Lodge on track for December opening
Boat Club restaurant, lounge will feature regatta memorabilia
Memories of the Whitefish Lake Boat Club's bygone era of lively regattas will live on - both in name and memorabilia - at the new Lodge at Whitefish Lake.
The lounge and restaurant of the 116,000-square-foot facility - on track for a December opening - will be named the Boat Club.
Photographs, antique water skis, racing gear and perhaps even a racing boat will be on display in the lounge.
"We wanted to bring the old history back, pick up on the Boat Club theme," said Dan Averill, principal developer of the lodge. "It's timeless; it's got character and history."
Tom Suiter, a Whitefish graphic designer and painter, designed the logos and signs with a historic theme and has led the effort to find memorabilia.
"We want it to feel like a one of the grand lodges of the past," Suiter said. "The response has been great. I have jackets, hats, buttons. This will be an additive process."
Averill said he hopes to have the Lodge host wooden-boat shows and regattas.
"We're trying to make it a place that's a lot of fun, so it's not the typical hotel and bar," he said.
FUN WAS what it was all about when members of the Whitefish Lake Boat Club got together for races. The club's showy Labor Day weekend regattas drew hundreds of spectators, who brought picnic baskets and stayed all day to watch speedboat racers challenge one another and sail boats gracefully skim the water.
The boat club started in 1936 and ran its course during six decades, dissolving in 1996 when membership had dwindled to just a few people.
Boat racing goes back even further in Whitefish, though. The club's scrapbook contains a newspaper clipping that reveals the first powerboat race on Whitefish Lake was held on Independence Day in 1907.
"At that time, there were six or seven privately owned launches on Whitefish Lake, and nearly every family had their own row boat," the clipping noted.
In the late 1940s and '50s, regattas were so popular they drew racers from as far away as Seattle and Salt Lake City.
Whitefish Lake Boat Club was a leader in protecting water quality and upgrading amenities along the lakeshore. Members took water samples, built boat docks and even installed a metal airplane landing strip left over from World War II to use as a boat ramp.
It's good to honor the past, Averill said.
AVERILL'S project is one of many new developments positioning the resort town to sail into the future. The Lodge at Whitefish Lake is the first full-service resort to be built in Whitefish in two decades.
Designed by CTA Group and constructed by Swank Enterprises, the chalet-style lodge will feature a 6,400-square-foot conference room, divisible by three, that adjoins a 1,500-square-foot prefunction area.
The Lodge also features a 400-square-foot executive boardroom and 4,500-square-foot lakeside function area.
Two-line phones, high-speed Internet and wireless connectivity will be available throughout the facility.
Other amenities include a day spa and exercise facility, four-season lakeside outdoor pool, retail shops, an expanded marina and underground parking.
A total of 77 suites will include deluxe penthouse units with lake views. Combined with the existing condominium units at Whitefish Lake Lodge, just north of the new lodge, the complex will have 100 units.
Sales director Sharon Crow said there has been considerable interest in the lodge from state and regional meeting planners.
"With our December opening date, we are hearing from local businesses and groups looking for a new site for their holiday parties," Crow said.
The Boat Club restaurant, which will feature American and Pacific Rim dishes, will be managed by executive chef Vincent Ordonez. Tyler Jarvis is the general manager.
Former Whitefish Lake Boat Club members who have historic photographs or racing memorabilia they're willing to have displayed can call Carol Edgar of Edge Communications. She is handling publicity for the lodge. She can be reached at 837-2061.
The sales department can be reached at 862-8618 or e-mail sales@lodgeatwhitefishlake.com.
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.