Sheep Creek Lodge is business, local community center

SHEEP CREEK — It wasn’t your average fundraiser March 31 at Sheep Creek Lodge, Mile 88.2, Parks Highway.

“That’s kind of what we were going for,” said Candace Baker, who is raising $8,000 to participate in a People to People trip in June.

Billed as a community Iditarod Victory Party and Fundraiser, hundreds of folks from the community stopped by Sheep Creek Lodge that Saturday for a chance to meet their neighbors, particularly neighbor and 2012 Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey.

“It was great,” the champ said. “I met some of our neighbors and ate some amazing chicken wings.”

Seavey said they live nearby and he gladly spent a few hours mingling and helping Baker raise money to participate in a People to People trip in June.

“We live right by here,” Seavey said. “I mush by and check our mail.”

In fact, he said one of the posts on the row of mail boxes is getting loose and he thinks it might have something to do with him tying his team up to the post when he checks the mail.

Seavey said Sheep Creek Lodge also provided a bunch of food for him during this year’s race.

“It was fun coming up here and meeting everyone,” he said. “It was an awesome community get-together.”

‘Dallas was the grand prize’

The fundraiser included usual items such as baked goods, jewelry, prints donated by local artists, a quilt and an assortment of Iditarod shirts, caps and glasses all signed by Seavey.

But what turned heads and drew bidders from as far away as Anchorage — about a two-hour drive — was a chance to bid on a 2-mile dog sled ride with Seavey driving.

Throughout the day, some 14 folks made a donation and received a ride pulled by a team of Terrence Shanigan’s sled dogs with Jim Torok as the driver. He also was a handler for Seavey this winter.

“Dallas was the grand prize,” Baker said.

Fred and Phenie Miller also hosted a wine tasting fundraiser during the holidays to help her, she said. The local student graduated in December 2011 and is raising money to participate in a People to People International trip to Europe. Established in 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, People to People has a presence in 135 countries with more than 80,000 families and individuals participating in its programs for students and adults.

“He figured the people had a better chance of promoting world peace than the government,” Baker said.

She and 40 other exemplary students from across Alaska are set to leave at 6 a.m., June 5 and arrive in Paris mid-day.

“We go straight to Versailles from the airport,” Baker said. “We don’t even check into the hotel until 10 p.m. the first day.”

She said the whirlwind trip includes time in Italy, Florence and Greece.

Longtime connection

Candace Baker’s mom, Vonda Baker, used to babysit for Seavey when he was young, so it was Vonda who called and asked the champ to stop by the fundraiser and victory celebration.

But somehow, Seavey didn’t get the message he’d also be taking the winning bidder on a 2-mile sled dog ride.

“He was a really good sport about it,” Baker said.

The Houston High School graduate also is working full time to help pay for the trip, she said. Before the March 31 fundraiser, she was about halfway to her $8,000 goal.

“This took a nice chunk out of it,” she said, though the final tally from the fundraiser isn’t available yet. “It was a great day.”

The fundraiser was a family affair, Baker said. Her mom, grandmother Marjory Leckwold and great-grandmother Dolores Davis spent weeks planning and three days baking items.

“We had a blast,” Leckwold said. “It was a good day.”

Phenie said being good neighbors was the motivation behind hosting the two fundraisers. In addition, she said Candace Baker used to work at the lodge, and her mother has worked there for more than 20 years under several different owners.

“We do a lot of things with mushers,” Phenie Miller said. “And we do a lot of things for the community.”

A lot of regular community meetings take place at the lodge, including the roads and fire service boards, the group that organizes the Don Bowers memorial race and the Montana Creek Dog Mushers Association.

“We don’t have a community center right in this area so we try to make our place available,” Phenie said.

‘Everybody’s doing less of everything’

Fred and Phenie Miller bought 24 acres with Sheep Creek running through it six years ago. The lodge just came with the property, Fred said.

“There are some wonderful things about running a lodge and there are some challenges,” he said.

The people they meet are at the top of the good things list. A soft economy is at the top of the challenges list.

“Everybody’s doing less of everything,” Fred said.

Snowmachiners are riding less, staying closer to home and packing food with them to save money, he said.

The 10,000 square foot lodge is built of Alaska white spruce logs 2 feet or more in diameter harvested from the Nenana area.

The lodge features clean, neat accommodations and quality food prepared from scratch in the lodge’s newly remodeled kitchen.

“It was a dive bar when we bought it,” Phenie said.

Back then, it had a reputation as a trouble spot, Fred said. Not anymore. Since they’ve owned the bar, they haven’t had a single incident that required Alaska State Troopers to intervene, he said.

“Troopers come here and bring their families,” Fred said.

Before taking up residence at the lodge in Will-keetna — as Fred describes their part of the Mat-Su Valley — the couple lived and worked in Anchorage for many years. Although this is their first time as restaurant and lodge owners, they both have extensive business backgrounds and several friends in the restaurant business.

“We love it out here,” Phenie said. “We meet so many wonderful people.”

She said about 30,000 people pass through the lodge and its nine cabins annually.

The lodge is nonsmoking and is open Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays until May 15, when it switches to summer hours. For now, they are closed Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The kitchen closes at 9 p.m., year-round.

In the summer, the lodge is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday through Sunday from May 15 to Sept. 16.

For more information, contact Sheep Creek Lodge at 495-6227.

Contact managing editor Heather A. Resz at 352-2268 or heather.resz@frontiersman.com.