Find Something Awesome at Possum Lodge
It’s Wednesday morning. Coffee’s on and Rusty’s cutting hair at the Wilde Road Sand and Gravel office – aka Possum Lodge – just north of town.
Handsome and handy: Les Ortloff, not yet retired, and Dave Scherger, renaissance man.
Wait. There’s a guy cutting hair in a sand and gravel office? Really? Yup. That’s right. He’ll cut your hair, too, if you make the trip just north of town.
Dave Scherger owns the 38-acre property that houses three businesses and a barbershop. A huge Red Green fan, he said he knew what he wanted early on.
“I had this vision of a bunch of people sitting around a table drinking coffee with a barber cutting hair. The barber shop was kind of a publicity stunt,” he admits, in an interview about Powell River’s Small Business Month, which happens each October.
“I knew I needed to do something different to get people out here because we’re off the beaten path and this gives people something to talk about. I’m surprised at how many people come here to get their hair cut here.”
Metal recycling facility… and barbershop
Dave became a co-owner of the 50-plus-year-old Wilde Road Sand and Gravel business three years ago.
Also on the property is Les’s Tanks, Pipes, Poles and Plumbing – a business Les Ortloff sold to Dave in 2013 because he thought he wanted to retire, but turns out he isn’t just yet.
There’s Dave’s own business, Ecoterra Septic Services.
Plus, Russell Fisher has been barbering out of the sand and gravel office for the last two and a half years.
Free yard debris drop off… and barbershop
A tour around the property reveals a metal recycling facility. “We recycle scrap metal, cardboard, yard and garden waste. We have a free yard debris drop off station.” Yard debris is ground up and sold as a refined product along with chicken and mushroom manure.
If you ask Lulu, Dave’s two-year-old black Lab, everyone who walks in the office is her friend.
She wags her tail and leans into anyone who’ll give her a scratch.
“There’s always something happening at Possum Lodge,” says Dave. “We’re really good at our jobs.”
Powell River Living Magazine
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