For years, a concession stand operated out of the Flandrau warming house/beach house next to the park’s swimming pond. Nonprofit organizations would sell snacks and refreshments from the beach house kitchen, located only a few yards from the pond. However, in 2020 the park’s pool and concession stand did not reopen due to the COVID pandemic. The Flandrau swimming pond would reopen in 2022, but concessions remain absent until members of the New Ulm Optimist Club stepped in.

Over the last several months, members of the Optimist Club have begun working to restart the concession stand and staff using volunteers from different area nonprofits. The idea to reopen it came from Optimist Club member Dani Budahn. She had the idea before she was a member of the Optimists.

“I am a frequent Flandrau pool goer with my children,” Budahn said. “I saw that the concessions were not open and I thought that could change. I talked to the lifeguards and they wanted it open too.”

The problem was no organization was willing to commit to running the concession stand for 12 weeks in the summer.

Optimist Club members Sheldon Rieke (left) and Dani Budahn (right) stand at the concessions counter adjacent to the Flandrau swimming pond. Concessions at the Flandrau pool will be open for the first time in 5 years, thanks to the efforts of the Optimist Club and youth organization volunteers.

After Budahn joined the Optimist Club, she suggested reopening the concession stand during a meeting.

“I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it bring joy to kids to have concessions and refreshments back,'” she said. “Bringing joy to people is what the Optimists are about.”

Fellow Optimist Club member Sheldon Rieke thought reopening the pool concession stand was a wonderful idea. Rieke remembered bringing his kids to pool when they were younger and remembers they loved it and it was a popular place to visit. The sand-bottom pool was already a big draw, it made sense to have concessions. However, the Optimist Club would not be able to run it all 12 weeks by itself. The solution, schedule multiple different nonprofits to run the concession from week to week.

“Optimist Club is coordinating and managing the setup, but it will have youth groups staffing it,” Rieke said.

Optimist Club is providing the products for sale at the concession and setting it up, but the actual sales will be handled by different nonprofits. After expenses, 80% of net profits from the sales will go back to the youth organization running the concession stand that week. The other 20% will go to Optimist Club to cover additional up keep, but Rieke said a portion of Optimists Clubs profits will likely go back to youth programming too.

Dani Budahn (left) and Sheldon Rieke (right) work to reopen the concessions counter near Flandrau swimming pond. Opening day for the pond and concessions is Friday, May 30. It will be the first time concessions at Flandrau have been available since 2019.

The Optimist Club was able to get five different youth organizations to operate concessions over the summer with most scheduled for at least two weeks. Pro Kidship will take the first two day: Friday, May 30 and Saturday, June 1 followed by Bows and Triggers the week of June 5-June 8. New Ulm United Soccer (NUUS) will operate concessions five weeks this summer.

Budahn and Rieke are confident they will be able to continue this program next summer. Rieke said there was a bit of learning curve to setting up this year, but now that they know what to do, the process can be carried over in the future.

One of the immediate challenges is figure out how to stock the concession stand. Budahn and Rieke said they trying to get the cool treats and drinks as well as candy and chips, but admit they are not expert.

Budahn said they are seeking feedback from the children and grandchildren of Optimist Club members to figure out what is most popular.

“It is a bit of guessing game,” Rieke said. He was surprised to learn sour candies were popular with youth.

For the first week, they do plan to overstock to make sure they do not run out of supplies. One of the benefits for the beach house is they have plenty of storage space.

“It is a great building,” Rieke said. “It’s one of the best parts of Minnesota’s State Park systems. These buildings add so much character and we have a wonderful facility here.”

“It does add to the experience,” Budahn said. “It is better for the families who visit.”

Flandrau pond concessions will keep the same hours as the pool. Flandrau pond opens 1 p.m. Friday, May 30. The pond hours through the rest of the summer are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.