Meet Mark Parobeck | Hotel and Restaurant Owner & writer and film maker (when there is time)

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mark Parobeck and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mark, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Our family was looking for a cabin in the woods near a ski resort in the Adirondack Mountains in New York State. We ended up buying a run down hotel. The price was right and we knew there would be work. But we had experience in renovating Victorian houses in Saratoga Springs, NY, which is a summer horse racing town. So we took the leap, in part because of our growing family. With younger children, who at the time were 5 and 6, we felt that no matter what, they would experience growing of a business. And experience it they have. After the renovation of the hotel, we turned an old house on the property into a restaurant and bar. So now our boys, Henry and James, have washed dishes, prepped and pealed carrots and potatoes, pounded chicken breast into scnitzle and have helped assist on any number of building projects from erecting yurts to building stages where band perform in the summer.

Hard work? Certainly. But it has been a family endeavor and as much as our sons have grinned and bear-ed it, I believe they are almost old enough to admit that the adventure and business has helped shaped them. The hospitality business means working with the public and putting yourself out there always..

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Although helping run a restaurant and bar takes up most of my time now, everything I’ve ever done has been based in and steeped in art. Whether writing, filmmaking, or visual arts, at the end of the day, I love to make things. If I’m not making something or learning something, the day doesn’t feel right and I tend to be grumpy.

I love to work with my hands and tinker with visuals, sound, and words until they feel and look and sound right. This includes decorating and expanding and growing our restaurant becksTAVERN. When the tavern ran out space, we added a yurt. When the yurt got too crowded over the winter, we added another and then another, allowing us to offer musicians a place to showcase their talents.

Being an artist and learning how to make a living and get paid can be very difficult. I’m lucky that I’ve been able to circumnavigate that step by using my art to accentuate the businesses that I participate in.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would take them to our tavern. I’d feed them soup, salad, and a snitzel dinner and if it was summer, I’d then walk them outside to listen to music at our stage. In the winter, we’d head to the yurt bar to socialize and listen to music. The next morning, we’d go skiing or biking or hiking. There are endless things to do in the woods. In the spring or summer, we could raft the Hudson River using any number of rafting outfitters in the nearby area. The possibilities are endless in the Adirondack Mountains once you put down your phone. In this modern world, that’s a hard thing to do. We want to know what’s go on. We want to connect with our friends. But the best thing of all is to connect with nature. To stand outside in the pitch black of night and look up at the dark sky and all the thousands of stars that are visible up here that are obscured elsewhere by city lights.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Dedicated to all our friends and family who has helped out with Goremountainlodge.com. All three brothers, Mark, Matthew and Douglas have participated and gotten dirty from the beginning. Our wives and girl friends and children have all jumped in when necessary. Our friends pitch in whenever they can and tell us what’s working and not. And the staff at becksTAVERN.com really keeps us going no matter the season. The Adirondack Mountains are beautiful no matter what time of year.

Website: goremountainlodge.com. beckstavern.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/parobeck/?hl=en

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beckstavern

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beckstavern

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/becks-tavern-north-creek

Image Credits
Mark Parobeck