CRANE LAKE-It’s taken literally decades for a Voyageurs National Park visitor center at Crane Lake to move from the dream world onto the path to reality, but with the basics of the building now constructed and sealed, the countdown to opening day has commenced.
That won’t be quite as early as locals had wished, as a hoped-for opening for early summer now looks like it will happen toward the end of this year’s tourist season, according to Crane Lake Township Chairman Jerry Pohlman, who gave a brief update to the Timberjay on Tuesday.
But that’s far, far closer than back in 1975 when VNP was established along with plans for a visitor center at Crane Lake to go along with the ones at Kabetogama, Ash River, and Rainy Lake. While the latter three made it to fruition, the Crane Lake center didn’t officially make it off the drawing board until Max Gray Construction was awarded the $2.978 million contract to build it last June.Casper Construction was awarded the $2.1 million campground that will complement the facility.
Construction has gone relatively smoothly thus far, Pohlman said.
“There’s been nothing that’s any major complication,” he said. “Most everything has been pretty easily settled out.”
A new and improved Department of Natural Resources boat ramp nearby will come along later than the rest, as planned improvements to Bayside Dr. have to be completed first.
“They’re scheduled to start clearing trees and stuff for that in March,” Pohlman said. “The road upgrade is going to start sometime this summer.”
Meanwhile, it’s possible that the campground might not open for business until the 2025 season, according to a note in the town board minutes from October.
“With the challenges of landscaping, finalizing the details of each campsite, and costs of staffing it may be best for the town to plan on opening the campground in the Spring of 2025,” the minutes stated.
And while the visitor center is likely to open toward the end of this summer, finishing touches will remain for the permanent exhibit space. Voyageurs Conservancy, the park’s philanthropic partner, is working with the Park Service and the Crane Lake community on the exhibit plans, which Executive Director Christina Hausman Rhode said will be completed this year.
“Depending on our fabrication timeline, it would be great to have those in the visitor center in 2025, a great way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the park,” Rhode said.
The Park Service will develop some temporary exhibits for the center to be used until the permanent exhibits are ready, Rhode said.
Crane Lake will own the visitor center and Voyageurs National Park will lease space within it. VNP Superintendent Bob DeGross told the town board at its Jan. 9 meeting that he hopes the lease will be approved and in place by March.
But the floorplan has additional space beyond the needs of VNP, and Pohlman said contacts are underway to try to secure additional tenants.
“We haven’t gotten any commitments from anybody yet,” Pohlman said. “We’ve reached out to different agencies that have things in the area. The township’s going to have their meetings in there, and there will be town offices in there. There will probably be a desk for the Crane Lake Visitors Bureau in there.”