Water park adding to hotel comfort

The goal at the Comfort Suites in Baxter is to have the water park open on Friday.

An inspection of the water park was scheduled Friday and staff expected to know more about the anticipated open date once the inspection was completed.

The hotel hopes to feature an 11,000-square-foot indoor park with a 250-foot tube slide, lazy river, two pools, hot tub, sauna, video arcade and exercise room. The lazy river allows people to hop in a tube and travel the current.

The Colonel's International Inc. announced $6 million in necessary funding for the first phase of expansion plans at The Colonel's Brainerd International Raceway and Resort, the Business Wire recently reported.

Construction of 18 condominiums has already been completed at a cost of $2.1 million, Business Wire reported. Construction of the 117-room three-story hotel is expected to include a pool/spa area, meeting rooms, restaurant and view of the race track. Other plans include lighted volleyball courts, horseshoe pits, lighted go-cart track and children's playgrounds for camping customers and track visitors.

Shareholders of the Colonel's International will receive one share in the new spinoff company, Sports Resorts International, which includes CBIR. The board of the directors nominated for the spinoff company include Maureen C. Cronin, daughter of the former professional baseball commissioner Joe Cronin, and Eric Hipple, former Detroit Lions quarterback.

Business Wire reported additional board members are expected to include two nationally recognized baseball players, two basketball players, two race-car drivers and one hockey player.

The International Council of Shopping Centers, based in New York, released information on what are hot buys this holiday season and used past retail data to provide a glimpse at busy shopping days.

Trends for top holiday shopping days in terms of sales has been changing, indicating that people are purchasing gifts -- at least in malls -- earlier than in past years.

Last year the top 10 holiday shopping day was a Mid-December Saturday -- the 18th. And as an indication of what procrastinators Americans are, the second and third and fourth top shopping days were Dec. 23 and Dec. 22, and Dec. 21. The rest of the list from number five to 10 -- Dec. 11, Dec. 24, Dec. 20, Nov. 26, Dec. 19, Dec. 17. Twenty-five percent of mall sales in l1999 were between Dec. 13-19 with the second largest share, 23.9 percent, coming Dec. 20-24. About 10 percent of holiday sales were counted Dec. 26-31. And the famed Thanksgiving weekend counted for 8.5 percent of holiday shopping in mall, the ICSC reported.

Those trends are not exactly new when looking at the ICSC's past holiday shopping numbers. In fact more 40 percent of mall sales were recorded the week before Christmas in 1996 and 1997.

Hot items for 2000 included top toys -- scooters, Sony PlayStation2, Harry Potter Trivia Game, robotic animals, Let's Pretend Elmo, Nintendo's Gold and Silver Game boy cartridges, Amazing Babies, Lego's Championship Challenge.

Clothing items included anything in velvet, cashmere, suede and chenille. Embroidery and beading, animal prints, sweater sets, leather and scarves all made the top list as did dress shirts and ties in the same color tone.

Mystery and suspense books continued to be popular. High tech items included personal digital assistants with wireless Internet access such as the Palm Pilot, cellular phones with Internet and e-mail capacity, and DVD players. Hot home furnishings were identified as throws and pillows in merino wool, indoor grills, microwave ovens in clear plastic, translucent plastic and Sterling silver home accessories.