Could warm clothes be the key to boosting Minneapolis' winter tourism?

That was on the mind of Mayor Betsy Hodges as she skated around a hockey rink Friday in the middle of TCF Bank Stadium. Hodges spent the day promoting winter tourism around the city.

Hodges mused that offering clothing to people from warmer climates might convince them to take a winter trip to Minneapolis. She came up with the idea during a recent vacation to Jamaica, where she encountered a restaurant server who had never seen snow.

"I said, 'Do you want to see snow?' And she said yes," Hodges said. "I said, 'So if I told you that we had a package deal when you arrive we would give you a hat and scarf, gloves, a coat and boots, would that make you more likely to come?' And she said yes."

Just how that would work, and who would sponsor it, remains open-ended. "It's in the 'tell-everyone-about-it-and-see-what-happens' stage," Hodges said.

Eric Roper