27-05-2025
Hendersons keep moving Honey Creek forward
MORAVIA — When Terry and Beth Henderson, as part of Achieva Inc., took over as concessionaires of the state-owned Honey Creek Resort two years ago, they knew the task at hand.
Reflecting on the time since, Beth Henderson didn't mince words.
"When we got it, it was the Titanic," she said in her office just off the lobby of the resort, which has seen vast improvements since the couple took over. "It was a sinking ship, and we were expected to keep sailing this ship with all the holes in it.
"So we've been plugging the holes while we've been building the business."
Honey Creek Resort, a few miles west of Moravia, has seen ebbs and flows much like the waters of Rathbun Lake, which is just outside the windows of the resort. The resort is owned by the State of Iowa, but federal land surrounds it.
That balancing act has been delicate, but the Hendersons are still pushing to own the property outright.
"So the resort sits on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers property, and the lake is a Corps lake. The land around the lake is federally owned," Beth Henderson said. "So, in order for it to be privatized, the lease has to be changed from a public lease to a private lease. That's in process, from what we understand.
"It will be a complicated process, but it's not impossible."
The improvements to the resort seemed almost impossible as well, but through a combination of $6.8 million in deferred maintenance funding from the state, as well as some out-of-pocket costs from the Hendersons, Honey Creek is taking the shape they envisioned.
"It takes time to get the visibility out there and the awareness of where we are today compared to two years ago, five years ago," she said. "But we're making strides in the right direction.
"Terry and I have been very hands-on as far as working with local vendors and making sure we price things out and getting the most bang for our buck," she said. "We're managing every dollar so we can make it stretch and then we'll have some funds left over to do the things we need to do, not only to fix things, but improve some areas of the resort."
Indeed, the resort has come a long way in two years. All 28 cabins outside the main premises of the resort have been redone, a project that took about a year, Terry Henderson said. The cabins are various sizes, but have new flooring, furniture, countertop spaces and other amenities.
Outside the resort, one of the Hendersons' first priority areas is complete. A new general store and bourbon bar will be opening for the season soon, and this fall, the resort will be undergoing a roofing project and the dock on the lake will get some needed repairs.
The 106 guest rooms — 99 of which are named after Iowa's counties — have been renovated after water pipes burst just before the Hendersons took over. In the waterpark area, a soda fountain that's a throwback to the 1950s and has a Betty Boop mannequin has been a big hit.
In short, the resort has a fresher look, as all of the dated elements have been removed from when the building was originally constructed.
"We're a destination, and we've really had to embrace that," Terry Henderson said. "When Beth kind of set the vision three or four years ago, we knew we were going to need to also get businesses to come use this as a conference center and not only a place to bring their employees, but also their customers. And we're seeing a really nice uptick.
"We hear it all the time that people weren't going to come down any longer after what they saw and experienced three or four years ago, but they were glad they did," Terry Henderson said. "Everything shows that we're going in the right direction."
Beth Henderson mentioned the word "challenges" several times, and two of the examples are the Prairie Rose restaurant, as well as the waterpark. However, Terry Henderson said they are "between 80 and 90 percent" finished with the major improvements that were needed.
"The Prairie Rose has been an interesting journey, and interesting beast for sure. But I think we're finally figuring that out," she said. "We've pared down the menu and we've introduced fried chicken, which has been something on my list that I've wanted to do from the beginning.
"We've added a salad bar, which kind of became obsolete during covid," she said. "Our food quality is so much better than it was when we first started. We've had quite a bit of turnover in the restaurant, but I think that's pretty typical in the restaurant business."
The waterpark is also a challenge the Hendersons will soon be tackling, though they declined to get into specifics. Both lamented that it targets a demographic from about 2 to 13 years old, and the key is to attract a more adult demographic, as well.
Also, two years ago, Beth Henderson hoped to install an indoor miniature golf course, but that is still on the to-do list. However, she also has other ideas on what could draw more adults to the resort.
"We're still working on the best way to accomplish that (the miniature golf course), but it's still in the plan," she said. "You know, new ideas come every single day. Pickleball is a huge draw, so we're talking about maybe having an indoor pickleball court. We're trying to be creative, and we have to continue to be."
With the nearness of summer, rising attendance figures at the resort appear to be close at hand as well.
Still, two main goals remain: finding a way to be profitable in the winter months from November to February, and taking control of the resort themselves as the state tries to divest itself from those kinds of properties. For now, the Hendersons will be concessionaires until their contract runs out in 2029.
"The winter time is an obstacle. Is there enough to do in the wintertime to draw conferences, conventions and groups like that. We're trying to work that out," Beth Henderson said. "We've learned a lot in the last two years."
Still, the Hendersons have strong relationships with Appanoose County as well as the governor's office. The state wanted to gift the resort with the county as a pass-through, but Henderson said that "is not going to come to fruition."
"They worked really hard to make that happen, but there were a lot of obstacles bertween the state and county, and the county just didn't want to take on that risk without any guarantees," she said. "And that's fine. It'll work out the way it's supposed to work out, and we'll let the state and federal government work out all the details.
"Regardless, we'll be running this resort for the next four years, and we're just continuing to try to make improvements and add amenities. We're going to make this place what it could be, and we're not slowing down with what our vision is."
