Fire devastates Rennie landmark

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This article was published 15/12/2022 (1209 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Current and former residents of Rennie are mourning the loss of a staple in the community after a fire devastated one of the only businesses left in town.

A fire engulfed the Rennie Hotel in the early morning of Dec. 8, nearly razing the building which has stood since 1939.

RM of Whitemouth Fire Chief Ron Toews said crews attended the scene to a mild fire but the situation soon escalated to a full blaze. RM of Reynolds fire crews came to assist just before 5 a.m. and the Whiteshell Fire Department soon after. Crews battled the flames until 3:30 p.m.

RCMP confirmed the fire is being investigated as arson. No injuries were reported.

“A piece of my soul is gone,” said Ryan Kuz, former owner of the hotel and Canada Post postmaster in Rennie.

“It almost feels like a family member has passed away.”

The Rennie Hotel was operated by generations of Kuzs; his grandparents bought it in 1952, running it until his uncle took over the business before selling it in the mid-1980s. After a few decades out of the family and a year where the hotel’s future seemed to be uncertain, Kuz purchased it in 2002.

Kuz’s vision for the Rennie Hotel was simple: to help bring the town back to the way it once was.

And to the old days it returned, for a time. During peak snowmobile season the hotel bar was packed from morning until night with hungry and thirsty sledders as Rennie is one of the first points of entrance to the Whiteshell. During the summer months, Kuz convinced a band or two to play on the roof of the hotel.

“The people were like family,” he said of customers new and old. Kuz ran the hotel until July 2021 when he sold it to the new owners, citing staffing issues and too much upkeep.

Former Rennie resident Krista Brook-Martens fondly remembers sliding down the vendor’s beer chute as a kid. The next thing she knew, she was celebrating her 18th birthday in the same place and even found herself waiting tables in the restaurant.

“I will surely miss my old stomping grounds,” she wrote in a message to The Carillon.

RM of Reynolds Reeve Russ Gawluk said the community will certainly feel the hotel’s loss, but remains hopeful for the future of Rennie.

“Everyone is so resilient,” he said.

The hotel wasn’t the only building lost in the fire. Flames engulfed the Canada Post office which, at the time, housed approximately 20 packages and 50 letters. Most of the community picked up their mail the previous day, Kuz said.

The post office has found a temporary home for the winter within the Rennie Community Club with hopes a new office can be built.

As for a new hotel in Rennie, Kuz and Gawluk agree the idea is nice but recognize the logistics aren’t in their favour.

“It’s kind of impossible,” Kuz said, citing the landscape and scarcity of resources in the area, but adds there’s already been interest from the community in building anew as the nearest hotel to the community is in Whitemouth.

“It’s nice to have something right here in town.”

Gawluk, however, sees real possibility in a future watering hole in Rennie.

“I have no doubt that somebody will get together and develop a new plan,” he said.