Press Release – Some Yuma Area Parks See Early Arrivals

SOME YUMA AREA PARKS SEE EARLY ARRIVALS OF LARGE NUMBERS OF SNOWBIRDS

RV resorts across Arizona report snowbirds arriving earlier and in larger than normal numbers. Some came to Yuma as early as September

YUMA, Ariz., Nov. 12, 2019 – James Watson and his brothers, Joe and George, were planning to install new pickleball, bocce ball and shuffleboard courts and make other improvements at Arizona West RV Park before the snowbirds arrived, but their plans got interrupted.

“The snowbirds came back early this year!” Watson exclaimed. “They were already coming back in September!”

Cold weather up North prompted many snowbirds to come back to Yuma earlier this year, Watson said, adding that he has seen the same phenomenon at his family’s other parks, including Friendly Acres RV Resort in Yuma and their two Phoenix parks, Deer Valley RV Park and Desert’s Edge RV Park.

Resort operators elsewhere in Arizona have also experienced earlier than normal snowbird arrivals, including Rincon Country West RV Resort in Tucson and Islander RV Resort in Lake Havasu City.

But while the early return of snowbirds is good news for Arizona’s economy, Watson cautioned that Canadian snowbirds are only allowed to stay in the US for six months during a 365-day period. Otherwise, they could face tax and immigration complications with the U.S. government in addition to negative consequences with their provincial health insurance in Canada.

U.S.-based snowbirds can stay as long as they want, however, and many of them will stay until late spring, potentially April or May, before the weather heats up again and they return home.

But while early arriving snowbirds disrupted the Watson family’s park improvement plans at Arizona West RV Park this fall, the three brothers had already completed $1.5 million in improvements at Friendly Acres, their other Yuma RV park.

These improvements include renovating Friendly Acres’ swimming pool and the interiors of five different buildings, including the park office, dining hall, recreation room, billiards room and bathrooms. They have also re-stuccoed and reroofed the park’s buildings and upgraded all of the electrical pedestal connections to 100 amp service.

Watson said the improvements are needed to keep the resorts competitive.