More than just music…

The G Lodge is "More than just music..."

The G Lodge was my grandfather's hunting lodge, it was originally built in 1990 but a fire devastated the property on Valentine's Day of 2007; leaving rubble and the charred remains of a once prominent gun collection. The quarter mile dirt drive was covered in snow and the firetrucks couldn’t pass to extinguish the flames. They watched the cabin burn from the corn field. But the family rebuilt and opened its doors once again in 2008.

I recently stumbled across a few pictures of our creek on the property posted on Facebook by a man named John Duda, with a link to our family history page on my dad’s website. The man is a bit of a local historian and shared some information with me about my family that he’d gathered from old newspaper clippings. He said,

“The thing that struck me the most when reading about the Gaugers in the old newspapers was how they always opened their home to the community.”

Mrs. Eugene Gauger, president of the South Hannibal Home Demonstration unit, has announced the first meeting of the season to take place at her home Thursday evening. Sept 17, at 7:30 p. m. A business session will be conducted after which Mrs. Fred Anthony, leader of the furniture refinishing project, will list the materials needed for the project. (September 15th, 1959)

Many local residents have been watching with interest the spacious new home nearing completion on Keller rd., near South Hannibal. Mr. and Mrs. Gauger, owners of the new home, are holding open house Sunday, Nov. 18 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and extend a cordial invitation to everyone to come and inspect the place from top to bottom. (November 15th, 1962)

Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Gauger opened their home Wednesday evening for one of the cottage meetings of the Hannibal Central School PTA. (January 23rd, 1964)

The Hannibal Girls Bunko Club Christmas, party and exchange of gifts was held at the home of Mrs. Eugene Gauger. (January 12th, 1967)

Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Gauger entertained the Hannibal Central School wrestling team at a party Saturday afternoon. Several wrestlers and their coaches, Mr. and Mrs. Roger Allen and Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Grant, were present. Music was furnished by the "Sounds of Decisions." Eugene Gauger Jr. won third place in the heavyweight wrestling for the county. (February 23rd, 1967)

Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Gauger entertained the foreign students at a pool party and dance Wednesday evening; about 42 students represented many different countries. A total of 100 were in attendance. Two of the foreign students stayed at the Gauger home for a few days while the bus stopped at Hannibal. (July 11th, 1968)

Reading all of these article clipping brought me to the realization that I’ve never actually had much of an original thought. I felt like a trailblazer organizing all of these events, inviting the community in to share with what I was cultivating. But wouldn’t the story show it to be more cyclical than that. Long before my time and unbeknownst to me, my grandparents also built and gathered and shared with their community.

The "G" in G Lodge is thought to stand for our last name, Gauger but originally comes from my grandfather, Eugene Sr. or, Big Gene AKA Big "G" - The lodge was more than a hunting lodge, it was a place where the family would come together for holidays and reunions. It was also a place where community members would gather for card games; my grandpa always loved a good game of poker. Since I've taken over these spaces, numerous people have walked through the doors to tell me that either they, their parents or their grandparents had at one time or another crowded around the card table at the Big "G" Lodge.

In 2016, my dad called me and said, "I've started building the stage!" - what stage I replied, in confusion. "The stage for the festival" he said, somewhat befuddled that I didn't know what he was talking about. Apparently he'd been having these conversations but much to our amusement, that person on the other end had never been me and he had failed to inform me that we'd be throwing our first Big "G" Jam out at the Lodge that summer. Good news is, it was a hit, and we threw our first "The Fall Down" that September as well.

In 2019, Eugene (Big “G”) Boyd Gauger, Sr. passed away. In 2020, some friends and I escaped to the vacant Lodge to avoid Covid in the city or Rochester. What started as a party in the country turned into a full renovation. In 2021, my father and I officially purchased the Lodge as well as the family home just down the street and began opening our doors to Airbnb guests and short term rentals.

This year marks our ninth year organizing events out at the lodge and since those first two music festivals, we’ve gone on to host countless wellness retreats, markets, graduation parties, high school & family reunions, fundraisers, weddings, and MORE. We always enjoy welcoming the community to share in this space with us and we look forward to welcoming you back a couple of more times this summer. Hope to see you here.