.
But, Anna Holm, owner of the Majestic's Apothecary Spa, told the Puget Sound Business Journal that calls started coming in minutes after the bridge collapse on Thursday evening to cancel appointments. As of Friday morning, the hotel had had five cancellations, the spa had three.
And, Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Stephanie Hamilton even managed to get the state Transportation Department to send a Ferry alert to subscribers with, "Detour Directions from i-5 to Anacortes." The message said, in part, "I-5 is closed over the Skagit River in Burlington and Mount Vernon – Anacortes awaits you!"
Earlier Friday, Hamilton send an email to Chamber members urging them to get the message out that, "Anacortes is still open for business during out interstate closure." She included a link to a Chamber Web page with directions to Anacortes.
Hamilton also promised to be in contact with legislators, "with a message of how important this link to our community is and urge them to expedite this process in re-opening I-5."
Meanwhile, overall, county business may end up losing. The Economic Development Association of Skagit County has already begun studying impacts on the local economy. Executive Director Don Wick said, "It might be pretty tough to get a complete handle on what it means." A broken bridge recently cost Lewis County $47-million in just 4 days, Senator Maria Cantwell told a Friday news conference.
Photo courtesy: WSDOT