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| 9/10/2009 6:07:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| Verna and Gareld Stockdale, campground hosts at Lake Louise State Park, present a free LeRoy/Southland Independent newspaper to a few campers spending Labor Day weekend. That’s just one of the many benefits at the park has to offer. |
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Lake Louise State Park campground hosts close 2009 camping season
On Monday, Labor Day, Gareld and Verna Stockdale packed up their cooking tent, folded up their sleeping trailer and chairs and moved it all back home to Spring Valley after spending the summer as campground hosts at Lake Louise State Park since the park's campground opening on Memorial Day weekend 2009. This ends their sixth year as camp hosts and they still love the job even though the pay is only their camping rights at the park where they have made their "home" in the western most campsite. They have only been home to sleep in Spring Valley twice in these three months of the camping season for Lake Louise.
Verna was looking forward to having some of Gareld's cooking this past weekend since she had to work and hoped Gareld had a Dutch oven meal ready when she got back to the park each evening. Gareld is an accomplished Dutch oven cook, whipping up his favorite meals by way of the cast iron kettle gently cooking the food over the hot coals from the campfire. He shows off his expertise in this area of cooking when he makes the many fruit cobblers for the annual Open House Sunday at Lake Louise when all the State Parks are open to visitors and the entry is free for that one day. His cobblers went over big at the June event and he and Verna made batch after batch for the persons eager to taste the old-fashioned dessert after having their meal of hot dogs and lemonade. It's a fun day and it comes just days after the Stockdales have taken up residence at the State Park for their summer duties.
These duties include being at the campground to welcome the campers, helping them with locating their campsite and getting settled in. Some campers come in late, and the Stockdales greet them no matter what time it is. Verna includes the information that there has been only two nights all summer long when they have had no campers at all, except themselves. Otherwise the campground has been in use, most weekends the campground was completely full with the visitors, as it was this weekend for Labor Day. Late Friday evening, park manager Linden Anderson came to give her a run down sheet of reservations made through the state, and she quickly added in those she knew for sure were coming in "tonight or tomorrow" to fill up all the sites. Some group campers were also expected. The horse campground was completely full of campers and horses, the Lake Louise Park being one of the best campgrounds to accommodate the horse people for their trail rides.
Talking to the Stockdales about their summer at Lake Louise, both Verna and Gareld told about the visitors they had at the park this summer, those coming from Denmark, Germany, two batches of campers from Canada, and the states of Tennessee, Kentucky, Arizona, Wyoming, Arkansas, Oklahoma, South Dakota and two campsites used this Labor Day weekend by campers from Wisconsin. Last week they had campers at Lake Louise from Owatonna, Northfield and St. Cloud. Very few campers come from the local area, they said. Last summer they even had campers from South Africa, and sometimes they get campers who were formerly from other countries but now live full time in America and Minnesota. Some of these campers find that group camping is better for them, but also find that Lake Louise is a favorite campground and hard to obtain reservations for their families.
One of the best set of campers this summer came from the Chicago area when four dads brought their kids for a camping trip, the once-a-year campers picking out Lake Louise because it had all three of their favorite things: a beach, biking trail and hiking trails. It was a male camping event, the Stockdales said, and it sounds like they just might be coming back again in another season.
Stockdale said many of their campers stay for three to five nights, many using the middle of the week to utilize the quiet of the park when it's not so full of people.
The Stockdales took over the job as camp hosts after a three year gap when the park had no campground hosts. The Meiers from Adams, Gerald and Marjie, were at Lake Louise for about 10 years starting in the 1990s. Then came the Stockdales six years ago. They both have jobs, Verna working at the Spring Valley Senior Living complex and Gareld driving truck for Northern Country. They have three grown children, one daughter in Rochester who sometimes comes to Lake Louise for camping and two daughters who live in Kansas City, who don't come as often. They also have four grandchildren in Rochester, two in Kansas City and are expecting their first great-grandchild sometime soon. They have been married for 46 years. Both are from this area of the state, Gareld from north of Chester and going to school in LeRoy and Verna from the Granger area, near Satersdal Church.
The Stockdales want the members of the Friends of Lake Louise, the Friends of the Shooting Star and the local community, especially the LeRoy Independent, to know how much they appreciate all the support and help they get for Lake Louise. The Independent provides the Stockdales each weekend with a pile of weekly newspapers which they give out to the campers as a part of the welcome they extend to each of them. This provides an opening for the camphosts and it also provides the campers with information about LeRoy area businesses and what's happening in this part of the state. It's a win-win situation for everyone!
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