Geppetto's a hoot, and that's the truth

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RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The new 18-hole mini-golf course at Geppetto�s, on the Trans-Canada Highway west of Richer.

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RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS John and Sandy Cote on their new, state-of-the-art, 18-hole miniature golf course (above and below) at Geppetto�s.

TRANS-CANADA HIGHWAY EAST -- Not every new miniature golf course is newsworthy.

Then again, this is Geppetto's. Any excuse to drop in on owners John and Sandy Cote is worth the time.

The state-of-the-art miniature golf course is the latest addition to Geppetto's, the landmark store on the Trans-Canada Highway between Winnipeg and Falcon Lake. Geppetto's, which turns 20 next year, was the first business of its kind on that strip. Several similar businesses followed.

But it's a case of often imitated, seldom duplicated. The other businesses have not faired as well. Two truck stops in the area have also closed.

Not Geppetto's Fine Wood Products.

John, a.k.a. Geppetto, started out making toys but quickly switched to furniture. The store's stock in trade is cedar furniture that John makes in his workshop in back. Outdoor cedar furniture doesn't rot and will last from 30 to 50 years.

Geppetto's other wares are an eclectic mix, from tinned foods such as Road Kill Stew, to hotdog roasting prongs, to shotgun-shell salt and pepper shakers, to Crampton's Manitoba Maid jams and fruit sauces (such as chokecherry sauce), to lawn ornaments. The Cotes love signs, too, and there are lots here for cottagers to choose from.

"There's no blueprint to our business, trust me," Sandy said.

Then there's Sandy's Snack Shack, which Sandy opened on the premises a year after Geppetto's. The snack shack also likes signs. Food So Fresh It Should Be Slapped, one sign reads. Other signs include: Today's Menu: Take It or Leave It; and, Some People Say I Have a Bad Attitude. I Say Screw Them.

The ever-restless John, 62, had the idea for mini-golf. It took some time to persuade Sandy, "but that's the way it is with most things around here," she said.

"It cost a lot of money. I worked it out and figured I'd have to work until 77 to pay it off. But it's doing pretty good."

The couple met the developer in the Florida Keys, where they snowbird in a trailer park. John, who looks more like Jimmy Buffett every day, with his tousled, sun-bleached hair and moustache, but without the margaritas, liked what he heard and persuaded Sandy -- after a few years.

Harris Miniature Golf built the course with bridges, hillocks, fountains and an eye-catching waterfall. The Cotes did the landscaping. John used massive boulders that glaciers tossed around the area like grains of sand 10,000 years ago rather than artificial rock, like most courses. They enclosed the course with an old-fashioned fence made with cedar posts and rough pine timber (with the bark still attached), obtained from Myron Lamaga's lumber yard in Hadashville.

There's no tunnel, because today's safety regulations proved too difficult. But there are plenty of water hazards -- and nets to fish balls out of the pools, which most golfers will need.

The mini-golf is doing what they hoped. Sandy's sales have nearly tripled, and other sales at Geppetto's have doubled. They are getting about 40 players per day. However, like all people in the summer-recreation business, they feel they could do with less rain.

That's not all that's new. The Cotes bought a smoker and took a course in the United States on how to smoke meats. In the Florida Keys, they throw smoker parties every two weeks for up to 25 guests.

They will do similar food specials at Sandy's Snack Shack, but you have to check the sandwich board to find out when. There will be smoked brisket one weekend, ribs on another, as well as something called the Hillbilly Sandwich: baloney stuffed with pureed olives and garlic, rubbed with mustard and smoked four hours, then grilled on each side and put into a toasted bun with lettuce and mayonnaise.

John has also obtained the "Certificate of Registration to Solemnize Marriages." Which means Manitoba residents can now get married at Geppetto's -- and celebrate with a tin of Road Kill Stew and a Hillbilly Sandwich.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 22, 2012 A11