Hobo Jim will sing and play guitar like he always does, beer will flow and patrons can choose from a full menu. Race poles remain set up on Knik Lake, ready to show mushers where to drive their dog teams.

The only thing missing will be the Iditarod race itself.

"It looks so lonely out here, but what are you going to do?" asked Knik bartender Debbie Penniston. "The party will go on like always. They'll come for Hobo Jim if nothing else."

During a normal Iditarod, hundreds of race fans flock to the bar and the nearby checkpoint on Sunday to celebrate the start of the 1,100-mile chase to Nome. But nothing is normal this year. When poor weather conditions forced Iditarod officials to reroute the race north of the Alaska Range, 12 checkpoints along the first 600 miles of the Iditarod trail were left behind.

Along the trail, lodges have lost business, workers have lost jobs and fans have been forced to make new plans.

The Knik Bar, accessible by road, will survive. But other lodge owners out on the trail say the lost business will make it tough to pay bills.

Rerouting the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race has hurt. Canceling other races that use the Iditarod Trail -- including the popular Tesoro Iron Dog 2000 snowmachine race -- has compounded the pain.

Sharin Griffith, owner of the Takusko House lodge in McGrath, proposed this week that the state provide lodge owners with some kind of financial assistance, such as low-interest loans.

"This is another disaster, like a fishing disaster," Griffith said Tuesday on the radio call-in show, Talk of Alaska. "It's a big loss. Why can't we have an Iron Dog or Iditarod disaster?"

Some lodge owners in the Yentna and Skwentna area said they have talked to local state legislators about the idea but have so far gotten little response.

Griffith said her lodge usually hosts more than 80 people during the Iditarod. To serve them, she hires about 10 to 13 people, many of them school kids. All the lodge's bookings were canceled when the race route changed.

To make matters worse, Griffith had already ordered $13,000 worth of groceries for Iron Dog and Iditarod guests before the changes were made. That food is now sitting in the freezer.

"I'm running the place by myself," she said. "It's totally quiet here."

Dan Gabryszak, owner of the six-room and one-cabin Yentna Station Lodge at mile 18 along the Yentna River, said he estimates that his lodge has lost 80 to 90 percent of his winter business, which accounts for about 60 percent of his total annual income.

"We're in a big world of hurt," he said.

Gabryszak has asked legislators for help. But he hopes part of the winter season may still be salvaged. New snow fell in the area this week but was compacted when rains followed. But he thinks snowmachine riding could become good again if the temperature drops.

"This just kind of typifies how the winter has gone," said Mike Williams, owner of Eaglesong Lodge along Trail Lake at the base of Mount Susitna. Like other lodge owners, Williams said he was hoping for a strong winter season to make up for the slow summer and a not-so-great winter last year.

"We haven't turned a dime this winter and don't expect to," he said.

Economics aside, communities along the trail will also miss the buzz surrounding the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Peter Tony, mayor of Nikolai, said most residents like the influx of mushers, fans and media that come in for the race. Some villagers earn money by renting snowmachines or serving as guides. And the village has a new airstrip that won't be tested by Iditarod planes this year.

"It's our mid-winter break, like your Fur Rondy," Tony said. "People are pretty much bored. It goes with the weather. People haven't been able to get out."

Carl Dixon, who owns the Winterlake Lodge at the Finger Lake checkpoint, 194 miles from Anchorage, agreed: "There's a little bit of an empty feeling. We feel like we're getting passed by."

Joe and Norma Delia, the famous Skwentna checkpoint hosts, plan to stay at home and watch this year's race on television. Norma said she's glad other communities will get to experience the race this year, but she's sad to miss it.

Other Skwentna race volunteers said they plan to travel to Nome this year to watch the finish. Cyndy Fritts, one of the "Skwentna Sweeties" who has for years cooked for mushers and others at the Skwentna checkpoint, said she and her husband will rent a house with a group of male volunteers from Washington state who have become known as the "darlings."

"We're bummed," said Todd Silver, a "darling" from Tacoma, Wash. "But how great to go to the burled arch."

And at least one lodge owner off the road system still plans to throw a party, even though her lodge will have no guests and the mushers and their dog teams will be hundreds of miles away.

Zoe Brinker, owner of the Shell Lake Lodge 17 miles northwest of Skwentna, said she will host her annual Iditarod bonfire. Usually, about 100 people show up. This year, Brinker said she expects just a few locals and maybe a few nearby cabin owners. She and a few other women also made a quilt again this year. In years past, they raffled it off and gave the proceeds to the first musher to reach the bonfire. This year, $500 from the quilt raffle will go to the first musher into Manley.

"We love the race," she said. "We can't let the Iditarod go by without celebrating."

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Daily News reporter Elizabeth Manning can be reached at emanning@adn.com or 907-257-4323.