Hickory Lake Campground Cooperative Association

Septic Check and the county inspector were at the campground yesterday surveying and assessing the grounds for the RV dump station tank removal.  One thing they did observe is that vehicle traffic has been driving over, and boats are being parked on top of a part of the second drainage pit on the East side of the overflow lot.  This pit does extend to the West beyond the current fenced area.  I had Mike move the boats that were parked in the area and rope it off for now, fencing will have to be installed later this year or in the spring.  

Please do not drive into the roped off area.  I have included a map (not to scale) of the area from 2005 when this part of the system was installed to give everyone an idea of the location.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out.

Unfortunately fall is just around the corner so I wanted to send out an email with the scheduled shutdown dates so everyone can put it on their calendar and hopefully we can get a good group of volunteers.  

Pool Closing

September 2nd at sundown

Midnight Sun will winterize the pool on 9/5

Docks Out:

10/5 8:00 AM (weather permitting)

10/12 8:00 AM (backup date)

Water Off to Sites:

10/13 8:00 AM

Fall Cleanup:

10/19 9:00 AM

We need as many volunteers as we can get.  Hiring out a lawn service in the spring and fall to clean the grounds would cost several thousand dollars.  We have rakes, tarps, and dumpster size bags.  If you have leaf blowers, push or riding mowers, or other items that can assist please feel free to bring it to the campground.

Water Off to Shower House:

10/27 9:00 AM

This is entirely weather dependent as cold, frost, or snow could alter the timeline.

As many of you know there is a large septic tank removal project in the works, hopefully the work can commence in November, but if the timeline gets moved up it could alter some or all of these dates.  If it does change I will let everyone know.

FInally, road restrictions go into effect on October 15th.  Vehicle/trailer combinations are not allowed on the campground roads from this date until May 1st without prior board approval.  The idea is to not have the roads torn up due to wet conditions from rain, snow, melting snow, etc.  This year with the planned septic tank removal and the uncertainty around the timeline, I would strongly suggest that anyone wishing to remove their trailer from the campground do so prior to this date as once the project commences the entrance will be dug up with no vehicle access to the main campground.  As this project comes more into focus I will send further updates.

Until then, let’s enjoy the last bits of summer.  It goes by way too fast…

The meeting originally scheduled for September 8, 2024 has been canceled. There will be a budget meeting held on August 25, 2024 at 10:00 AM.

The area around the south slips have been added to the permit issued by the DNR, the area is outlined below. In addition, the DNR has clarified that if members want to pull weeds for personal use (the example given was a table centerpiece), this is allowed without a permit.

A permit was issued by the Minnesota DNR for manually pulling weeds. While it was not what we had hoped, the beach area in it’s entirety can have the weeds pulled manually. The image below shows the only areas that weeding will be allowed for the 2024 season.

First of all, Hazelwood Corp was out on Tuesday and installed new games in the game room.  We will be installing additional lighting in the game room on Saturday but it is currently fully operational.  The new games are Duck Hunter, Crusin USA, and the old favorite the claw machine.  MS Pac Man and the Pool Table are still in the game room as well.

The other good news is that with the nice weather anticipated for the weekend, the pool will be opening on Friday after Mike does the cleaning and testing.  Mike and Haley worked most of the day last Sunday cleaning the pool, the pool deck, and the furniture and Mike did a great job this week of getting it balanced and ready to go.

Just a reminder that there are members who have paid to charge their boats in the overflow lot. There are reserved spaces so that extension cords are not run across the lot. Signs are posted to mark the areas.

The major items for the spring opening have been completed.  A big thank you to everyone who worked and cleaned the grounds yesterday.  As many of you know I had to leave very early Saturday morning due to an emergency at home so I want to say an extra thank you to board members Tara, Sean, and Troy who helped to coordinate everything yesterday in my absence.

I also want to send another thank you to Justin Nieters (site 16).  Justin and I have been at the campground since early March working on repairing ice heaves on the shoreline, removing the abandoned culvert on the south side of the grounds, and overflow lot debris cleanup.  His help has been invaluable.

Now that the water is on, do not forget to install your vacuum breaker as these are mandated by the Department of Health.  If you do not have one, they can be purchased at the hardware store or our staff will install one for a $20 charge.  

Starting this week, Mike will be working Wednesday through Monday.  Haley Shereck will help with mowing and other odds and ends.  For those that volunteered to help with the pool, we will coordinate a small training session as the pool gets opened and ready for the season.

For parking, you are to park one vehicle at your site and additional vehicles and trailers are to be parked in the overflow lot.  There are new tags and vehicle identification cards in the supply box on the side of the Gathering Room, please identify your items in case you need to be contacted.

Finally, a few other items to be on the lookout for as we get in to May:

• Midnight Sun is starting up the pool tomorrow (May 6th) and the pool should be ready to go by Memorial Day Weekend.
• Benson Excavating is installing a new drainage culvert under the north road of the campground this week.
• Hazlewood Corporation has been asked for new games for the game room.  Specifically we asked for Buck Hunter and Top Golf, we hope to see these games soon.
• Boyd Electric will be doing electrical work on the east side of the campground this week or early next.  No outages are expected.
• There is no membership meeting on Memorial Day Weekend, however board members will be available for a one hour informal Q&A session on Saturday at 2:00 in the Gathering Room.  

Again, thank you to everyone and see you at the lake!

Tonight the board met and voted to accept a bid from Benson Excavating to replace the culvert along the north road in the campground.  The hope is to have the work completed on Thursday or Friday and for the water to be on to the sites on Friday.

This Saturday is the spring clean up.  We hope to start around 9:00.  If anything changes due to weather, we may push back the start time or even punt to Sunday morning.  Watch your email for updates.  As a reminder, those that are coming for spring cleanup, lunch will be served and beverages will be available.

We do need one more volunteer that can cook burgers and brats on the grill.  Please let us know if you can help in this way.

Docks:  Docks will be going in the water on Saturday the 20th.  If you can help, please be at the waterfront around 9:00 AM.

Water:  Water is on to the showerhouse.  Water will not be turned on to the sites until TImberlakes Septic can get into the campground and pump the tanks.  A couple tanks are full and we may still be dealing with frozen lines.  

Roads:  WIth the recent snow and rain, things are very soft and muddy right now.  Please stay on the roads and do not cut through other sites.  Road restrictions will stay on for now.

Website:  The last several weeks there have been spam attacks on the website.  A spam blocker was enabled, unfortunately it took security too far in the opposite direction and blocked legitimate users of the site so it was disabled.  Over the weekend the spam attacks started again so the security restriction will be reenabled.  If you have issues getting logged into the members area of the site please let JIm Apple know.

Spring Clean Up:  The Aitkin HIgh School sports teams will not be coming in this year to assist.  We are checking with local church youth groups and looking for other organizations that need fundraising activities.  If we get no takers, we will try to organize a volunteer day for spring clean up or look to hire a service to come in and do the project.

Slips:  For those that have slips, please make sure your fee is paid and the written agreement is turned in by next Monday the 15th or you could lose your slip.

Overflow Electrical Charging:  SIgn up will come out later this week.

Liability Waiver/Tool Check Out:  If you need tools from the shop, please make sure you have a liability waiver turned into the association.  When you do take tools, make sure you sign them out and back in, the check out sheet is on the door in the shop.