DAWSON CITY – The week-long closure of the Taylor Highway brought a temporary halt to what many in Dawson had been calling a very good season.

"The reports we're hearing from our corporate members are that visitation is up and they are having a year that is good, and better than last year,” said Gary Parker, executive director of the Klondike Visitors Association (KVA).

He was interviewed before the road was closed again Friday due to extensive rain and the threat of a flood warning. The closure applies to the Taylor Highway leading to Eagle, Alaska and Boundary Spur leading to the Canadian border. (See separate story below.)

Prior to the first road closure, the summer had been "incredibly good” for the operators at Bonanza Gold Hotel and RV Park.

"We'd been having an excellent summer up to that point,” said Sarah Lenart.

At the downtown site of Goldrush Campground, Pat and Diane Brooks felt the same.

"We were phenomenal this year,” said Pat Brooks. "I think we were heading for a record year, and then, all of a sudden, it just came to a crashing halt. We understand that people have to make decisions based on ... being able to get through a road.”

At the Visitor Information Centre on Front Street, Peggy Amendola had been hearing the same story.

"Before the road closure, everyone was having a very good summer.”

Parts of the Taylor Highway between Tok and the U.S. border and on to Eagle washed out and the road was first closed on July 11.

That shutdown lasted a week, but there were some announcements that used words like "indefinite” and "indeterminate”, and those words had a immediate effect.

"As soon as they announced it was to be an indeterminate length of time, the place just flushed out,” Lenart said.

Bonanza Gold lost two caravan groups who were planning to come to Dawson.

"The first caravan we lost was in Tok at the time and had been going to come over the next day,” Lenart said. "The other one was not due to arrive until July 23, but they cancelled in advance when the news got out.”

Goldrush lost a caravan group as well, though Brooks thinks they might come in from the other direction later in the summer.

"There was, certainly, some effect in town here,” Parker said. "One of the things that makes Dawson attractive is the ability to do a circle route from either direction, and without the Top of the World/Taylor ability, that leg makes it kind of a one way trip.

"The RV groups that are travelling together and are booked well ahead, knowing where they're going to be every night, that have to make their plans ahead of time, are effected,” Parker added.

"In the initial flutter, we probably dropped about 75 per cent for a short period of time,” said Brooks.

His spots started filling up quickly once the road was open again, he added.

Said Parker: "If there was such a thing as good timing for a highway closure, it's probably that the brunt of it occurred during the (Dawson City) music festival and freed up some space that had been booked solid.”

Once the road reopened, the campsites started filling up quickly.

Some people just want to come to Dawson any way, so the Brooks saw several travellers who chose to drive from Tok back to Whitehorse, then reach Dawson via the North Klondike Highway when the loop wasn't available.

Once the road reopened, Brooks said, travellers began to come in saying they didn't see a problem there any more, in spite of the continued drizzle and sometimes heavy rain.

Amendola said that both the Yukon government and the KVA had been very proactive in getting the word out that the route was open again, as shortlived as that proved.

At first, vehicles were led through, but by last Thursday, Parker said, people were travelling the route without a pilot car guiding them.