BASS LAKE — Some operators of hotels, restaurants, vacation rental homes and other businesses around this lake refer to it as the “second happiest place on earth.”

But over that past few summers things weren’t so happy here. A seismic retrofit of Crane Valley Dam that started in October 2010 lasted just over two-and-a-half years, during which the lake was drained to about half its normal capacity to allow the work to be done.

At that point the lake not only looked bad — though the chamber of commerce in nearby Oakhurst tried to put a positive spin on it by telling visitors there was more available beach space — many of the boat rental operators had portions of their docks in dirt because the water levels were so low.

Double whammy
Even though the dam work was completed in April 2013, things actually got worse, as the Valley was in the midst of the most severe multi-year drought ever recorded in California history. And by the summers of 2014 and 2015, the lake level dropped even lower, leaving some docks completely in the dirt.

In 2014, when the effects of the drought hit the hardest, tourism here was down by about 75 percent, said Steve Welch, owner of Bass Lake Realty and a member of the Tourism Bureau of Madera County.

“They weren’t renting [vacation] houses, they weren’t renting boats, they weren’t coming to the lake,” particularly when the drought brought the lake down to its lowest levels, said Leslie Cox, owner of The Forks Resort, which her family has run for 76 years.

In fact, Cox said her business was down by half in the 2014 and 2015 seasons, so she’s particularly excited about what could be “normal” tourist numbers this summer.

“We’ll take normal anytime.”

Tourist upswing
Things could have been worse during the drought, but tourism has been on the upswing in recent years at Yosemite National Park, just north of Bass Lake, and some of those tourists went to the lake for its lodging, campsites, restaurants and shops, said Mark Choe, director of marketing for The Pines Resort.

The higher activity at the national park also brought additional business to other nearby communities along Highway 41, so the effects of fewer tourists heading to the lake weren’t too acute, added Betty Linn, president of the Oakhurst Area Chamber of Commerce.  

In addition, she said, the number of dead trees due to drought and resultant beetle infestations has created a new closet industry for the area — crews being brought in to cut down those trees.

“That’s bringing in people who are spending money,” she said, though one side effect of that is those workers are filling rental homes and apartments, so rentals are scarce in the area.

At least two music stars also received the memo on Bass Lake, as country star Blake Shelton and his sweetheart, Gwen Stefani, were spotted dining near the lake last weekend.