Sheep Creek Lodge owners celebrate 10 years of ownership by being a hub for the community

Sheep Creek Lodge owners Melinda “Molly” Crawford and Jessi Leach celebrated 10 years in operation this October. This mother-daughter duo has built their business around their love for the community. They strive to provide a family-friendly space for their neighbors.

“We really kind of just do what our community needs,” Leach said. “And we have a very diverse community. We are smack dab in the middle between Willow and Talkeetna and we try to be a hub for whatever they need… and sling food at the same time.”

Crawford and Leach purchased the lodge in July of 2014. They moved from Anchorage with their family to live in the outdoors and to get away from town.

“We were all just sick of our jobs and sick of the city, and we'd been looking for something where we could get out and work together and work for ourselves, and this just presented itself,” Crawford said.

“We thought that we'd be able to work for ourselves and live in the outdoors and show people how awesome Alaska is,” Leach added.

They planned on opening September 1 of that year, but were delayed by a myriad of problems. The septic system and kitchen floor needed to be replaced. Everything within the lodge and kitchen needed to be updated.

“We had to start from scratch in a packed, dirty building,” Leach added.

Sheep Creek Lodge first opened with its new owners on October 1 2014. The first winter was difficult with record low snow levels, according to Leach. Thoughts of a busy summer tourism season were crushed with the arrival of the Sockeye Fire in June of 2015. Four years later they faced the McKinley Fire, which took out their long-standing neighbors Camp Caswell.

“We were enmeshed in the community and struggled with them, for our community right away,” Leach said. “We've been through it with these people.”

Throughout the 10 years, Crawford emphasized how they’ve worked alongside their community.

“We couldn't plan on the things that would happen when we bought the lodge,” Crawford said. “In 10 years, we've had two wildfires on our doorstep. We've had COVID. We've been through so much as a community, and I think we established our credit with them when we just really tried to be good neighbors through all of that and help in any way we could.”

To celebrate a decade in business, Crawford and Leach hosted a small celebration on October 1 2024 with their family and business partners. They hosted a larger event for the public on October 5.

Sheep Creek Lodge is a full restaurant and bar located at Mile 88 on the Parks Highway. The property consists of nine cabins, a lodge with two rooms and a campground. Sheep Creek Lodge provides in-house and offsite catering. The lodge also hosts parties, meetings and weddings. The restaurant and bar are open Thursday-Monday year-round.

The lodge hosts events open to the public throughout the year. They host a Halloween trick-or-treat, dog mushing for the kids during the winter holiday season, trivia and game nights and a book club.

Both Crawford and Leach emphasized that an ongoing issue the lodge faces is staffing. They currently employ 13 members of the community. Some have been working at the lodge for multiple years and have created a strong foundation to build upon. Crawford and Leach keep costs down by doing their own shopping.

“We personally do the shopping every week by going to Costco to save money,” Crawford said. “It takes a lot of our personal time.”

Leach pointed out that it becomes more difficult to balance her family time with work. Finding that balance will help keep the business alive into the future.

“We have to be happy doing this to continue for another 10 years, because it's been the hardest thing we've ever done. Worth it every second. But it's been a grind for 10 years,” Leach said.

“We joke that it's a labor of love, heavy on the labor,” Crawford added.

The business continues to grow each year and prospects for the upcoming season are looking good.

“We definitely see an increase almost every summer in sales and revenue and business and all of that,” Leach said. “Last winter was pretty tough, but we're having a really good start to this winter.”

Crawford and Leach have plans to utilize more of their property in the next 10 years. They want to be able to provide a hub for local community members to gather and celebrate around. This includes building a pavilion for use at events.

“We want to focus more on weddings and events for people, plus the lodging we currently have,” Crawford said.

Crawford’s favorite part about owning the lodge is watching local families grow alongside her own. The crew at Sheep Creek Lodge wants to be able to offer anything that their neighbors need and make a difference in the community.

“We wouldn't be here without this community. We wouldn't be here a couple times over if it wasn't for this community,” Leach said.