Items for the News Archive — usually front page items go here, especially once no longer on front page
Sunday our wonderful staff met up for a afternoon of fellowship and to recognize their excellent service the past year. It was the first time we were all together since the fire on October 10th. We also distributed the funds from the GoFundMe fundraiser organized by Maplelag guests. Thanks to everyone who contributed. Full January 8th update.
Sunday our staff met up for a afternoon of fellowship. It was the first time we were all together since the fire on October 10th. It was good to see everyone. We also distributed the funds from the GoFundMe fundraiser organized by Maplelag guests. Thanks to everyone who contributed.
We’ve been blessed with some incredible weather the past few weeks which has been great for clearing the site. A couple more weeks of favorable weather and everything should be cleared.
We continue to brainstorm ideas and add to the “spaghettini bowl of thoughts” we we seek clarity and focus for moving forward. Thanks again for all the love and support and continued letters and monetary donations. We are beyond grateful.
On Monday October 10th a fire broke out in the main lodge at Maplelag resulting in a total loss of the lodge. Thankfully no one was hurt and we are all safe at Maplelag. We are at a loss for words and completely devastated.
We want to thank all the fire departments that came and their valiant efforts to keep things in control to prevent further damage to the outlying cabins, as well as all the emergency personnel that assisted and monitored the situation days after.
We are touched by local acts of kindness, messages and heartfelt words and offers of financial support. Please keep us in your prayers as we move forward and follow the next steps for Maplelag.
This week we started clearing debris from the fire on October 10th that destroyed the main lodge at Maplelag.
Even with the colder temps last week, crews were still sorting preparing for removal. Thanks to the dedication of the heavy equipment operators working in sub zero temperatures. We are hopeful the main surface debris will be removed by the end of January before we continue final clean up and dirt work in the spring and early summer.
Actual rebuilding and the timing depends on a number of things from cost of fire services, debris removal (both of these items are running higher than expected) insurance, new business model operating plan, staffing and our recovery from restrictions placed on our business operations during the Covid years.
If you are coming to day ski during the week, please be mindful of the trucks coming in and out. The drivers are aware of skiers and are using extra caution on the road. Also, please stay clear of the site for everyone safety. To view the site area, please observe from the ski trail at the main trail head.
Over Christmas we enjoyed a few short but treasured days of family time. It was great having everyone home. Thanks everyone who sent us special Christmas cards and gifts. We deeply appreciate it and are very grateful.
One of the activities we are still enjoying is the wood fired sauna and cutting a hole in the ice to take the plunge. No matter the time of year, we always take a dip into Little Sugarbush at least once a week….a great way to end the day!
We will have the sauna going on the weekends and season pass holders are welcome to use the sauna. We will do our best to keep the sauna stoked but if you plan to use, best to stoke the fire a few times.
We hope everyone is having a Happy Holiday season!
It has been two months since a fire broke out in the main lodge at Maplelag, resulting in a complete loss of the building. It continues to be hard to believe as we adjust to the major change in our lives. Our thoughts and prayers go out to our staff and all those that grieve with us. This weekend would of been our opening weekend with our first ski camps. It is a big adjustment for our staff not to be servicing all our wonderful guests and we are keeping you in extra thought and prayer as well as our guests that are not able to come. Thank you for continued support of love, prayers, donations and contributions in so many ways. The act of giving during this Christmas time is putting us at loss of words and we are so grateful for the continued outpouring of support.
Last week, Jay and Jonell took a trip to Bemidji, MN. to visit the Concordia Language Villages (CLV) permanent language learning sites or “villages”.
CLV is recognized as one of the top language immersion programs in the country, with a mission of being “builders of globally minded communities and guides to world fluency”. We highly encourage parents of children to consider attending a summer camp. Each village gives a sense of the representing country. Maplelag has a long lasting relationship with CLV going back to the late 70’s when Jim and Mary visited with directors about building a lodge to host languages camps. These conversations would come to fruition and a big reason the first lodge, that was lost to a fire in 1999, came to be in the late 70’s.
Since the late 70’s, Maplelag has hosted many different “villages” including Russian, Swedish, French, Finnish, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and most recently, Chinese. The Maplelag family, have not only attended villages but Jay and Mary were head cooks at numerous sites including Swedish, Russian, Norwegian, Chinese and Japanese. With these experiences and the hundreds, if not thousands of relationships forged, you can see how the Concordia Language Villages has been a huge part of our lives and we would not be where we are today without them. Their operations are very similar to Maplelag and we’ve had many conversations with them on how to deal with critters, septic tank, food service industry etc.
The trip to Bemidji saw us visiting all the villages, focusing on the main buildings that serve as dining rooms and looking at all the kitchens including the older facilities and the most recent ones. We want to thank Warren for taking the time showing us each facility as well as Patrick sharing his information.
Our thought process at the moment, if we are to rebuild, would be keeping CLV in mind, just like the first lodge was built, to continue the special partnership moving forward or into the future.
Last week we also hosted our first Nordic Ski Meet of the year and possibly the first one on natural snow in the country! It was so good to see familiar faces and have the trails buzzing with the energy of the kids. It really was a magical day with fresh snow falling in the morning leading to sunshine in the afternoon. The growth in high school Nordic skiing is very encouraging with even more teams being added including Wadena/Deer Creek. Thanks Terry for the opportunity to work with the kids. We are always willing to volunteer our time to help out any youth, as time allows. Please reach out in advance. We are looking forward to hosting our next meet on January 3rd for JV and Jr High skiers, the long running DL Invite mid January and the Sectional meets in early February.
Finally we want to give a special shoutout to Krolls Zuckerwald and John and Susan for making a special delivery of multiple cases of their pure maple syrup. Maplelag serves pure maple syrup with many entrees but among the most loved was the Norwegian Pancakes. We have a few pints for sale if anyone is not able to find this delicacy in local markets.
