GALICE — Debbie Thomason said she’s moving on and won’t rebuild the Galice Resort and its popular riverside store, restaurant and large deck that burned two years ago. She’s put the remote property and nearby lodging rental properties there up for sale.

The resort property is located northwest of Grants Pass along a popular section of the Rogue River, 16 miles west of Interstate 5 via Merlin-Galice Road. It has served visitors, river users and the community under the Thomason family since 1981.

Built in 1945, the store and restaurant burned in 2021 in a fire believed to have started due to an electrical problem. The property includes a 1.63-acre riverfront area that’s now little more than a gravel lot and boat shed.

Four cabins, a rustic cottage, a bunkhouse, a guest house and an eight-bedroom lodge on a hillside across Galice Road go with the deal. Asking price is $2.3 million, according to the property’s real estate listing. Two adjacent residential hillside properties are selling for $700,000 each.

The Thomason family has owned the property the last 43 years, since Mary Lou and Gil Thomason announced to their family, including then-18-year-old Debbie, that they were buying the place.

Over the years, the resort grew from the store, restaurant and handful of hillside cabins into more rental units and a rafting business. A large deck they built attracted diners and served as a music venue.

It was a gathering place for the river crowd, and those who enjoyed the river, including its famous Wild Section that begins about seven miles downriver. A county-operated boat ramp is just below the bluff where the store and restaurant once stood.

Debbie Thomason, who has served as waitress, river guide and housekeeper, has been owner since 1994. Her father died in 2011, but her mother lives in the Grants Pass area. They visit often.

After the 2021 fire, the rafting business was sold off, though a makeshift gift shop endured and food trucks on the lot served the hungry. Those operations won’t continue this summer.

Debbie Thomason announced the decision to sell last week. On Monday, she was in Galice tending to lodging business, which will continue until the properties are sold. Whether they continue as rentals depends on the new owners.

Debbie Thomason took time out to visit the store site Monday morning, with a cool breeze blowing upriver. She was gracious, as usual, just like her folks.

“Everybody is treated the same,” she said. “Treat everybody like family. Nobody’s any different. Be kind. Treat people like you want.”

If anybody rebuilds there, she said, they will have to build 6 feet up from grade, with a concrete foundation, due to building regulations. Flooding once reached above the site.

Since the fire, fill was hauled in at a cost of $100,000 so a new building could rest atop it. Proceeds from the online fundraiser GoFundMe helped pay for the fill.

“The GoFundMe is the foundation of Galice,” she said.

The community gave $47,000 toward the fundraiser, according to the GoFundMe site.

“I had no idea what this really meant to the community,” Thomason said. “The whole community grieved.”

She might move on to an estate sales business, saying that it feels good to help people through that tough time in their lives. She said she’ll sell to the right person.

“It’s about being the right fit for the community,” she said.

Thomason said she’ll miss the people and the vibe along the river.

“I’ve been blessed,” she said, adding, “This girl’s tired.”

“I think I’m going to go rafting, and if somebody invites me over for a barbecue, I will show up.”

Down at the boat ramp, shuttle company operators Lynn and Brandon Bennett dropped off a vehicle and trailer for a rafter who was floating downriver. They spoke about the sale.

“We hate to see them leave,” Brandon Bennett said. “They’ve always been a good friend.”

His first job was at the resort.

Lynn Bennett said she’s visited the store all her life. Her grandparents lived in the community, which she calls home. No longer will her son be able to sit at the resort’s counter for an ice cream.

“It’s sad,” she said. “I’ll definitely be sad to see them be gone, but I understand.”