The Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians has opened a luxury RV resort southeast of Stanwood.
The resort features a yurt village, playground, clubhouse, dog park, pickleball courts, pool and spa.
Raymond Rehaume, who works in the tribe’s Cultural Resources Department, spoke about his excitement for the new resort at a soft opening ceremony on May 17. He welcomed Stillaguamish tribal members to play the drums with him in a song to usher in the new place.
“These are the kinds of moments right here that drive me to continue the work that I do and to help out as much as I can,” Rehaume said.
The weekend of May 17 served as a test weekend for staff, with only invited guests staying in the RV stalls and yurts.
“(Feedback) was nothing but positive,” said Jeff Wheatley, chief operating officer for Angel of the Winds Casino.
“Everyone was extremely pleased with how spacious the facility was, how beautiful the clubhouse was and the entire amenity package that’s there on site,” Wheatley said.
The idea of a luxury RV park has been in the works for five to six years.
“Our ownership group, they’re always looking for ‘What is the next economic development opportunity?’ And quite a few of them are RV owners themselves,” Wheatley said. “They’ve been around at least the Pacific Northwest Area locally, kind of traveling in their RV groups, and they thought, ‘We don’t have anything like that in this particular area.’”
The resort has 156 pull-through RV stalls and 24 back-in sites.
When the idea was first brought up, members of the Stillaguamish Tribe hired consultants to do feasibility studies on the land and begin drafting initial layouts.
“They were going down that road and then, of course, COVID hit, and that slowed things down quite a bit,” Wheatley said. “But they never gave up on the thought or the idea.”
While the pool seemed to be everyone’s favorite feature, Wheatley said, people were also excited about the yurt village.
“Everyone was head over heels for how cool of a concept that was — and I envision that if we’re able to do any expansions in the future that were we looking to grow the number of yurts that are on the property,” he said.
Now that the resort is open for reservations and will continue to welcome guests, Wheatley said he hopes it will be a destination for anyone traveling the Interstate 5 corridor.
“Folks that are staying, they’re all going to shop local,” Wheatley said. That’s going to be a great benefit to Arlington, Stanwood and the surrounding areas.”
To learn more about the RV resort or book a stay, visit rvwinds.com.
