Big Sur Businesses Cut Off From Tourists Receive Crowdfunded Relief
BIG SUR STATIONS (KPIX 5) -- A major crowdfunding campaign is bringing relief to Big Sur.
The tourist destination is still mostly cut off after winter storms washed out a key bridge on Highway 1.
Several businesses including a Benedictine monastery have been struggling to stay afloat.
Now, there's a surge of support from around the world.
With months until the demolished Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge can be rebuilt, struggling Big Sur businesses have come up with creative ways to bridge the divide separating them from the world and would be customers.
Rick Aldinger is the general manager for the Big Sur River Inn. He says he's still running a skeleton crew and that the recovery after this winter's wet weather has been disappointingly slow.
But for businesses south of Pfeiffer Canyon the tourism on which they depend has come to a standstill.
Many have turned to the Internet and social media -- Facebook, GoFundMe, Twitter -- to connect with the customers who can't reach them in person.
Some of the businesses have managed to generate tens, if not, hundreds of thousands of dollars in support as they try to survive the effects of so much wet weather that ironically has left them financially high and dry.
