In a race against winter, Rochester's Blue Lagoon Mini Golf hopes to open in early October
ROCHESTER — Missy Emerich and the construction team building the Blue Lagoon Mini Golf outdoor course in northwest Rochester are in a race with Minnesota's weather.
Despite delays that derailed the original plan for building and opening the new 18-hole outdoor course during the summer months, Emerich is excited by the prospect of getting players and their putters onto the Blue Lagoon course before the snow flies.
While the September skies are still clear, there is a flurry of activity at the course at 6255 34th Ave. NW near the Roca Climbing centerMercy Hill Church.
Kramer Contracting's team is hammering away at the inside of the 600-square-foot clubhouse as the course is ready for green turf to arrive to cover the concrete putting fairways. Family Tree Landscape has the plants and landscaping around the course in place.
The hope is to have the course ready to open for the first week in October for a short inaugural run, depending on weather. If the weather stays temperate for long enough, Emerich would like Blue Lagoon to host a Halloween event in late October. The opening will be announced on the Blue Lagoon's website and social media.
"I would love to turn the clocks back and do it a little bit earlier, but it is what it is. We're excited that that will still give us kind of a soft opening to get some operating time under our belt here in the fall," said Emerich. "That way we feel that we'll be way more prepared for next spring and in summer, when it's going to be much busier."
Blue Lagoon will be a rare local addition to the options for family-friendly outdoor entertainment venues. It will also feature a cornhole bean bag area as well as a patio. The clubhouse will sell drinks and ice cream.
Creating something new and fun for people to enjoy outdoors is the vision that Emerich had that led to the creation of Blue Lagoon. She is hearing from people that this is something that is needed for the Rochester area.
"The feedback has been wildly, wildly positive. It's been very, very well received. People are super excited about some family entertainment coming into Rochester," said Emerich.
Rochester has only one nine-hole mini-golf course open during the warm months at Skyline Raceway, 2248 40th St. SW, on the other side of the city. The nearest 18-hole outdoor mini-golf course is located at Lark Toys in Kellogg, Minn.
Looking over the course with its man-made lagoons, concrete "log" chutes and other features, Emerich reflected on the journey of mapping out plans for the course to seeing it become real.
"It's crazy. You look at it on a two-dimensional piece of paper and think, 'That's, that's gonna look pretty cool.' Then you see it in person and it's even better than what it looked like on paper. We're super excited about it and we hope that lots of other Rochester area people are excited as well," she said.
