Unseasonable cold drives snowbirds south

McALLEN — With the forecast calling for another freezing cold night, Richard and Vickie Burton packed the car and fled south for the blistering heat of the Rio Grande Valley.

After a chilly summer in Missouri and with fall quickly covering the Midwest in cold, the Burton family drove more than 16 hours last Saturday, joining hundreds of other Winter Texans who returned early to their winter homes.

“(The snow) was coming down and they took flight just like we did,” he said. “It’s probably ahead of time. They don’t get this kind of weather until sometime in November and here it is in October.”

The snowbirds return every year, flocking south in droves to escape the cold and encamp in trailer and RV parks across the Rio Grande Valley. Carrying trailer loads of cash, restaurants, retailers and the tourism industry herald their arrival.

But with the sour economy wrecking savings, pensions and other investments that sustain the retirees, fewer Winter Texans are expected to return than before the recession, park operators, snowbirds and other businessman said.

Still, many said that it’s too early to tell just how economic woes will depress the number of seasonal residents. Some parks have said they are booked, while other Winter Texans said a few of their friends simply can’t afford the trip anymore.

“The park has just got a few people in it and there’s usually more here than that,” Burton, 64, said. “It’s still so early in the season, but from what I’ve heard, fewer people are going to come down that there was last year.”

At Paradise Park in McAllen, Don Burke said that an average of five families a day are arriving at the park. He said that expects the place to be full this year, partly because of the recession.

“They can live here cheaper than they can live up North,” Burke said. “Especially in the winter, they can shut the heat off or turn it down and leave.”

The low cost of living and the mild winter, attract more than 64,000 Winter Texans every year, according to a study conducted by University of Texas-Pan American Professor Penny Simpson. And they spend an estimated $606.7 million.

Clayton Homes, a manufactured home dealer in Donna, had a banner year in 2007 when the Canadian dollar was worth more than the American dollar and economic growth seemed like it would last forever.

Then last year, the bottom fell out, especially after the value of the Canadian dollar fell relative to U.S. currency. Sales to Winter Texans fell by 30 to 40 percent then, said manager Chad Stephen.

Luckily, sales to locals have actually grown, offsetting the losses with the seasonal crowd. Though, he does expect sales to the snowbirds to rise some this year, only slightly. Still he predicts fewer Winter Texans this season.

“There were fewer of them last year as well,” he said. “Before the collapse of last year, there would have a lot more already.”

Still, even if 401(k)s are worth less and other investments are in the pits, the draw of the warm weather and the communal living among other retirees is just too strong for some.

David Wilson, 68, said he is not a typical Winter Texan. On a visit with his wife to see one of their kids in Harlingen four years ago, they fell in love with the Valley. They woke up one morning, decided to look at trailer parks, and went to bed that night with keys to a new home, Wilson said from a bar in Nuevo Progreso, Mexico, where his friends sipped beers and margaritas.

“Before we left, we owned a park model,” he said. “I like South Padre, I like the weather … Mexico is a neat place.”

His friend, 69-year-old Gwen Garland added, “I’d be down here permanently if it wasn’t for my kids.”

The strong sense of community, and of course the weather, is what brings 71-year-old Donna Heck back every year. Sitting in a red golf cart alongside her sandy blonde mutt, Callie, Heck said her neighbors are planning to build a wheel chair ramp so her husband, who just had surgery, can more easily get around the couple’s home at the Palm Shadows RV Park in Donna.

“We take care of each other,” said Heck, who now lives here all year.

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Sean Gaffney covers business, the economy and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4434.