Kavanaugh’s Sylvan Lake Resort: “A Family Tradition Since 1969”
The resort life is unique, and any resort owner will probably tell you the same thing: resorting gets in your blood! Our Mom and Dad, Mae and Sherm Kavanaugh, had no reason, no experience, anything that screamed “own a resort,” it was based on the fact that our dad, sitting in a successful corporate job that required a great deal of travel, needed a change. Our Mother was at home with six boys (that’s right, SIX!), and with our dad on the road for large chunks of time, the lifestyle was wearing a bit thin. It was time to look at something new.
A Family Adventure
Mom and Dad both grew up around farm life, where the kids all worked, and you built a life as a family. The catch was that neither had any interest in farming again. So, what to do? In our dad’s corporate life, he had the opportunity to travel a great deal, and our mom was able to join him on many adventures, and their experiences gave them an idea. Mom had an amazing talent in the kitchen, our dad was the ultimate Irish host, so why not look for a resort/restaurant operation? This would be the perfect opportunity to put us boys to work and for our parents to build a dream. Their interest brought them to the Brainerd Lakes Area (already known as the resort capital of Minnesota), and in search of the perfect property that had dining, lake shore, and room to expand. Their search brought them to a small resort on the shores of Sylvan Lake in the heart of the Pine Beach Area. A resort known since the mid-1940s as “Browns For-Rest” Resort, and it was perfect. With our brothers Tim just returned from Navy service and starting to look at marriage and work, and brother Greg in the Army it left four brothers to assist our parents, John (graduating high school in 1970), Mark, 14, Dave, 10, and Tom, 4, all jumping into a business that we knew nothing about……it must have taken, since John, Mark and Dave and Tom are all still here at the resort!
Savoring the Scenic View
In 1969, Browns was a small 9-cabin operation with 2 motel rooms, a home, and a basement restaurant that had not operated for years. More importantly, the resort sat on a lovely 800-foot stretch of Sylvan Lake, an amazing, crystal clear body of water. Mae and Sherm immediately saw the potential of the property and, after making the purchase, quickly began what would be the first of many, many changes. The restaurant was a basement which faced the lake; however, only a few small windows allowed you to view this beautiful site, and so that fall, with a sledgehammer in hand, our dad started busting out that wall. Into that he would place large picture windows which created an amazing view of the lake and became the signature of our restaurant, ” a table with a view,” and what a view it was. That first fall was all about getting the place ready for the first of many crazy ideas that our family would have; we were going to open in the winter!! Jim and Jack Madden, a couple of guys who had a place across the street and, by the looks of things, knew a little bit about resorting, quickly informed our dad that opening in the winter was a ridiculous idea, but hey, he did it anyway. While dad did not heed the Madden Brothers’ advice on that one, they would become amazing mentors to our parents and wonderful friends to them for the rest of their lives; another wonderful benefit of resorting. In fact, Dad and Jim would pass away just 2 days apart from each other in 2001!
Winter Magic Started Here
In the winter of 1970, a new fad was underway called snowmobiling, and it so happened that most snowmobile owners were farmers, and they wanted to take snowmobile trips, and mom and dad had just the place for them. Dad’s former job in agricultural sales had set up a great network for him to set up groups of snowmobilers from different communities and co-ops, so one weekend we would have the “Waseca” group and the next weekend they would be from “Melrose” and so on. Those groups started arriving in January of 1970 at a resort that really was not set up for winter; in fact, saying we were “winterized” would be quite a stretch of the imagination! But to these first pioneer groups of winter customers, it really did not matter that it was difficult to keep units above sixty degrees (with the fireplace roaring), the water lines often froze, and we had to keep our propane flowing using charcoal fires! They were here to enjoy hospitality and great food, and there were plenty of both!
Cooking for All
1970 brought our first summer season, and the first time our restaurant was open to the public. Back then, the summer season really started around the 4th of July and ended the week before Labor Day, about a 60-day season. That first year, our mother did most of the cooking, and Dad cooked the occasional steak as well as serving as host and bartender. Mark would wait tables, Dave was the busser, John cooked with mom, and Tom, an annoying 4-year-old, would watch, and somehow, the restaurant found its way. Mom was a fantastic cook and implemented many of the things she had read in cookbooks and magazines, and experienced in places across the country on her travels with Dad. That first summer was a bit slow; we had regular guests at the resort that had been coming to Brown’s For-Rest over the years, and slowly we had some new guests join us, and some were friends of our parents. In the restaurant, with just family working, it was a wonderful time for all of us to learn the ropes, and while we did, the word started to get out about our restaurant, and about how good and creative a cook our mom was. Eventually, our mom would write three separate cookbooks, which are no longer in print today.
Kavanaugh’s Was Born
There was always a project on the resort, and each year there was a remodel or something being built, our parents had plans, and so the hammers and saws were going each off-season. The resort carried the name Sylvan Lake Lodge early on. Thankfully, in year two, the family suddenly realized we had a name and that, in fact, “Kavanaugh’s” sounded rather good for both a resort and restaurant.
We spent time early on trying to upgrade our existing cabins the best we could, making them more winter-worthy, since we were staying in the winter business. Our grandparents (mom’s parents) had moved to the resort and had their trailer house right on the property, and one of the great early features of the resort was Grandpa’s garden and his greenhouse. Grandpa had always been a farmer, and his garden and flowers were quite extraordinary. The restaurant used much produce from the garden, mostly for our famed “relish bar,” making our restaurant a “farm to table” operation long before anyone knew what that was. In the spring of 1972, we built our first recreation room, converted one of the attached motel rooms into additional restaurant space (the other room was used as the office). Dad added an office onto the rec room; however, it never took because he hated walking from the house to that office, and so that office space would become summer living accommodations for Mark or Dave over the next 5 summers.
Also, in 1972, our dad added the first new units to the resort. The present-day 6127 and 6128 were built, fully winterized, completely modern units, which took us from nine to eleven rentals. Mom and Dad were catching on to the whole resort and restaurant business, and as they did, our reputation grew. People really enjoyed the family atmosphere, and more families started to make our resort the place for their family getaways. Word got out about the restaurant, and our lengthy list of “regulars” started to take shape. Currently, we still have several families who have been vacationing with us every summer since those early days.
Building Additions
In the mid-1970s, our parents decided they needed another large rental unit and converted our house into a summer rental, meaning that mom, dad, and Tom would move into the Log Cabin Basement (a small 1-room apartment and bathroom) for several summers. During this time, Mark and Dave were spending their summers in the rec-room apartment, or they might be living with grandma and grandpa. This all became a nomadic lifestyle, but we were kids, and it was fun. Each year during our first ten years of operation, we completed an addition to our restaurant, and in 1976, we bought the Westwood building and land from Madden’s. The Westwood was a four-unit building, and it was added to our rentals in 1977, bringing our unit count to thirteen (interestingly, John and Vicki and Tom and Jennie would all live in the Westwood at one time or another before moving into their current homes). The Westwood also brought an end to Dave’s nomadic lifestyle as he converted the entire basement (his construction skills were apparent early on) into an apartment, which he would live in until marrying Brenda and moving into his first house (currently Tom and Jennie’s) in 1982. That apartment was later used for staff who lived on-site. On a side note, Dave has been involved in the building of each of our four houses as well as every building project that has taken place at the resort!
Mark and John would both be gone from the resort for a time between 1975 and 1981, but would both return to a full-time capacity by 1981, and all of us have been here since then, with Dave and Tom never leaving the operation.
In 1979, Dad started the first of several large resort-building projects. Creating a plan for five duplex buildings with three bedrooms and two bathrooms in each townhouse. Known as the “Woods,” they would be individually owned and then managed by us. More importantly, the construction of these ten units would nearly double our size as a resort and increase our occupancy by up to eighty people. The “Woods” would come into operation in the winter of 1980, bringing us up to twenty-three units.
Adding to the Fun!
The 1980s were a busy time of building for us at Kavanaugh’s, with some form of project going on every year. We had many additions to the restaurant and kitchen and a complete remodel, updating all the colors and woodwork. We also went into the conference business full swing and added our first designated conference room, “the Pinecone Room,” in 1985. Building projects included “the Views” in 1982, “the Oaks”, our first indoor pool, and a new rec-room in 1984, and continual updates to our existing cabins. While John, Vicki, Mark, and Sue were married in the 1970s, the 1980s saw Dave, Brenda, Tom, and Jennie getting married; each reception was hosted here on the property! With John, Mark, Dave, and Tom in the business full-time alongside our parents, the business really began to grow and become more and more a year-round operation, with our normal busy summer season with the restaurant open to the public, and now a growing conference business in the spring and fall, and our ever-popular winter weekend packages.
During the 1980s, Brenda opened the Pine Bough Gift Shop in the lower level of the Park View unit and hosted an amazingly popular Christmas Event for several years in November. Towards the end of the 80s, our parents slowly started to remove themselves from day-to-day operations, spending about 6 weeks each winter in Palm Springs and also making fall trips to different parts of the country and a wonderful trip back to Ireland, where our dad was able to touch base with his family heritage.
Hosting Businesses and Families
The 1990s brought us full force into the Conference business during our “shoulder seasons” and included the construction of the Maples Conference Center, along with 5 units located upstairs and the room (accommodating meetings up to 125 people) connected by a long hallway to the restaurant area. In 1994, John, Mark, Dave, and Tom purchased the resort operation from their parents, with Sherm and Mae removing themselves much more from the business (but still staying involved) and taking a bit more time to travel. The 90s also saw the introduction of a new workforce…. GRANDKIDS! All of Mae and Sherm’s grandchildren have worked at the resort over the years and had the opportunity to spend time in the business. As it was for the Kavanaugh boys, the opportunity was a great learning experience for all fifteen grandchildren. During the 1990s and into the early 2000s, we expanded our off-season conference business, continued building projects and remodels, built the reputation of the restaurant, and enjoyed a busy winter weekend business. In 2000, we replaced our indoor pool, built in 1984, with a new indoor/outdoor pool complex with a rec-room and exercise area. We also built eight pool suite units in this project.
Connecting Family and History
In March of 2001, our father, Sherm, passed away from complications brought on by Diabetes, and in October of 2002, our mother, Mae, passed away after her battle with Alzheimer’s. The business was now 35 years old, and some of the facilities needed work, and even some changes were needed, both for the business and the partners. Also, with our parents’ passing, we started to look at the history of things more and wanted to find a way to make sure that Kavanaugh’s Resort remained just that, a resort.
In 2005, the family would take on our most aggressive endeavor yet, and one that would change the future path of the business. After lengthy discussions, we all decided that the best way to move forward was to launch a new and large building project and to take more of our resort into the “Rent Share” concept of unit ownership while also looking to develop the rest of our back property. To do this project also meant changing or removing other parts of our business, and the largest decision for that would involve leaving the restaurant business to fully develop our resort. This $9 million project, started in September 2005 and completed in June 2006, would update and redefine our property. This project would remove the last of our original cabins, the original Westwood, and our iconic restaurant, and replace them with the new Westwood building, eight new Cottages, and a new office and commercial laundry area.
The Kavanaugh’s Experience
The 2006 project changed the dynamics of our property quite a bit, with the removal of the food service being the biggest change for us. We also found things that we had not planned on but became big parts of our changes, none larger than starting our Rubber Duck Races in 2007 in our new waterfall and stream area! The duck races have become a much-loved Monday event all summer long, and quite frankly, we had no idea that after 19 years of doing them, they would be such a big part of the “Kavanaugh’s Experience”!
At Kavanaugh’s, we have really made it our focus to create the ultimate family experience. It is always our goal to have families spend and enjoy as much time together as possible. We believe in the “low impact” experience and try not to create too many events that could hinder or separate families from spending all that important quality time together!
Where Family Traditions Grow
Today, we continue to develop our back lots as the Galway Lane project, in which residential homes are built. The Galway homes are still managed by Kavanaugh’s Resort Properties, and the owners still have use of the resort facilities. However, none of these homes are rented out for vacation use. We feel good about the size of Kavanaugh’s Resort today and often refer to ourselves as the Smallest of Minnesota’s Big Resorts or the Biggest of Minnesota’s Small Resorts, making us the perfect size for your family getaway.
John, Mark, Dave, and Tom and their wives continue to own and operate Kavanaugh’s Resort today; in fact, it would be hard not to run into them out on the property during the day, as they are always active and working. But alas, we are not getting any younger, so we continue to make future plans, most importantly, a future that continues with us operating as a resort property. So, in 2023, Dave and Brenda’s son Bryan came back into the business to learn the many things that it takes to operate and manage the resort. We also brought John and Vicki’s granddaughter, Maddi (who has worked at the resort since she was quite young), on as a full-time office manager.
Kavanugh’s has been our family’s passion since 1969, and today we all remain extremely passionate about not only our business, but our home. All of us want to continue to welcome families to our little piece of Heaven for many years to come, and we hope that all our plans allow us to do just that. It is our pleasure to host each of you, and we hope you find our resort as special as we do. Most importantly, we hope that you and your family can create lasting memories here at Kavanaugh’s Sylvan Lake Resort in the heart of the beautiful Brainerd Lakes Area. At Kavanaugh’s, excellence is always a family tradition.
—The Kavanaugh Family