Shoulder Season Planning: How to Fill the Slow Months Before They Arrive

Start Planning Before The Slow Season Hits

When the slow months arrive, it's already too late to build for them. The destinations that fill those weeks start while business is still busy, because partner recruitment, pass setup, and promotion all take time.

Visit Dublin, Ohio did exactly that. November through February is typically slow for local bars and restaurants, so the team built a plan around the exact window when partners needed help. They launched the Espresso Martini Trail on November 1 and ran it through the end of February. As Marketing Director Sara Blatnik put it, they wanted to do something specific to the shoulder season to boost foot traffic and sales when businesses aren't as busy.

The results in the first month: 2,616 pass sign-ups, 3,227 check-ins, and about $45,000 in business sent to local bars and restaurants. Nearly 900 of those check-ins happened Monday through Wednesday, which shows a good pass can lift slow days, not just slow seasons.

If you already run passes, this is the planning cue. Look at your visitation data, find the months that consistently dip, and start building at least a quarter ahead.

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Give People A Specific Reason To Show Up

A slow month is slow because people don't have a reason to come. A good shoulder season pass gives them one.

The Calistoga Chamber of Commerce faced this every winter. From December through March, wineries, restaurants, and shops saw fewer visitors, and some businesses faced staff layoffs. So the Chamber launched the Winter in the Wineries pass, which offered free tastings at up to 19 participating wineries from December through mid-February.

The pass drove more than $135,000 in passport sales and added over $10,000 to Chamber revenue compared to the prior year, with participating wineries reporting more bottle sales and wine club memberships. One winery, Chateau Montelena, drove roughly $40,000 in passport sales on its own by actively promoting the pass. The Chamber credits the program with helping prevent off-season staffing cuts.

The pass worked because it gave visitors a clear, time-bound reason to come during the exact months they'd normally stay home.

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Design For Longer Visits, Not Just One Afternoon

Foot traffic helps local merchants. Overnight stays help your lodging partners too. The strongest shoulder season passes give people enough to do that one afternoon turns into a full day or a weekend.

The Frankenmuth Chamber of Commerce and Convention & Visitors Bureau built the Frankenmuth Gnome Hunt around that idea. As Director of Operations Lydia Walker put it, the more there is to do, the more likely people are to stay overnight or come back. The check-in challenge asks visitors to find 15 gnomes to win a prize, but the pass lists more than 50 locations, and the team found hundreds of people kept going after hitting 15.

Since the digital version launched in February 2025, it has driven more than 9,000 visits to local businesses through August, counting digital check-ins alone. When you plan a pass, count the stops and estimate how long it takes to finish. A pass someone can complete in an afternoon fills an afternoon – but a pass that takes longer fills hotel rooms.

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Bring Your Partners In Early

Shoulder season passes lean on local businesses, and those businesses are often the ones hurting most during slow months. That makes them motivated partners, but only if you reach them before they've planned their own slow-season cuts.

Calistoga gave participating wineries unique promo codes so each could track and promote its own impact, which is part of why Chateau Montelena leaned in so hard. Visit Dublin saw four new businesses ask to join after the trail launched, and the timing lined up with the DMO's partnership renewal season, which made renewals easier. When you show merchants what participation could bring and give them a low-lift way to join, recruitment gets much easier.

If you're already on the platform, now is a good time to revisit which local businesses you worked with last season and start those conversations again.

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What This Looks Like On Your Calendar

A practical shoulder season plan follows a simple rhythm. Pick the slow window using last year's data. Three months out, line up the partners who benefit most from filling it. Two months out, build the pass and the promotional materials. One month out, warm up your audience through email, social, and any partner channels you can borrow. Then launch with enough runway for word of mouth to build before the window closes.

The exact timing flexes with your destination and your team. The principle holds: the campaign that fills your slow months is the one you start planning while business is still good.

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The Takeaway

Shoulder season is a revenue window if you plan for it. Calistoga turned a dead winter into more than $135,000 in sales. Dublin turned a quiet month into about $45,000 for local bars and restaurants. Frankenmuth turned a scavenger hunt into more than 9,000 business visits and longer stays. Each one started early, gave visitors a specific reason to show up, and brought local partners along.

If you're weighing a pass for your own slow season, the best time to start building it is well before the quiet hits. And if you're already running passes, or you’re thinking about it, your next shoulder season is close enough to plan for right now.

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