Snow Goose Festival has tracks here
Visitors expected: 600.
Overnight stay: $22,500 for hotels with average cost of $75 per night.
Buy two meals: $6,000 for restaurants if $10 per meal.
Gas: $32,400 for stations if 15 gallons of gas bought with gas average of $3.60.
Retail item: $3,000 earned for one retail item valued at $10.
Total direct economic impact: Roughly $63,900, not including fees such as sales tax and other secondary benefits.
The Snow Goose Festival that runs through Sunday is based in Chico, but includes events in Yuba, Sutter and Butte counties.
Reece Cordi, owner of Cordi Winery in Sutter County, said a tour of Gray Lodge State Wildlife Area in Gridley that is part of the festival will include a visit to his winery.
"This is our first association with the festival on this level," Cordi said.
Last year, the festival asked the winery to provide a gift basket for auction, and the winery did so.
Cordi said snow geese fly over the winery. "You can hear them," he said.
Casey Stafford, a local guide who offers bird hunts, said the goose gets it name from its color.
"It's white as snow and has black on its wing tips," he said.
The Middle Mountain Foundation in Yuba City is offering hikes through the Sutter Buttes as part of the festival.
Yuba City High School has the honkers as its mascot, but as geese go, that is a seldom seen species here, says local hunting and fishing guide Casey Stafford.
"I don't know where they got that," Stafford said. "They're hardly any honkers."
Fred Northern, a trustee for the Yuba City Unified School District, said he doesn't know if the geese were once more prevalent but suggested it's the honkers' outlook that may have led to its sports mascot role.
"Honkers seem to have a swagger," Northern said. "A little bit of attitude."'
