Fremont resort’s legacy continues
By Angie Landsverk
Reid and Alecia Raschke always knew they wanted to live on the water some day.
Now they are not only living on the water, but running a business on it as well.
On April 5, they became the new owners of Blue Top Resort on Fremont’s Partridge Lake.
They bought it from Ron and Deb Gramer.
“It doesn’t feel like work at all,” Reid said.
Alecia agrees.
“It’s not a job,” she said. “It’s a lifestyle.”
The resort includes 26 campsites, 35 permanent sites and six cottages, Reid said.
Resort history
The business dates back to 1956.
Emil and Marie Gramer bought the former farmland from the Greening family.
In 1953, they began building on it.
The following year, they built their home into the foundation of the old barn that had been on the property.
The Gramers started building cottages and had a small channel dug on the property.
They completed their project in 1956.
In 1969, they left the Chicago suburbs and became permanent Fremont residents.
On April 1, 1977, they sold the resort to Emil’s brother and sister-in-law, Gerhard and Stephanie Gramer.
Gerhard and Stephanie’s son Ron then took over the business in 1988, with Ron’s wife Deb becoming part of it in 2004.
Blue Top Resort was not for sale when Reid approached Ron and Deb in the winter of 2016.
“I was doing my regular town drive looking at houses,” Reid said.
Roots in community
Reid and Alecia grew up in the area.
They are Weyauwega-Fremont High School graduates and high school sweethearts.
Both are also graduates of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
After graduating with a business marketing degree, Reid became a financial planner with Northwestern Mutual in 2009.
Alecia graduated with a degree in health education and then completed the accelerated nursing program at UW-Oshkosh.
A year ago, she graduated from Concordia University Wisconsin with a master of science in nursing, in the family nurse practitioner concentration.
After working as a labor and delivery nurse at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Appleton, she began working at Partnership Community Health Center in Appleton last October.
When Reid drove past Blue Top Resort that winter, it brought back family memories and dreams.
“I had always thought about owning a resort in Canada,” he said.
Reid asked Ron if he could watch him work on weekends to understand the lifestyle of being a resort owner.
“After about a month, he said, ‘Reid, I’ll sell it to the two of you, but I want one more year out of it,” Reid said.
That gave Alecia time to finish her master’s degree and for Reid to exit his business.
They sold their home in Appleton and lived in what was once Gerhard and Stephanie’s home, remodeling it into a new cottage in time for this season.
Last summer, Reid worked at the resort Fridays through Sundays.
He sold his practice last October.
Three weeks ago, they moved into the home Emil and Marie built on the property decades ago.
Blue Top amenities
Their cottages range from one bedroom to three bedrooms.
The new cottage sleeps up to 11 people.
Other additions this season include two recreational pontoons and two fully equipped fishing boats, as well as kayak and paddle board rentals.
The resort’s season starts in mid April and runs until Halloween.
“People have camped 20 to 30 years,” Alecia said.
Many wave as they drive past the office and head to their sites.
For the two of them, the fact they now own the resort still does not seem real.
“We’re just excited for the adventure,” Alecia said. “The season is off and running.”