LAKE DELTON, Wis. -- The summer tourist season is officially over across the state, and for the many resorts around Lake Delton, the three months they rely on to stay in business were a bust this year.

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"Every time I see it, it's just like 'What happened?'" said business owner George Roberson.

Roberson said when customers rent on Lake Delton, they expect a view of a lake, which is not what they got this year.

"The first couple of weeks it was kind of a little scary, because people thought for some reason we were under water, like, you know, we were all on our roofs with 'Help me' signs," said Roberson. "So, after everyone kind of realized the town wasn't a disaster area, people did start to come back."

But many still stayed away.

Roberson estimates that rentals for Sand County Service Co.'s 23 lakefront homes were down 40 percent.

"You just have to keep going," said Linda Allessi. "You have to take from Peter to pay Paul, that's all you can do."

Allessi owns the Sandrift Resort, which is still reeling from the pain of a financial punch in the gut.

As the water poured out of Lake Delton, Allessi said the cancellations poured in.

"(The cancellations added up to) approximately $93,000," said Allessi.

Allessi credits the generosity of other Dells businesses as the only reason she had any customers at all.

Nickolas Laskaris gave out 12,000 free Mount Olympus tickets to lakefront renters.

"Maybe we didn't get any money for the tickets themselves, but they ate here, they drank here -- we have terrific food -- and might have even bought a T-shirt," said Laskaris.

Because of that, Laskaris said his resort actually had its best summer ever.

"Next summer, we're looking for a big summer," said Roberson.

Looking ahead to next season's rentals, the news isn't exciting yet. One company told WISC-TV that only 20 percent of their units are rented, when normally by now it's usually 40 percent.