06/21/2020
With great disappointment I must announce that Ogy’s will never open again. Unfortunately, Chief and Council have decided to terminate any and all agreements with Ogy’s and given me an eviction notice. As of June 12, I was given 30 days to remove all personal property.
I am deeply saddened at the way things have turned out. I have always loved working at Ogy’s, even during the hard summers, working 14 hour days, 7 days a week, April through Sept The joy I got out of serving the community, doing the great variety of tasks that needed to be done, and always planning something new, gave me the passion to keep going these past 20+ years.
Over the years (especially after my kids grew up) I have been privileged to have so many great local people work for me. The amount of wages I was able to pay into the community ranged from $10,000 to $23,000 each year. I was glad to provide those job opportunities, as well as to provide a wonderful, safe, clean, fun place for members of the White Bear First Nation and the cottage community alike to enjoy. I loved seeing and hearing happy kids arriving for that ice cream cone or round of mini golf, or that train ride, and more recently the kids’ cars. I was glad to initiate and maintain the public washrooms for the resort, as well as to present a positive and active welcoming presence to anyone arriving at White Bear Lake Resort. It was always a great feeling to see the mini golf busy and more recently to also see the Chip Stand finally achieve success. I believe I gave a rock solid effort over all these years,. I have been thanked countless times over the years for all that I bring to the summer experience here.
My hope had been to either continue to run Ogy’s for a few more years myself (I may be pushing 70, but I still had a few great ideas in mind: Running and Expanding the drive-thru! Reinventing the petting zoo! ) or alternatively selling it as the WBFN made it clear they wanted to purchase and acquire the business and I could have been part of a smooth, orderly transition of ownership so that Ogy’s (likely renamed, of course) could continue to be that happy place for so many of you who have loved and supported the business over the years.
However, unfortunately, due to the actions of WBFN neither option was possible. Instead of being able to resolve concerns or support a transition to new ownership, I have been evicted and the business suddenly terminated. I will be spending the rest of this month and early July working on removing all my belongings. I would much rather be spending this time preparing, renovating, cleaning, and doing touch-ups for opening to provide another fun summer season to the community. I am deeply saddened that this is the way this chapter has ended for me, both from a relationship perspective and, of course, a financial perspective.
Dale Lenfesty you have contributed the most with all the signs and even some of the vision. You’ve helped out with many difficult tasks over the last 10+ years. Larry and Veronica, Terrence, Juliette, Ivan, and Brian, you have all helped me with the projects, the painting, the grass cutting, the cleaning. Gene and Milton have kept my mechanical equipment working over the years. I also need to say thank you to many of you that helped me grow the Chip Stand business during these last 5 years: Christina, Ashley, Bradie, Jeremy, Garnett, Preston, Mia, Taty, Angie, and Summer. Thank you, all, for your contributions over the many years. I believed that the best years for the Chip Stand were still ahead and that by developing the drive-thru we could have increased our daily hours and created more jobs.
I will always remember my years in White Bear Lake Resort( with my young family)fondly, despite this sad conclusion. To all my customers, thank you so much for your support and encouragement over the years! For the last time, I will say: I have always been “Proud to be part of your Summer Fun!
