The Lonz Winery, long known for its bacchic atmosphere, was a destination stop for boaters and tourists for decades. Before long-time owner George F. Lonz’s death in 1969, it had become a bit of a party mecca – drunken revelry often got out of hand. ‘Oh, lord, there were times when people got juiced up and tore this place apart,’ Lorry Lazarony, vice president and operations director, told The Blade in 1970. ‘They ripped up the patio, rolled the truck down into the lake, and bombarded the building with bottles. Most of ‘em were college kids and they’d get drunk and take their clothes off and go hang in the trees.’ Things settled down a bit after the winery was sold, but it retained a party reputation. In this 1968 Blade archive photo, youthful revelers relax under the trees outside the winery, unmindful of the widely scattered bottles and trash littering the grass. The winery closed in July 2000 after a crowded terrace collapsed, killing one person and injuring 75. The state obtained the property in 2001 and created Middle Bass Island State Park. The DNR spent at least $6 million stabilizing the historic winery and reopened it as a museum in 2017. Plans are underway to renovate the mansion as a bed-and-breakfast, with a first-floor museum dedicated to the history of the Lonz family. Go to thebladevault.com/memories to purchase more historical photos taken by our award-winning staff of photographers, past and present, or to purchase combinations of stories and photos
