TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV)– It felt like springtime around the Wabash Valley this week– and several local businesses are trying to take advantage.
At Rea Park Golf Course, head golf professional Dave Kennedy said doors opened on Feb. 1st– and traffic has been steady over the past week.
“Obviously this time of year people want to get back outside again,” Kennedy said. “February’s have been good the last few years, we’ve had some good weeks in February.”
Kennedy said there were around 100 people on the course throughout this past weekend, and he expects similar numbers as we’ll see near record highs on Friday.
On the east side of town, the Taco Luv food truck celebrated its first days of 2024 serving community members. Owner Charles Harris said when he saw the forecast, he started reaching out– and received overwhelmingly positive responses.
“Pretty excited to get the season opened early, this is kind of a surprise to have this type of weather,” he said. “We just started making calls saying, “Hey, we’re available” since the weather was going to be nice this week, and everybody was on board with us coming out.”
The springlike temperatures won’t last forever though– a cool off is expected once we get through this weekend, and it has some expressing caution, like Tom Cummins, the co-owner of Apple House in Terre Haute.
He said gardeners shouldn’t get too far ahead of themselves at this point in the winter– but he did say there were a number of things you could do if you were antsy to get some work in.
“Number one, if you didn’t get things cleaned up this fall, you can prune-wrap those perennials, rake out your flowerbeds, prep your vegetable garden areas and clean those up,” he said. “Some people are already starting to put some mulch down.”
Apple House will continue to be open– while Taco Luv and Rea Park will be dependent on the weather.
But Kennedy said if we have more weeks like this– he expects to see plenty more Hoosiers out and about.
“Outstanding weather,” he said. “We can’t pass up not opening on days like this.”
