Snowbirds preparing to head north
It’s 3 o’clock, an hour before feeding time on “chicken night” at the Honey Pot, and Tom Buckley is perched on a bench at the eatery’s front door.
The 77-year-old New Jersey snowbird, who worked in a restaurant for 27 years then drove a truck for 25 more, said he hurries to be first in line. By the time the door opens at 4, the queue for all-you-can-eat grub at $10 a plate will stretch into the parking lot of Bee’s RV Resort, a winter nesting place near Clermont for retired visitors.
“I’m happy every year down here,” said Buckley, who lists fresh air, warm weather and Honey Pot chicken among the reasons he’s been spending winters in Florida for 15 years.
But like most in the flock of retirees gathered Tuesday for
chicken, mashed potatoes and slaw with homemade dressing, he’s shipping out soon in his motor home from his winter place and Southern friends. Easter usually signals the start of the snowbirds’ annual migration back north — and the disappointment of Florida business owners who benefit from their patronage.
Chicken night soon will be like pot roast night, when the dinner line is shorter.
“They’re a huge staple in our success,” Honey Pot manager Denise Jacobs said of her retired guests. “We look forward to the three or four months we get them.”
The snowbirds are good for the state’s economy.
“They come down here for several months and they’re spending, shopping, dining out at our restaurants, maybe visiting the attractions, and otherwise spending their money in the region,” said Sean Snaith, director of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Economic Competitiveness. “In some ways, they’re a migrating version of the goose that lays the golden egg.”
No Florida agency specifically tracks snowbirds’ impact on the state’s economy, but no one questions its massive size, either.
“Snowbirds play a significant role in our state’s tourism profile and are a strong contributor to Florida’s economy,” said Stephen Lawson, a spokesman for Visit Florida, the taxfunded agency that promotes tourism in the Sunshine State. “By choosing to both visit and invest in our economy, snowbirds are a great example of why Florida is the best state not just to visit, but also live.”
The agency lobbied Congress last year to pass the Canadian Snowbird Visa Act, extending the time Canadians ages 50 and older can stay in the U.S. from six months to eight months a year. Canada is Florida's No. 1 source of international visitors.
Visit Florida estimates that Canadian visitors, many believed to be snowbirds, spent over $3.6 billion in the state last year.
Despite snowbirds’ estimated multibillion-dollar impact, no one knows how many flock here annually because the U.S. Census Bureau doesn’t tally “temporary residents.”
Visit Florida lumps them in with its count of out-ofstate visitors, a figure that hit a record 116.5 million in 2017, up from 112.4 million in 2016.
A University of Florida study conducted more than a decade ago estimated 920,000 snowbirds came to Florida annually for the winter.
They tended to be healthier physically and financially, and their average length of stay was five months — November through March.
Stan Smith, who conducted the research for the UF study, predicted snowbird numbers would rise with the aging of baby boomers, people born between 1946 and 1964.
Smith, now retired, said he no longer keeps up with demographic trends in Florida.
According to an informal survey of snowbirds outside the Honey Pot, most come to escape the lashing of Northern winters.
Some snowbirds migrate in RVs and tow-behind trailers, while others own Florida homes and drive, fly or take the train here.
Those who own Florida houses tend to pay more property tax than yearround residents because their homes often don’t qualify for a homestead exemption.
Buckley, the New Jersey snowbird, said this winter’s harshness up north made him especially grateful he was in Florida “spending my children’s inheritance.”
“You get the snow like they got this year, I’d be stuck in the house every day,” the retired truck driver said. “I couldn’t go out. I can’t shovel.”
Some snowbirds say it’s hard not to gloat about the Florida weather to friends up north, especially during arctic blasts or snowstorms.
“We try to be careful on Facebook,” said Stephanie Ping, 74, a snowbird from Indiana.
Still, they get their digs in.
“We might call home and say, ‘We hung out at the pool all afternoon. How was your day?’ ”
But now, as snowbirds pack to leave, some yearround Florida residents are happy to see them go.
Highways are less congested. It’s easier to get a table at a restaurant or a tee time for golf.
Outside the Honey Pot, most snowbirds said they feel welcome and appreciated by their Florida hosts. A few admitted they’ve heard grumbling from permanent Floridians.
“I knew they weren’t real fond of us,” said Nancy Browne, 70, a snowbird from Wisconsin for 11 years until she and her husband, Patrick, decided last year to be permanent residents at Pennbrooke Fairways near Leesburg.
The newly minted permanent residents and other non-snowbirds also dine regularly at the Honey Pot.
“We’d be in stores and we’d hear comments this time of year: ‘I can’t wait ’til the snowbirds go. It’s so busy, so cluttered, so congested.’ I’d just look at them and think, ‘Without us snowbirds, you wouldn’t have a job. So, you know, deal with it!’ ”
But now that she lives here year-round, Browne finds herself thinking: “I can’t wait ’til they leave.”