Shady Oak Beach Built a Second Season, and Now It Needs a Second Sauna

"We have Shady Oak Beach, a park that's not being heavily utilized," Minnetonka Recreation Program Manager Jesse Izquierdo said at the city's 2025 State of the City event, as reported by the Sun Sailor. He meant the months after the lifeguards leave. The lake is aerated, so it keeps open water even when it's zero degrees outside, and he took that open water as an opportunity.

This Friday, October 23, that cold-weather season starts again at 5200 Shady Oak Road. For the first time, two wood-fired saunas will sit beside the water instead of one. The city made that decision after counting the bookings.

From a Rented Sauna to a Seven-Month Program

Sauna in the Parks has grown quickly, and each step came after the previous one booked up.

1. The pilot. In late 2023 the city announced a one-week trial at Shady Oak Beach running December 27 through January 2. Sessions were 1.5 hours with a seven-person cap at $25 per person. Izquierdo told the Sun Sailor the city rented the sauna, offered 340 slots, and filled all of them within 48 hours.
2. The purchase. For fall 2024 the city stopped renting and brought the program back with its own Voyageur Mobile Sauna, running October through April. The first public sessions began October 4. City budget documents describe it as a portable eight-person sauna placed right beside the beach, so guests can go back and forth between the heat and the lake.
3. The doubling. The October 2026 Minnetonka Memo announced a second sauna and an upgraded changing facility for this fall.

The step from the pilot to the purchase is the one that explains the rest. A week of rented heat filled 340 slots in two days. That gave the city enough evidence to buy a sauna and commit to keeping the beach open seven months a year.

What the First Full Season Proved

According to the city's budget documents, Shady Oak Beach booked more than 2,200 sauna reservations and brought in more than $76,000 in revenue from fall 2024 through spring 2025. Partway through that season, Izquierdo estimated the program would serve about 4,000 people by the end of April. It was running half days on Fridays and full days on Saturdays and Sundays.

The two numbers measure different things. A reservation and a visitor aren't the same, because one private group booking can bring a full sauna's worth of people. Both figures came from a single sauna running three days a week. A one-sauna program has a fixed ceiling, and the city's own wording on the program page, "Spots fill fast," suggests the program was running near that ceiling.

The beach has always been a shared asset. Minnetonka and Hopkins have run Shady Oak Beach together for decades, with shower rooms, a concession stand, a children's play area, a diving platform and picnic grounds. The sauna program gives those facilities a job in the months they used to sit idle.

Two Saunas, Named Horizon and Vista

This season the two saunas have names. Horizon and Vista are both Voyageur saunas with IKI wood-fire stoves, and the setup includes an outdoor bonfire. Registered guests can use the lake for an optional cold plunge. Voyageur Custom Saunas is a Minnesota company based in Chaska/Chanhassen, and it says it builds its products locally. IKI says its stoves are designed and hand-built in Finland.

"We're excited to open our second sauna this fall. The new sauna provides twice the offerings, twice the cold plunges and twice the heat."

That line comes from the October 2026 Minnetonka Memo. The same issue says the changing facility now has improved heat and bathrooms. On a January afternoon, the walk from the lake back to a dry, heated room counts for a lot.

Session details have changed slightly since the pilot. Sessions now run 1 hour 25 minutes and cost $28 per person, up from 1.5 hours at $25 during the 2023 trial. Public sessions hold seven or eight people, and private sessions hold up to ten.

The biggest change is the calendar. The season runs on two schedules:

The first full season ran only Friday through Sunday. Starting in mid-November, a Wednesday or Thursday evening session will be an option for the first time, which means people who work weekends can go too. The holiday dates line up with the week between Christmas and New Year's, the same week the original pilot ran.

How Booking Works

More capacity doesn't mean you can walk up. The rules on the city's Sauna in the Parks page are short:

• Preregistration is required, and all participants must be 18 or older.
• Cancellations must be made at least one week ahead to get a refund.
• Private group reservations cost $280 for up to ten people and are available at select hours on Saturdays and Sundays.
• On the weekend schedule, Horizon handles the private blocks for most of the afternoon and early evening, while Vista stays public throughout.

The last point matters if you're planning around friends. A group of eight paying $28 each spends about the same as one $280 private booking. The private booking gets you the whole sauna, but only during the weekend hours on Horizon. The schedule on the city page is live and can change, so check it when you book.

The Same Friday, Up the Road

Shady Oak Beach isn't the only Minnetonka spot starting its cold-weather season this week. The Minnetonka Center for the Arts opens its Arts of the Holidays Show & Sale on the same day, October 23. The show runs through December 19 in the Laura H. Miles Gallery, features work by more than 100 local artists, and is free to attend. A week later, on Friday, October 30, the city hosts the free Burwell Spooktacular from 5 to 7:30 p.m. on the grounds of Burwell House at 13209 E. McGinty Road.

Taken together, Minnetonka's public calendar doesn't wind down when the Tuesday farmers market wraps up. Three years ago, Shady Oak Beach saw little use from fall through spring. This year it opens for the cold months with two saunas, a renovated changing room, and sessions five days a week from mid-November.

At Ulrich Real Estate Group, we follow small local changes like a second sauna at Shady Oak Beach because they shape everyday life in Minnetonka long after the summer crowds leave. If you're thinking about what this city offers in every season, we're always glad to talk it through over coffee.