Tinsley said he expects business to decline between now and Labor Day as families return their children to school, but he is hoping the Labor Day weekend will be a good one because of the condition of the river.

“I’ve never seen it this good in August,” he said. “It’s perfect. I have never floated rafts in August, and I’m still doing it from the headwaters of Elk River to Shady Beach. That’s an eight-mile trip, and I’m still putting rafts on that stretch.

“When you think about the last three years, I was kind of ashamed to float people. But I’m greedy. I’ll sell you some walking shoes and rent you a canoe.”

Bob Corcoran, mayor of Anderson and the county’s new economic planner, said: “The tourism business has been a little bit off because of gas prices, groceries and everything else that has gone up. People have a little less spending money these days.”

Nature, too, has influenced the bottom line.

“The rivers at times have been too high,” he said. “We had three different floods, and it rained on a few weekends. But I recently visited every campground in the county. The campgrounds have done a wonderful job cleaning up after two floods in April and one in May. They’re all well-kept and mowed, and the rivers have never looked this good this late.”

Lett, with Elk River Floats and Campground, said: “We weren’t quite sure at the start of the year how we would do because of the economy and gas prices, but it’s been a lot better than we expected, and the river has to be the reason.

“It’s excellent. By now, you could never float the 12 miles from Pineville to Noel. It’s still a good float. We could have a bang-up Labor Day if fuel prices stay low and we don’t have another Hurricane Katrina or something like that.

“One thing we have learned is you never know what’s going to affect your business.”

Precipitation

Normally, the Joplin area would receive about 27.55 inches of rain by mid-August, according to the National Weather Service. So far this year, the area has received 46.54 inches of moisture in all forms.