Changes coming to two base dining facilities

  • Published
  • By Luke Waack and Airman 1st Class Jack Sanders
  • JBER PA
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Two dining facilities on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson are scheduled for closure in August, but two others will step up operations to fill the void.

The Gold Rush Inn dining facility is scheduled to close July 31 while the 4th Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Airborne) is on a one month rotation to the Joint Readiness Training Center, Fort Polk, La., and again when they deploy to Afghanistan later this year, said Berry Reaneckkia, Gold Rush Inn dining facility manager.

During the Gold Rush Inn dining facility short-term closure its patrons can eat at the Wilderness Inn dining facility and the Iditarod dining facility, before its Aug. 22 closure.
All DoD ID card holders will be accepted at both locations, the Wilderness Inn and the Iditarod.

The Iditarod is scheduled to close Aug. 22 for renovations. Food service operations will shift to the Kenai Dining Hall for three months, said Tech. Sgt. Dawn Marie Nicholson, Iditarod dining facility manager.

Due to the Kenai Dining Hall's limited size, family members, civilians and retirees will not be able to use the facility. However, all DoD ID card holders will be permitted at the Wilderness Inn and larger crowds should visit the Wilderness Inn as well, Reaneckkia said.

"(Gold Rush Inn patrons) have the option to eat at the Iditarod on the Air Force side (before Aug. 22) or if they want to stay on the JBER-Richardson side they can go to the Wilderness Inn dining facility, which is only a block away at Building 647," Reaneckkia said. "The Wilderness Inn will maintain the same hours that we have in this facility. They won't miss a
beat."

Kenai Dining Hall is at the corner of Arctic Warrior Drive and Sijan Avenue in Building 7535. Airmen in Airman Leadership School, as well as Airmen living in the dormitories will be able to use a bus to travel to and from the Kenai Dining Facility.

Reaneckkia said, the building, which houses the Gold Rush Inn will remain open along with its MWR functions.

"Some Soldiers may be inconvenienced just because of our MWR facilities that we offer here, but they will have to dine over there and then come over here to utilize the other facilities," Reaneckkia said. "Airmen are more than welcome to use this facility; I don't think they know about this facility, and it is a cool place, you've got your computer lab, you've got your videos and your games and everything is free. Everything in this building is free, all you've got to do is give up your ID card while you use the facilities. A lunch break here is really a break, you can do a lot in this building."

Reaneckkia said, the closure at the Gold Rush Inn also affords them time to get some needed repairs completed.

The Gold Rush Inn will be able to better serve the 4-25th ABCT and the JBER community when it reopens after the JRTC rotation, Reaneckkia said.

A Soldier dining at the Gold Rush inn said, that while he may not like the fact that one of the local hot spots is closing for a while, he was fine with the change in venues. "Food is food," he said.

The Iditarod closure will also help that facility better serve its customers, according to
Nicholson.

"Renovations to the Iditarod will include expanded entry space with removal of the seats near the fireplace, moving the drink stations past the cashiers because they are unlimited refills now. Right now, they're before the cashiers and it clusters people," Nicholson said. "We're trying to make the flow smoother and better."