Rain slows traffic to Butte

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M. (KRQE) - Many expected record attendance at Elephant Butte Lake State Park this Memorial Day weekend as the sluggish economy has locals staying closer to home, but late-week drizzles drove down the numbers a bit.

“I've seen it much more packed, we've had bigger crowds,” said Elephant Butte State Park Manager Rolf Hecher.

The culprit is said to have been an early rainstorm on Thursday.

“Sometimes it puts a damper on things, pardon the pun,” Hecher said.

Even the light drizzle couldn’t keep everyone away. As the weekend progressed, people came out in droves. Park officials expect 80,000 to 90,000 people to visit the lake this weekend.

This time the economy is actually helping out attendance.

“We all pitched in some way or another,” Brenda Caro said. “Yeah, we were going to make it out here.”

Many, like Caro, said it’s cheaper to stay closer to home for their mini-vacation. Still, it's helping that gas is much cheaper than it was last year.

“I got me a big (Ford) Bronco, so it was a lot less than last year," she said. "It was about a little over a hundred dollars to fill up my tank (last year). This year it was about $68."

Some who passed through the gates of the state park came from northern New Mexico, others drove in from as far south as El Paso, Texas.

However gas is not only cheaper on land. Last year a gallon of gas on the lake’s marina cost more than $4. Today it's less than $3.

“This year you can see they're really, everybody's out there on the lake,” Marina del Sur owner Neal Brown said.

If they're busy out on the water you can bet local restaurants and stores are reeling in big bucks. However, their big weekend also started a bit slower than usual, but by this Sunday business was picking up again.

Official attendance numbers are expected to be out by mid-week.