Grand reopening

Locals breathe a sigh of relief as the Grand Hotel at Many Peaks reopens after 5 years.

Story + Photos Mandy McKeesick

The locals almost thought their throats had been cut when, after more than 100 years’ continuous service, the Grand Hotel at Many Peaks closed in 2020. “It’s not just our pub, it’s the central hub of our valley,” long-term local Barb McKee says. “I was 19 when I met [husband] Frank at the bar. We’ve known all the publicans. We’d throw a blanket on the floor for our 5 kids. Any celebration was held at the pub, so were the town meetings and, gee, we were thirsty when it closed.”

By December 2024, the keys to the Grand Hotel were in Desley and Craig O'Grady’s hands and the locals turned up en masse to get the old pub ready for reopening. “Someone brought a bobcat, we cut down trees, scrubbed walls, painted posts, sanded benches and ripped out the old fittings in the kitchen and replaced them with stainless steel benches,” Desley says. “We opened on December 20 and we haven’t stopped since. We had 300 people here for New Year’s Eve and served 200 people lunch from a food truck.”