The May 11 fire that destroyed the processing area of Russ Kendall’s Smokehouse in Knife River didn’t do much damage to the adjoining bar area, but nonetheless I thought I’d share some pre-fire snapshots I took of it in the fall of 2012, before it got “smoked” … so to speak. (The shot above is obviously of the fire, taken from the smokehouse’s Facebook page.)

Gordy and Kristi Olson are the third generation of the Kendall family to operate the smokehouse. Kristi is the granddaughter of W. T. Kendall, who founded it in the 1920s. The namesake, Russ Kendall, took over the business from his father.

The fire caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage; the full extent is still not known. For folks unable to attend the fundraiser event, donations are also being taken via PayPal.