Golf shorts

Cragun's Resort and Legacy Golf Courses will host its seventh annual Veterans Appreciation Event May 25-26.

Veterans will receive complimentary green fees on all three courses, with a $10 charge per person for a GPS-equipped golf cart. Those playing with veterans will receive a discounted rate with cart of $35 per person. Call (218) 825-2789 for tee times.

Veterans and their families and friends can fish for free off of Cragun's docks or use its rowboats, with our without motors. Pontoon rental is also available for $10 per hour. Please call (218) 825-2806 for fishing reservations.

There will also be discounted lodging for veterans who stay at the resort.

This year, Cragun's is also inviting non-golfers or non-anglers to come with their immediate families to join with other service families to socialize in the Legacy Clubhouse. This will be a casual gathering for families with complimentary coffee, cookies, and sweets served from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., in an area of the clubhouse set aside for veterans and families. The Legacy Bar & Grille will also be open for meals and beverages.

Veterans, from World War II onward, are invited. Cragun's especially wants veterans returning from Iraq, Afghanistan and other recent assignments to know they are welcome for the appreciation weekend.

Any U.S. military veteran can also take advantage of Cragun's Veterans Appreciation Package through Veterans' Day, Nov. 11, 2009. This offer entitles veterans to a 15-percent lodging discount off Cragun's rack rate for any Sunday through Thursday night stay. To receive this discount, veterans must call and ask for the room block especially reserved for veterans.

Izatys open for the season

Jason Tollette announced he and a consortium of local businesses will open Izatys for operation this summer.

Tollette, who spent two years as general manager at Izatys, said Blackbrook Golf Course was scheduled to open May 1.

BayView owner Rand Syverson and partner Brandon Niesen, who owns Morningstar Market in Wahkon, announced they would open Club IX in mid-May with a full bar and abbreviated food menu and operate a pool bar on weekends from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

Local bait shop owner Bill Lundeen will run the Marina and Walleye World for the summer, offering bait, tackle and fuel services. The Izatys Townhome Association and the Village at Izatys governing boards gave approval to fund operation of the swimming pool.

The opening comes after a 19-month layoff. Tollette said when Izatys is filled to capacity in both lakeside townhomes, beach villas and Village timeshares more than 1,000 people occupy the property. He credited Commerce Bank and its partners, who took title of the property late last year after Izatys Resort LLC was liquidated in Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the fall, closing in early October 2007. Tollette said the bank is injecting more than $500,000 into the property and will pay off more than $400,000 in back taxes to Mille Lacs County.

While there won't be wholesale improvements, Tollette said the sandtraps on Blackbrook will be redone and stumps would be removed from that course. Izatys Pro Shop is now open and offering $500 single memberships, $850 couple memberships and $1,000 memberships for a family of four.