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Aaron and Ashley Olund are the new owners of the Pipestone RV Campground. Pictured are Aaron and Ashley and their children, (l-to-r) Izabell, Lincoln and Hope. K. Kuphal
Last year, Aaron and Ashley Olund were sitting around the campfire while camping at Pipestone RV Campground when Ashley had the thought that it would be nice to own a campground. She asked Aaron what he thought and he was interested in the idea too.
“I went home that night and I looked online and this one was for sale,” Ashley said.
She emailed Winter Reality and by Oct. 30, they were the new owners of the campground, having purchased it from Jim and Lori Caster, who had owned it since 2014.
“Jim and Lori were amazing to work with,” Ashley said.
Ashley said she’s been a stay-at-home mom for around nine years and their youngest child will begin school full-time in the fall. Aaron had done construction until last year when the work, coupled with some old high school sports injuries, began to take a toll on his body. Ashley said she’d been praying about what they should do next in life for a couple months when the thought of owning a campground came to her.
“We were trying to think of a way to stay involved with the kids and work at the same time and this is perfect,” Aaron said.
Running the campground is now their full-time job and the family — including Lincoln, 5, Hope, 6, and Izabell, 9 — has moved from their acreage south of Jasper to the owners’ residence at the campground.
Since purchasing the campground, the couple has created a new website for it at pipestone.camp. The new website allows people to pick a site and book reservations online, something that was not available before. Aaron said people can still call 507-825-2455 for reservations as well.
Pipestone RV Campground has 72 campsites, eight of which are tent sites. About half of the RV sites are used for seasonal campers. The RV sites include some with full hookups, some with electricity, and some with electricity and water.
Aaron said they’d like to add 10 more RV sites where the mini golf course used to be. He said some of the mini golf holes were damaged by flooding and they might relocate some of the ones that are still usable to an open area where there is already a horse shoe pit. They might also add a sand volleyball court.
The Olunds said they would like to eventually add other amenities and that they plan to hold some themed weekends such as Christmas in July.
“We want to definitely keep it family oriented,” Ashley said.
The Olunds said people come to the campground from all over the U.S. and meeting them is one of the perks of their new jobs.
“It will be kind of cool to get to talk to people from all over the place,” Aaron said.