Bacteria eats away at tourism at Backbone Lake

The closing of an eastern Iowa lake has dampened one town’s tourism trade. Strawberry Point economic development officials say the local business community has lost a significant amount of tourism dollars due in part to the closing of Backbone Lake because of high bacteria levels. The Lake was closed in June. It reopened July 20th. Strawberry Point businesses say they’ve lost 40-percent of their tourism business this summer and won’t be able to recover it as school starts soon and the camping season will end after Labor Day.