Boysen Marina updated and open for business

Husband and wife Rich Mittlesdorf and Georgia Epperson have been recently remodeling the marina at the Boysen Reservoir located at the south end of the Wind River Canyon. They also happen to be residents of Thermopolis and have owned the marina three full years and are now entering their fourth season. 

Regarding how they came into the marina business, Mittlesdorf said, "I was tired of my other job." He was the district manager for Ferrellgas Propane. He added, "I pretty much lived on the road. It was stressing me out." 

They bought one of the trailer houses because they wanted to retire on the water someday. When they arrived, they saw the marina was for sale. Epperson was more reluctant about purchasing it than Mittlesdorf was. They decided to move forward if the bank would be willing to finance them with a loan. That ended up working out and they committed to it.

The past few years have been positive. Mittlesdorf said, "I tell everybody when Georgia and I quit having fun we are going to do something else. So, it's been fun." The people make it fun for them. "People are so happy we are here doing what we're doing. We hear it every day. Nothing against the old regime. The previous owner still works for us. Troy Hackett is one hell of a boat mechanic. He's thee boat mechanic. We are so lucky to have him." 

Epperson's passion is the restaurant which has been running for the past two years and it's open all year round. Much of the menu items are homemade and from scratch. 

Every year they do some kind of improvement. Epperson said, "We've done a lot of remodeling and brought live entertainment out here now, whether it's a DJ or a band. We've been getting a lot of mid-20s to early 40s of customers." Mittlesdorf added, "It's surfing, boats, skiing and water festivities. Aside from that, there are the fishermen. We keep live bait for them here." They also applied for a full liquor license in the past year. A lot of these tourists are locals and others from the region. Out-of-state tourists find the marina mainly with Google searches and come to check it out because they are curious. 

Some of their goals include having a lot more live music on a regular basis such as their "Drive-In Saturday events. They also will be open later in the evenings. Not only that, they are starting to do private parties. 

Their hours for the summer are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday's and Thursday's, 9 a.m.-8 p.m. on Friday's and Saturday's, 9 a.m. -5 p.m. Sunday's. They are closed Monday's and Tuesday's unless it is a holiday, then they will be open.