Nostalgia rings at Galaxy Resort
A melting sunset drips pallets of color
onto a
mirrored lake, cuing a chorus of crickets, then a fleet of firefly
lanterns.
Darkness lingers in the still of a mid-summer night.
Hours pass until a dewy twilight emerges
and a
hopeful angler guides the saw of a 10-horse motor, cutting into a foggy
calm,
headed to the Big Lake just before sunup.
Star Lake life: Unchanged.
It’s the simple beauty
of Star Lake’s North Arm that romanced Ernie and Luella Pederson
back in 1945.
Ernie worked at Dent’s
Wilcox Lumber yard before he opened a hardware store in town. For him,
the
means and connections were ripe when it came time to build a resort
campus on
lakeside land for the new family business.
Ted Hahn dug the
basement out with a horse and a scoop for what would become a discrete
beer
pub.
He used earth from the
steep incline to fill the swampy bog below.
With hard work and
craftsmanship, one-by-one buildings emerged — a garage, a storage
shed, a dock
house, a bunkhouse, 11 “modern” cabins and the
all-important fish-cleaning
house where Pederson offspring filleted fish for guests.
The Pederson family of
six resided in the modest three-bedroom house built overhead the pub.
The
kitchen accommodated Luella for the three-squares daily she served to
Galaxy
Resort guests.
Luella would ring a
large bell affixed to the side of the home, a bell that echoed across
the bay
and beyond — the signal of mealtime.
Retreating from lake
play or rising from vacation naps, guests would shuffle up to the large
dining
area just off the family’s kitchen to crack bread with fellow
cabin folk.
In winter, when Ernie’s
Resort went dormant, the dining room transformed into the Pederson
living room
with furniture hauled from a cabin.
Eventually, it came time
for the Pedersons to add onto the Pub — a long wing that would
become the
Ernie’s Resort lakeside restaurant.
Come 1966
upon the passing of both Luella and Ernie, the Pederson family
surrendered
their beloved resort to what would become a respectable lineage of
Ernie’s-turned-Galaxy Resort owners.
Through and through, the
camp mealtime tradition continued.
Following the Wicklands,
Bornemeiers, Swanns and Gumphreys, the Bina family from Chicago took
over
operations in 1980. Save for the destruction of cabin 10 near the lake,
the
resort had remained mostly the same from Ernie and Luella’s
original vision.
North Dakota/Minnesota
natives Ron and JoAnn Bina and their two girls Zaundra and Tonya
welcomed their
return to a Minnesota lifestyle.
JoAnn quickly fell into
her multi-faceted role — “from cook to bottle
washer.” Kitchen functions,
inventory, cabin reservations and the resort’s overall welcome
wagon all came
under her charge.
Ron, or “Jack of All
Trades,” assumed everything from plumbing, electrician work and
bartending, to
accounting and grounds maintenance. Even so, he always found time for a
water-ski pull around the bay.
Ernie’s eldest son Bruce
Pederson grew integral to Galaxy operations for more than two decades,
fulfilling the duties of boats inspector, dock serviceman and head
grounds
keeper.
In winter, hills
absorbing the restaurant became ideal for sledding, and the swimming
area
became an ice-skating rink cleared by Ron and his trusty tractor, the
one he
endearingly called “Mrs. Ferguson.”
Mrs. Ferguson would
later haul sand to the beach along Galaxy’s shore. The dock house
was relocated
to free up a commanding Star Lake view for Galaxy’s diners.
Now Broasted chicken and
the view summon those diners more than the foregone ring of
Luella’s bell.
A nostalgic ornament on
the side of the restaurant, it still rings, a reminder of Galaxy
history and
tradition.
With each passing year,
the Bina family grows more and more fond of this place, a Star Lake
gathering
spot where others make the endeavor possible — through
camaraderie and loyalty,
good times and, certainly, hearty appetites.
Star Lake life:
Unchanged.