Jack's Resort back on its feet after fire

WATERVILLE — Jack’s Resort in Waterville will be back up and running in full swing this summer after five years of rebuilding. 

“I can’t say it enough, we just developed such an incredible support system prior to this catastrophic event that I don’t think a lot of people would have made it through.” said Ginger Merritt, who owns the resort alongside Anna Schlegelmilch. “It’s just unreal still today how much support that we still have.” 

In September 2020, the resort got caught in the Pearl Hills fire where they lost about 99% of their business, said Merritt. That year was their 20th season of operation and COVID-19 had already pushed their celebration into later in the year which was cut short by the fire. 

For about two months the resort had no way of making any money as they began to rebuild. Despite this, Merritt and Anna Schlegelmilch said that they began the process of rebuilding immediately with the help of their friends and family.  

“We had the most amazing support system,” said Merritt. “There was no not coming back from that.” 

The fires had taken out their restaurant, a few cabins, storage buildings, power and their pumphouse, but had spared their home on the property. Merritt said that for two years they worked out of a food trailer with a tent set up while they waited for the new restaurant to be built. 

October of 2022 marked their first season back in a building for operations. The building had not been fully completed at this time, but there was enough that they could start make their way back into normal operations.  

“We had to redo all the power, all the sewer, all the water, everything,” she said. “We had to do that straight out of the gate and so just in the interim we worked out of a food trailer.” 

Through the struggles of rebuilding during COVID and changing county codes, they were able to finally come back into full operation. Their new restaurant was finished and opened in the Spring of 2023 and Merritt said that by last year they had completed their work on rebuilding the resort and were ready to open back to full capacity. 

Today guests can go to Jack’s Resort to enjoy their full RV Park with access to water, power and sewer, stay in a cabin, rent a boat or a kayak to take out onto Jameson Lake. Their restaurant bakes homemade pies and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner where they source their meat from Rays meats in Yakima. 

“We typically do prime rib on Saturday nights,” said Merritt. 

Merritt said since the restaurant has been back up and running, they have been seeing customers from all around the state visiting the resort.  

“They’re travelling for an hour-hour and a half to come out here and eat,” she said. “The support, the word of mouth and the reviews have been very positive.” 

The resort has more plans in the future to add even more events and activities onto their agenda. Recently they’ve been working on rebuilding an area that was for group camping and venues that got destroyed in the fire and bringing back festivals at the resort.  

Jack’s Resort is mostly operated by family and friends of Merritt and Schlegelmilch as well as locals who come to camp and offer their services wherever necessary.  

“It’s kind of just like a big old family atmosphere,” said Merritt. 

    A picture taken from the shore of Jameson Lake. Jack’s Resort allows vacationers to go out and enjoy recreation such as fishing.