Letter from Home - Places to Stay & Eat in Grand Rapids

Hello Everyone:

                Although spring is here, the ground in northern Minnesota is still white. Nevertheless, we are looking forward to summer and our 2018 Wizard of Festival!

                As most of you know, the historic Sawmill Inn and Restaurant closed this winter. As a result many of our visitors have been concerned about where they will stay and where they will eat in Grand Rapids. Today one of our staff members went around town and collected information on all of Grand Rapids motels and hotels. All stated that without the Sawmill Inn, they expect to be quite full this summer, so it’s important to book soon, if you think you will attend the Festival. We will share in order the  hotels/ motels closest to the Judy Garland Museum outward. All are within walking distance.

In addition to our info, if you are visiting Grand Rapids, please take a look at Visit Grand Rapids for further information!

https://www.visitgrandrapids.com

Motels/Hotels in Grand Rapids, Minnesota

Country Inn & Suites – 218-327-4060

The Country Inn is newly renovated and sits next door to the Judy Garland Museum. It has a pool and hot tub. A full breakfast is included with the cost of the room. As of today, there are 15 rooms left at the Country Inn for Festival time.

Room – King-sized bed  $125 plus tax

2 Queen Sized beds        $140 plus tax

Two blocks down from the Judy Garland Museum are three motels:

AmericInn – 218-326-8999

The AmericInn is on the corner and has a hot tub and pool. A hot breakfast is served with the price of the room and Fridays there are free hot dogs and marshmallows cooked in an outdoor fire pit.

Room – King-sized bed     $125 plus tax

2 Queen beds                    $130 plus tax

If you have AAA or AARP there is a 10% discount. This may be so for other hotels, but that information was only offered to us at the AmericInn.

Super8  -  218-327-1108

The Super8 is just half a block down form the AmericInn, basically two blocks from the Judy Garland Museum. They also have a pool and hot tub and serve a nice breakfast.

Room with Queen or 2 Queens is the same - $99.00 plus tax

TimberLake Lodge   -           218-326-2600

The TimberLake Lodge is the newest, largest and grandest of all hotel/motels in Grand Rapids. It sits on the back of the block behind the Super8, AmericInn and Eagles Club. The hotel is full-service with very nice rooms, a large lobby, pool, hot tub and “Grand Splash” area. Prices do not include breakfast.

The TimberLake Restaurant is quite eclectic, with fine dining and fairly well-priced meals. It also has a bar. The restaurant is open from 11:00am – 10:00pm.

Rooms with King-sized beds  $119 plus tax on Thursday

                                              $139 plus tax – Fridays & Saturdays

Two Queen beds                     $124 plus tax on Thursday

                                               $144 plus tax on Fridays & Saturdays

Itascan Motel – 218-326-3489

The Itascan is the oldest motel and the least fancy, though very serviceable. It is also about half a mile or a mile from the museum. Rooms open directly into the parking lot and because there is no room, a breakfast is not received with the price of the room. The manager stated that they do not have a lot of rooms and that these rooms sell out fairly quickly.

1 bed (not sure if it’s a king)        $64 - $69 a night

2 beds                                        $69 - $74 a night         

For those interested, there are also resorts on Lake Pokegama and Sugar Lake, a bit further out but nice. As you can see, Grand Rapids does have a selection of places to stay, so we hope you find this useful.

Places to Eat

Although at least two meals will be available for purchase during the Festival, we’re sure our visitors will be interested in what there is to offer for other meals. Pokegama Avenue (the street where the museum is – for first time visitors) contains a large selection of restaurants.

 Appleby’s is cross the street from the museum.

For fast food there is everything you could want just a few blocks down toward the main part of town: McDonalds, Dairy Queen, Culvers, Subway, Taco John’s and more.

The Country Kitchen is a very nice place to have breakfast or lunch or dinner for that matter and prices are reasonable. 

In addition, there is Sammy’s Pizza on Pokegama Avenue. We are using Sammy’s to cater some of their meals. Besides Pizza, they also have salads and dinners to choose from.

For more expensive fare, as mentioned earlier, there is the TimberLake Restaurant and also Forest Lake. Forest Lake is on Highway Two, on the way to the Reif Center. They serve very nice selection of Minnesota dinners. They also have a bar.  

   

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We hope this information is useful to you and will help you whenever you decide to visit Grand Rapids!

Festival information is coming soon.  Between the influenza, staff on vacation and other matters, it’s taking us a while to get everyone together to iron out the final details. For a basic outline –one that will soon have corrections, please visit our Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/judygarlandmuseum/

Thanks and more information very soon!