Column: Tourism is essential to our economic strength

Coming off our newly minted status as the “Best Town” in America, according to Outside Magazine, I am looking forward to getting a street-level view of our gorgeous city this weekend at Grandma’s Marathon. You can feel the excitement in the air as the weather warms up and Duluthians come out in full force to enjoy the glorious summer months and mingle with the thousands of tourists that descend to take in Duluth and the North Shore.
This weekend will not be my first Grandma’s Marathon race. As many of you know, I am an avid runner and always look forward to racing on my home turf. Grandma’s also calls to mind some other awesome events our city will be hosting this summer. In August nearly 20,000 fans will come into town for the annual Bayfront Blues Festival, a spectacular music event and one of the largest in the Midwest.
A personal favorite of mine will be happening later in the summer: Navy Week is coming to Duluth. We are one of just six cities in America hosting a Navy Week in 2014. As a Navy lieutenant, it is especially exciting to share naval history and customs with my friends and family and our community. The grand finale of Navy Week will be the Duluth Air Show featuring the Blue Angels. If you’ve never experienced a Blue Angels air show, you are in for a real treat. These are world class pilots and we are fortunate they are coming back to Duluth.
We are lucky to live in such a beautiful city that is able to attract national-level acts that in turn attract a ton of visitors. As we move forward from the Great Recession, Duluth has tourism to thank in large part for helping us weather the economic downturn. Many towns across our state did not have such a significant tourism base and fared much worse.
Building on that existing base, I’m proud to say my work, along with the help of other Duluth leaders, succeeded in securing millions in bonding dollars that will help build up the western parts of our community. I’m especially excited about the money heading to Spirit Mountain and Wade Stadium, which will help further Duluth’s vision for the St. Louis River Corridor. We already know our city is beautiful and attracts thousands of visitors each year. The next step is to make all parts of our city attractive and help increase economic opportunity, particularly in West Duluth.
Because of Duluth’s popularity - which our win as “Best Town” fully illustrates - my work as a legislator is much easier. When we present bonding projects, we have data to back up our status as a significant tourism destination. And perhaps more importantly, legislators have been here and they enjoy visiting. They know Duluth. That’s a lot more than most communities in Minnesota can say.

Roger Reinert represents District 7 in the Minnesota Senate.