Merrill ÒDutchÓ and Irma Cragun, owners of CragunÕs Resort, shared a laugh a few moments after learning Dutch was awarded the Outstanding Individual in Tourism Award during the Explore Minnesota Tourism conference at CragunÕs Resort. The award came as a surprise.

After spending his entire life in the resort business, Merrill "Dutch" Cragun still has a passion and appreciation for family-owned resorts in Minnesota.

"I like events, so I'm lucky to be in a business where people will pay to come to my party," said Cragun, owner of Cragun's Resort on Gull Lake in East Gull Lake.

Cragun received the Outstanding Individual in Tourism Award during the Explore Minnesota Tourism conference at Cragun's on Tuesday night, Jan. 26. The annual award is given to a person who represents the broad interest of travel and tourism in Minnesota and promotes that interest.

"It's an award that looks back at the career of activities, not just on the interests in his or her property, but on how they've helped promote tourism in the state in their lifetime," said John Edman, Explore Minnesota tourism director.

Cragun, who said by phone Friday, Jan. 29, that he received the award because he's a tenacious old-timer who's been a part of the industry for an incredibly long time and was eager to share a message that's important to him.

"Every time an award like this comes up, I'm anxious to get out news to the local community that we are blessed with all kinds of family resorts that have struggled to survive this economy," Cragun said.

"The problem is, we in Minnesota take family resorts for granted," he said. "Family resort operators take our guests as friends. We don't charge enough to even survive. We don't charge what the value is received."

Residents, especially "snowbirds" who flock to warmer states in the winter, pay much more when they travel elsewhere to stay at properties that aren't run by families, Cragun said. Those places are run by corporations that are indifferent, he said.

"It's a concern that resort operators in central Minnesota and all of Minnesota are a dying breed, but they're the only breed left in the United States who aren't corporate-run," Cragun said.

"The family resort in Minnesota is a bargain," he said. "The family resort in Minnesota is something that's precious, and we should really be getting the support of the local community to promote local resorts to friends."

People in the lakes area should realize family-run resorts are jewels in the area.

Edman said that when looking at candidates for the annual Outstanding Individual in Tourism Award this year, they were amazed that Cragun hadn't yet received it.

"The fact that he's done so much for so long, his name rose to the top," Edman said, noting Cragun has served on local and national tourism councils, as well as state and resort organizations.

"He's done an awful lot over the course of a lifetime," Edman said.

The award winner is kept secret until the annual Explore Minnesota Tourism conference. Cragun participated in the conference, but almost missed the award ceremony.

"He's a huge U of M sports fan and had planned to see his beloved Gophers," Edman said, noting he had to call Cragun and persuade him to stay instead of attending the University of Minnesota basketball game that night.

Cragun said he thought he could slip out unnoticed about 5 p.m., make the important game against Northwestern by 8 p.m. and be back for the following day's activities without anyone knowing he was gone.

At the dinner, when he heard Edman start talking about a boy who at age 9 started in the resort business by being in charge of worms, minnows and frogs, Cragun said he finally realized why he had to be at the dinner.

"I said, 'Oh, no. Irma, you have to go up there with me,'" Cragun said, referring to his wife, who's been by his side through it all.

Cragun's father was a pioneer in the resort industry, building six cabins on Gull Lake's Pine Beach in 1940. Dutch Cragun graduated from the University of Minnesota and served in the Army during the Korean War.

He took over the family resort in 1957, and under his and Irma's guidance the resort now has 61 cabins, a 185-room hotel, conference and meeting facilities and employs 300 people in the summer and 160 in the winter.

Edman said Cragun's is the state's largest four-season golf resort and conference center, but it's still run like a family business.

He said Cragun has a lifelong passion for travel and tourism in the Brainerd lakes area, and for a healthy tourism industry throughout the state.

"It's been in his blood," Edman said. "His father started it, and he has continued on. It's a passion that's perhaps unmatched throughout the state in terms of his lifetime pursuit of a healthy tourism industry."

Dutch and Irma have no children, but Dutch said everyone at Cragun's is their family.

"In the summer we have 300 kids working for us. We treat our employees like family. We have 150,000 distant relatives who drop in to pay to stay with us," he said of guests.