Celebrating 10 Years at The G Lodge: How Live Music Sparked a Community
When my dad, Darren, first had the idea to throw a music festival at The G Lodge, he tricked me into helping. In 2016, he called me and said, "I've started building the stage!"
"What stage?" I replied, completely confused.
"The stage for the festival," he said, as if I should have already known. Apparently, he'd been having these conversations—but not with me. Somewhere along the way, he forgot to inform me that we’d be throwing our first Big 'G' Jam at the lodge that summer.
Good news is, it was a hit, and we followed it up with The Fall Down that September. And so, Hey Dude After Hours was born. My dad had been booking bands since 2012 but these two festivals are what really shaped Hey Dude into something real. He’d always had an obsessive love for live music and an annoying ability to rope people into his ideas, and this was no exception.
At the time, I was busy. Living nomadically, traveling the country and world—chasing down the next adventure. I'd also had my own dreams—of running a Bed & Breakfast—a dream that did not involve booking bands or hauling gear across a muddy field. But as it turns out, when two people with wildly different approaches commit to the same goal, things get interesting. Over the years, my dad and I have had our share of “heated discussions” (translation: arguments), but we’ve also figured out how to combine our strengths. He books the music, I make sure the whole operation doesn’t fall apart, and somehow, we’ve turned The G Lodge into something way bigger than either of us expected.
A Legacy of Community Building
The Gauger family has been building community for generations. Our passion for gathering spaces and fostering connections has been ingrained in us long before The G Lodge had a stage. I wrote about this history last year in More Than Just Music, where with the help of a local historian, I went deep into how our family’s values of hospitality and togetherness shaped everything we do today. It turns out, bringing people together is just in our DNA.
Transforming a Hunting Lodge Into a Community Hub
The G Lodge wasn’t exactly ready for its close-up when we took over. Originally built as a family hunting lodge, it had evolved into a full-blown poker-and-cigars man cave, complete with way too much furniture and a lingering stench of smoke. But it was the first space we tackled.
With nothing but free time and my unemployment checks, I dove into renovations. It wasn’t glamorous—brooming down cobwebs from the ceiling beams, scrubbing dust from the walls, replacing furniture, and doing everything possible to get rid of the lingering smoke—but it was ours. By January 2021, we opened the Lodge doors on Airbnb, marking the official beginning of our journey in transforming these properties.
Image of Anna Kinney on the back deck at The G Lodge by Sarah Heppell Photography
Your Not-So-Typical Bed & Breakfast
Though my grandfather's estate once encompassed numerous properties and businesses across Oswego County, today the Gauger Estate consists of two adjacent properties with three main parts. Pretty much everyone has heard of The G Lodge by now (81 Keller Rd.), but not everyone knows about The Gauger House, and Fay Flower Farm (both at 42 Keller Rd.).
Before The Gauger Estate became what it is today, I had my heart set on running a Bed & Breakfast. My grandpa and I had talked about it before he passed in 2019, and originally, I was looking at buying some of his property in the Adirondacks—far away from the chaos my dad was brewing. Then a friend casually misremembered a conversation we'd had and asked if I was planning my B&B in my grandfather’s house, and that got the wheels turning. That wasn’t the original plan because my grandpa had always lived in his house, but now… maybe?
I floated the idea to my dad, and before I knew it, he threw his life savings into buying both the House and Lodge from my grandfather’s estate. And just like that, my bed-and-breakfast dream got hijacked by a music festival.
We started with the basics at the House—also, I should stop right here to explain that this house is MASSIVE. Originally a mid-century ranch, my grandfather—being the builder that he was—kept adding additions as the family grew. My grandparents raised seven children there and hosted many foreign exchange students, creating a space where hospitality was second nature.
In 2021 we renovated the 3-bedroom apartment in the house into a long-term rental unit, immediately filling it with tenants. By May of 2022, we had our first 2-bedroom Airbnb, The Showbiz Suite up and running. By August of that same year, we'd finished the shared parts of the house and two more private bedrooms (The Blue Room & The Green Room). By 2023, we'd finished two more suites upstairs (Farm View Suite & The Beauty Parlor). In 2024, we built A-Frame cabins and a tiny house, expanding our accommodations. This year, we’re working on finishing the basement into a one-bedroom apartment for long-term rental, and a studio apartment where my partner, Michael, and I will finally have a more permanent home (for now, we bounce between different units whenever one gets booked).
That house—now known as The Gauger House—has become the Bed & Breakfast I always wanted, but we don’t actually serve breakfast—not yet anyway.
Image of a charcuterie board made by yours truly, captured by Sarah Heppell Photography
A Decade of Memories at The G Lodge
A lot can happen in ten years. A lot has happened in ten years. People have come and gone, and a handful have stuck around, making The G Lodge their second home. We’ve watched friends meet for the first time under the pavilion, fall in love, and go on to get married. Some have even started families of their own.
We’ve hosted countless birthdays and birthday parties, baby showers, graduation parties, high school reunions, and more weddings than we can count. People have danced in the rain, jumped in the pond—hell, Phil even parked his car in the pond (a moment we won’t soon forget). We’ve smoked a lot of meat, played our fair share of sports, and filled these spaces with art, laughter, and love.
We’ve worn fanny packs, gotten tattoos and mullets, and even made a nudie calendar. We’ve dubbed many-a-Tractor-Daddy, built veggie gardens, battled poison ivy, endured COVID, and tackled endless projects, builds, and maintenance that come with keeping this place running. We’ve seen high highs, celebrated sobrieties, and stood together through the lows.
The G Lodge has been a place for connection, celebration, and remembrance. Here, we make new friends, honor old ones, and celebrate the lives of those we’ve lost. This place holds so much more than just music—it holds a decade’s worth of stories, laughter, and community. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.
The Music That Built a Community
At the heart of it all is Hey Dude After Hours and the two signature festivals we host at The G Lodge:
Over the years, these festivals have supported a myriad of causes, but we’ve found ourselves settled on two that really matter to us: the Hannibal Backpack Program and the Hannibal Free Library. In addition to these two efforts, we also host:
A Winter Benefit for the Hannibal Resource Center (local food pantry)
A Kentucky Derby Day Spring Fundraiser for The G Lodge because let’s be honest, we always have more projects than we have money
Our friends from Dump Love host The Family Hoedown, which each year benefits a different member of the community who is in need, directly.
And just last year I started my own personal passion project: Cultivate
Cultivate is our first annual festival which is not rooted in music. Cultivate aims to inspire and empower people to connect with their bodies and the earth through sustainable living and homesteading. The event features handmade goods, local food, shared meals, and workshops on wellness and self-sufficiency. It brings together a community focused on health and environmental care, working toward a greener future for all.
But back to the music now, since 2016, our stages have hosted an incredible lineup of artists, featuring both up-and-coming acts and well-established musicians, including:
Aaron Lipp & The Slacktones, A Girl Named Genny, Adrianna Noone, Alex Vine Band, Banjo Juice Jazz Band, Barbara Malteze & Liars Moon, Bead N Bone, Ben Proctor, Bella’s Bartok, Bootleg Hooch, Bows & Arrows, Brandon Wheeler, Brothers Blue, Buddhahood, Cabinet, Cammy Enaharo, Cast Iron Cowboys, Copper Hill, Danny Mills, Danielle Ponder, Deco & The Dusters, Dirty Blanket, Dirt Turtles, Driftwood, Elephino, Ellen Pieroni & The Encyclopedia of Soul, Floodwood, Folkfaces, Fran Broderick, Gordon Munding & the Slide of Hand Band, Head to the Roots, Hayley Jane, Hypnotic Clambake, Intrepid Travelers, Jackson Cavalier, Jatoba, Janet Batch, Jeff Riales, Jungle Steve Band, Keaney, Kevin Higgins, Kids in the Basement, LSTN, Los Pajaritos, Lowell Wurster, Mercedes Escobar, Mikaela Davis, Mike Brown Band, Miller & The Other Sinners, Milkweed, Moon Hollow, Mustard Tigers, Natty Meds, Occasional Saints, Old World Warblers, PA Line, Papa Muse & the Lit Fuse, Personal Blend, Public Water Supply, Randy McMillen, Reverend Kingfish, Rick Kronert, River Lynch, Roots Collider, Rootshock, Sam Money, Sim Redmond Band, Son of Henry, Stinky Boots String Band, Sterling Junction, Subsoil, Swampcandy, The Buddhahood, The Cadleys, The Comb Down, The Dawn Timbers, The Forest Dwellers, The Funky Smoking Moving Company, The Gnarly Oaks, The Honey Smugglers, The Majestics, The Medicinals, The Moho Collective, The Old Main, The Pickle Mafia, The Rollin’ Rust, The Turkey Blaster Omega, Tweed, Tyler Westcott, Upstate, Woody Dodge and on and on and on…
Join Us for the Next Show!
My dad has curated a mix of fan favorites and rising artists you won’t want to miss. This event offers a sneak peek at the 2025 G Lodge festival season. Since we can’t throw big outdoor shows at the Lodge in the winter, we’ve teamed up with our friends at Photo City for this indoor Tonk’ing good time! Add Folky Tonk / Honky Tonk Weekend at Photo City on Feb 21 & 22 to your calendar—who knows, maybe you’ll discover your new favorite band!
Stay connected with us at Hey Dude After Hours for updates on upcoming events, festival announcements, and more live music magic!