After devastating fire, Maplelag Resort owners embrace new chapter

After a fire ravaged Maplelag's main lodge last year — the gathering space at the heart of the cross-country ski resort about 60 miles east of Fargo — owners Jay and Jonell Richards planned to take a step back and consider how they wanted to move forward with the business.

But nature had other plans last winter.

"It seemed like they could never catch up," Jonell said. "We'd get the trails all groomed and then we'd get 2 or 3 more inches — and we'd have to do it all over again."

The loss of the lodge meant the resort couldn't host large groups such as high school ski teams in the winter or Concordia Language Villages in the summer. But that didn't stop enthusiasts from coming for the fresh snow.

"We had probably our best year ever for day skier traffic," Jay said, referring to guests who didn't stay overnight. "You know, the second weekend of April had midwinter conditions. It was just phenomenal."

The October 2022 fire turned the rustic wooden lodge to ash. Destroyed were the coffee bar with bottomless cookie jars, a rustic dining room that could serve 250 people family-style, and what was once the state's largest hot tub. They also lost much of the lodge's kitschy memorabilia, such as antique lunch boxes and rusty road signs.

For Jay, who spends much of his time tending the resort's 45 miles of trails, the onslaught of snow last season was a welcome distraction.

"His playground and his responsibility is the trails. He had a huge part in the lodge, too, but his joy or passion is the trails. So that stayed the same," Jonell said. "For me, mine was in the lodge — the staff, the guests and the lodge itself with the decorations.

"I obviously had to take a break from that," she said. "It was a nice peaceful winter to rethink how we wanted to go forward — after you get past the grieving part."

Jay's parents, Jim and Mary, founded the resort about 50 years ago. They bought the property with Jim's brother and two other couples in the early 1970s and since then it has grown to about 660 acres. Jay and Jonell, who met at Concordia College, started working at the resort in the late 1990s.

Last year's blaze was the second time the main lodge was destroyed by fire. In 1999, an outbuilding that housed the boiler caught fire and spread to the main lodge.

The cause of the 2022 fire was never determined. No one was hurt, but crews from nearly a dozen fire departments were on the scene all day and into the evening.

"It was an awful thing to witness. We were there the whole day watching it and being so helpless," Jonell said, referring to Jay and their four adult sons who grew up at the resort.

After the fire, Jay said he wasn't sure they would rebuild the lodge, saying "the energy and the drive isn't like it was last time. Being in the hospitality industry for 30 years takes a lot."

And they still aren't sure. The cost to rebuild the lodge is estimated to be at least $12 million. And Jay and Jonell, both in their early 50s, aren't sure any of their sons want to come back and take over the resort.

"You want to do this your whole life but it's hard work," Jay said, noting the staff has shrunk from about 35 to just a handful who help with upkeep.

Before the fire, the resort hosted about 180 lodgers, plus an additional 250 day skiers, on winter weekends. Now, about four dozen folks can stay but they have to bring their own food and do their own cooking. The resort also offers trails for fat-tire biking and snowshoeing, as well as an ice skating rink and wood-fired sauna — from which brave guests are known to warm up in after jumping into a hole cut in the lake's ice.

Jay and Jonell spent last summer remodeling a couple cabins (including the cherished caboose lodges) to add kitchen amenities. They also added a day lodge with a small store, lounge area and rental shop — and they plan to start hosting guests year-round.

"That doesn't mean we won't at some point maybe rebuild a lodge but in the immediate future it seems to be on hold," Jonell said.

For now, the couple is just hoping for some white stuff to fall from the sky because the resort doesn't make its own snow. But that doesn't mean Jay has been any less busy than last year, Jonell said with a laugh.

"He's busy shoveling," she said the week before Christmas. "Any stretch of snow that he can find, he shovels in the back of the pickup and then transports it to a loop he's worked on so if skiers do come, there is a small loop they can ski."