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Here are four aerial views of the fire that burned Papa Charlies Tavern in Lutsen on Saturday, June 24. Photos courtesy of Adrian Howard Larsen
Lutsen’s Papa Charlie’s Tavern, a popular place to eat and drink and the county’s largest indoor venue for live music, burned to the ground on Saturday, June 24.
Cook County dispatch was notified at 6:01 a.m. that there was a fire at the iconic 27-year-old structure, and the Lutsen Fire Department was paged and responded immediately. Once on the site, the Lutsen Fire Department requested mutual aid from the other fire departments in the county. Responding to the call were fire departments from Tofte, Schroeder, Maple Hill, and Grand Marais. Also responding were the Silver Bay fire department as well as the United States Forest Service and Lutsen First Responders, the North Shore Health Ambulance, Arrowhead Electric, and Como.
Although suppression efforts were great, the building couldn’t be saved. Sheriff Pat Eliasen stated, “Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by this tragic loss; Papa Charlie’s holds a special place in everyone’s heart and mind. We are fortunate that we have such a wonderful volunteer public safety response in Cook County to prevent further loss.”
A message from Lutsen Mountains on Facebook stated, “The fire is out. The six volunteer fire departments did an amazing job containing it to the immediate building, but it is a total loss. The gondola and other facilities were not affected! That being said, our servers, unfortunately, were housed here, and our systems will be down at least until Tuesday. Please bear with us while we work to put back some of our technological infrastructure. We are overwhelmed with the outpouring of support, and we can’t say thank you to all those who came to help. It could have been much worse. More updates will come.”
Volunteers to the Lutsen 99er bike races were also pulled away to help fight the fire. Kjersti Vick, Visit Cook County said in a press release,
“Annually the Lutsen 99er draws thousands of people to Cook County. Volunteers are critical to the event’s success with over 200 individuals who plan their summer around volunteering at this event, many of whom also volunteer for the local fire departments and emergency management services. As the call for firefighters went out to fight the fire, calls were answered by the local community to step in to fill critical roles at the multiple aid stations at the event.
“Among the dozens of last-minute volunteers were several business owners who jumped in to help, including Sarena Crowley and Clair Nalezny (Cascade Vacation Rentals), Jeff Stoddard (Sawtooth Mountain Clinic) and Chris Homyak (Clearview Retail Partners, LLC). Crowley’s husband, who had been scheduled to lead the Onion River aid station at the race, was called to the fire. Knowing the importance of the aid station, Crowley spearheaded the efforts to get the station staffed, set up and running throughout the entire race.
“Despite these hurdles, the race was able to begin on time and over 1,800 riders left Superior National Golf in Lutsen, the home base for this year’s event, to compete in one of four long-distance races including Will Surbaugh, a 21-year-old local, who won the 99er distance in a photo finish with a completion time of 5:02:46. Surbaugh, a Cook County High School graduate who grew up in Grand Marais and participated in his first Lutsen99er event at 12-years-old is now a professional rider competing in mountain and gravel bike racing competitions nationally.”
Commenting on the loss of Papa Charlie’s, Linda Jurek, Visit Cook County Executive Director said, “We in Cook County are absolutely devastated by this unexpected fire, and we’re so thankful for the volunteers who were able to step in and help so quickly. We’re so glad that nobody was injured during the fire. Papa Charlie’s is part of the beating heart of Cook County, and we’re here to support Lutsen Mountain’s leadership as they evaluate the next steps.”
The fire also devastated James and Christy Marshall’s Double D catering, which has been working out of Papa Charlie’s kitchen for years. As a result of the fire, the Marshalls lost their catering equipment and thousands of dollars of food.
A GoFundMe site has been set up to help them replace equipment so they can restart their business for the summer. Donations can also be taken to the Grand Marais State Bank; just let the teller know you are depositing funds in James Marshall’s account.
The Minnesota State Fire Marshall is the lead investigating agency; further details will be released as the process continues.
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