CASSADAGA – With the predicted warm-up next week, many people are happy to see the snow disappear. But that also means the end of snowmobiling this season.

Cassadaga had some snow Friday, but not enough to keep the trails open.

Though the county hasn’t seen too much snow this winter season except for a few random blizzards, when the trails were open snowmobilers from near and far flocked to the Cassadaga ShurFine parking lot.

“Business can be kind of slow in the winter time, so now we consider winter almost ‘tourist season,'” said Paul Lehnen, owner of the Cassadaga ShurFine. “We get so many people from all over coming to visit our store and to snowmobile. If it doesn’t snow, it’s practically bad for business, because then people aren’t coming to snowmobile.”

But why a ShurFine parking lot, of all places? One doesn’t normally associate “local grocery store” with “awesome snowmobiling location.”

Dave Nolan from Cleveland, Ohio has been visiting the Cassadaga area for the past three years during the winter, simply because he loves the location and the trails.

“I’m here because you have snow and you have trail systems. It’s a lot better than Pennsylvania trails, or driving eight hours to Michigan,” said Nolan. “We’ve come to ShurFine for three years. It’s convenient, you get a lot of snow, you have a groomed trail system and you get miles and miles of snow.”

The OBSERVER asked Nolan why he liked coming to Chautauqua County so much, rather than other New York locations with tons of snow.

“The newspaper interviewers rock,” he joked. “But seriously You have foods and gas and nuts and bolts and thread and a slice of pizza and water, all in a ten foot circumference. The trails are nice, you keep them groomed and you run things over them to level them out.”

His friend Mike Ohanian, also from Cleveland, agreed.

“There’s changes, and straightaways and fields and woods. You’re not constantly riding and only seeing cornfield, cornfield, cornfield there’s ups and downs and hills. They keep us coming back,” Ohanian said.

The Cassadaga ShurFine has evolved over the past couple of decades, expanding from a small grocery shop to the gas station/grocery store/restaurant/supply shop you see today. When walking into the store now, as Nolan mentioned, you can get all sorts of supplies for your snowmobiling endeavors and get food and drink before going outside, fueling up and setting off on your way.

“It’s quite a phenomenon for people who don’t live here They’ve expanded it over the years to accommodate. The trail system is really amazing; they go all over,” said Cassadaga Mayor LeeAnn Lazarony.

The trail system, according to Lehnen, goes through hundreds of miles and hundreds of backyards, reinforcing the idea that the trail system is a Cassadaga community effort.

“It’s amazing what it’s turned into,” said Lazarony. “It wasn’t this big 20 years ago, but now it’s huge. I love the snowmobilers. My backyard has the trails going right through it and I wouldn’t change it. It benefits everyone in the village.”

With so many “tourists” coming through during the winter, revenues increase for those who normally wouldn’t have as much business in the winter due to the weather. Activity has, however, decreased slightly over the years due to interference from New York state, affecting income for those who depend on this winter increase in tourism.

“Before, you could come to ShurFine, buy a registration and come on a Sunday morning and the local places benefited from that. Now, they have to do it during the hours the DMV is open and register there, so they’re taking money away from the local places that really benefited from the money from the registration and the snowmobilers for their winter revenue,” said Lazarony.

Lazarony continued, saying, “So the amount of snowmobilers has declined a bit. People don’t want to come from Ohio because they can’t register when the DMV isn’t open. People don’t come because they can’t register their snowmobile on a Sunday. … New York state has really taken a piece of the pie, which really hurt these little places that count on snowmobiling revenue.”

However, it doesn’t take away from people who are able to come and register to snowmobile all day. Overall, the yearly tradition continues to be a fun bonding experience for all involved.

“It brings families together Winter can be really long in Chautauqua County. The fact that you have a family sport you can go out and do together brings everyone together. It’s a big deal in the winter time. There isn’t that much else to do out here,” Lazarony laughed.