JOSEPH — The Kokanee Inn in Joseph is offering something new this summer — bike rentals and limited alcohol sales.

The inn is not exactly a bed and breakfast, but the distinction is minimal.

“We call ourselves an inn,” co-owner Eric Makela said. “We’re basically an inn that serves breakfast.”

“This summer, we added the bike rentals,” wife and co-owner Michelle Britt said.

The former Chandler’s Inn has been owned by the Makela-Britt couple since 2018. Last year, like most businesses, the inn was hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting closures.

But now, Makela said, “People are starting to travel again.”

The couple said that most of their customers come from the Portland area and the Willamette Valley, but they also draw from all over the country. Monday, May 17, there was a car there from south-central Idaho. He said they also get customers from as far away in this country as New York, and also have drawn an international crowd. They’ve had customers from Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Belgium.

“We have such a wide variety of people. Right now, we have one couple who are 19 and a couple on the upper deck in their 80s,” Britt said. “We have families and couples and singles and hunters and backcountry skiers — just across the gamut that’s really fun.”

In fact, the 27-bed inn has handled quite a crowd. During one wrestling tournament in Joseph, a team from Portland basically filled in the inn, and they had to squeeze them in with a shoehorn. Fortunately, some of the rooms come with pull-out beds in couches, Makela said.

Among the two-dozen-plus beds are suites, single rooms and those that come with their own bathrooms or share bathrooms with others.

“We can mix and match,” he said.

The inn also does family reunions, weddings and other events.

But now, they’re getting ready to expand their offerings. Makela said they have 10 mountain bikes customers can rent. He said that although there are bicycles for rent at the south end of Wallowa Lake, he doesn’t believe those rentals are as active and thinks the inn can offer more in the way of places to ride.

As for the addition of alcohol, that’s being done on a limited basis. The Joseph City Council recently approved their application. In that application, the inn will serve mimosas — breakfast drinks of champagne and orange juice — from 7-9 a.m. and they plan a happy hour 4-6 p.m. on weekends.

“We’re trying to limit it for now, because we want to see how it goes,” Makela said.

Britt agreed.

“We’re not trying to compete with anyone,” saying they will eagerly refer people to downtown establishments for more alcoholic offerings. “We’re trying to keep it family friendly and we realize that not everyone wants a cocktail. We don’t want to be a drinking destination.”

Although their license only allows them to serve breakfast at present, they’re investigating what they can do to expand their food offerings to go with happy hour. For now, they’re envisioning some sort of snacks, as well as nonalcoholic drinks.

The couple has a son who lives in Enterprise, a daughter staying with them while she waits for college to resume in Michigan and two other daughters.

They moved here most recently from the Boise area, after working in full-time consulting jobs developing energy codes for businesses. But those jobs and the inn were too much.

“It’s hard to work two full-time jobs and run the inn,” Makela said. “We decided we needed a life change, so we worked our way out of the full-time jobs and are doing this full time.”

The couple are finding their new venture satisfying.

“It’s been an amazing place to open a business,” Britt said. “We get to play in the woods as much as we want and at the same time, make a living in an amazing location.”

But the customers are No. 1, as any good innkeeper knows.

“We want to make sure they’re fully fed and caffeinated,” Makela said.