Our Response to COVID-19

To our friends and guests of Bowstring Shores Resort,

You may have already heard, the Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, extended the Stay at Home executive order in Minnesota until Monday May 4th.
We anticipated this order to be extended in an effort to continue to “flatten the curve” of virus cases throughout Minnesota. Our Stay at Home is working. We support the governor and our legislators in their efforts to protect all citizens’ safety and well-being.
We personally believe the current expiration date of the Stay at Home order is deliberately set to coincide with what we deem as the beginning of the tourism season, the Minnesota fishing opener. Our belief and hope is that the Governor is going to lift the Stay at Home order, with some contingencies, on May 4th in time to allow fishing opener and the beginning of the tourism season to take place in Minnesota.
With this, we continue to prepare to open Bowstring Shores Resort as planned and are looking forward to welcoming you for your stay with us. This season will bring some necessary changes surrounding reducing or eliminating the potential spread of the virus. We continue to monitor those as the circumstances warrant. Some items we do know at this point:

  • We would ask that you begin to plan now to bring your own hand sanitizer and disinfectant sprays to the resort. We are unable to purchase large quantities of these items, and it is easier to ask you to bring them since we cannot source any large supplies of them.
  • We must remain aware of the social distancing requirements being asked of all of us and how those relate to the resort if they are still in place. The resort actually sets itself up to allow for social distancing. Families/friends rent a cabin separate from other cabins, and the exterior areas are large to allow a cabin’s occupants to sit at a campfire or picnic table and socially distance from their neighbor. Plus, fishing on the lake is social distancing at its best!
  • We are asking those that have been ill, or have shown any symptoms of the virus within 14 days of their arrival to Bowstring Shores Resort not make the trip. This would include those care givers or family members who have come in contact with the ill individual.

Until the social distancing order is relinquished, here are some changes you’ll expect when you arrive at Bowstring Shores Resort:

  1. We will be changing check-out times to Friday morning at 10am and check-in times to Saturdays at 3pm to allow for thorough cleaning of our cabins, grounds, and facilities after each group.
  2. Our Lodge will have window service available for all your needs – whether it be ice cream, pizza, groceries, apparel, or gifts – to allow for social distancing.
  3. You will be asked to swipe a credit card to keep on file upon check-in. Like a hotel, we will put your bill on your door Thursday night. On Friday morning, unless there is a mistake, we will charge the card you have put on file.
  4. We are hoping to build a large fish cleaning station outside in the open air to accommodate social distancing.
  5. We will be installing a hand washing station at the dock.
  6. MN law states that all public pools must remain closed, so our pool will not be open until the social distancing order is lifted. The great thing is, the lake is still a great place for a swim.
  7. Bleach will be provided for all cabins that do not have dishwashers. We will ask that you use a capful of bleach per sink full of water while doing dishes.
  8. All linens used and unused will be stripped and washed after each group.
  9. We ask that you keep others from petting your dogs or ours. (That may be the hardest one)
  10. We are temporarily closing our common areas, such as the pavilion and the playground.
  11. Our cleaning staff will be trained in special protocols to keep the cabins immaculate. One example is that we will be sterilizing kitchens and bathrooms with UV sterilizers.
  12. We will open and close the trash areas. Trash area hours will be 8am to 8pm. We will eliminate trash can lids and the gate will remain open during those hours. We will also be asking you to crush your cans and water bottles to save space in our containers. We will also ask you to place your cardboard in our woodburner behind the lodge so we do not have to handle it. (beer cases, boxes, packaging, etc.)
  13. You will be responsible for operating the crank on your boat lift. Those, along with boats, will be cleaned thoroughly after each party.

As time goes on and we learn of other necessary items that are being required of us by the state to protect you as our guest, we will communicate them to you. However, at this time it is to early to speculate on what those may be. We just ask that you be accepting of those requirements and respect that their implementation is for the health and well-being of you as our guest, our employees, and us.

We look forward to continuing to provide you the best vacation experience possible while at Bowstring Shores Resort. These are truly unique times and we are dedicated to providing you with a clean, safe, and relaxing environment during your stay. There’s still no better place than the Northwoods of Minnesota, where the fish are always biting and the only thing crowding you is the beautiful scenery.