Saturday, January 10, 2009

Alabama coastal resorts are seeing fewer winter visitors this year - al.com

Alabama coastal resorts are seeing fewer winter visitors this year - al.com: "GULF SHORES — The Erie Myer Civic Center was packed as the 'Kazoo Band' paraded through Thursday, opening the Michigan Club's first meeting of 2009 with a rendition of 'When the Saints Go Marching In.'

But though the center was crowded, plenty of saints were back at their Michigan homes this snowbird season.

Club membership this winter is down about 20 percent, said President Al Meyer, who along with others blamed a slow economy and the advanced ages of many who once drove south to Alabama's beaches to sit out the cold."