In honor of April Fools Day, here is a reprint of our 2016 story.
Mike Bradford knew the April Fool’s Day ad campaign was a hit when people started calling him to complain about Lakeside Inn’s plans to turn Rabe Meadow into Lakeside Ranch. People took their rants to social media as well.
The headline read, “Lakeside Inn and Casino returns cattle grazing to historic Lake Shore Meadow.” The story that followed outlined the casino’s plans to raise prime Angus beef so their restaurant, Latin Soul, could put new meaning to the term, Farm-to-Table.
“Returning this historic activity to the Lake Tahoe Basin is good for our customers and good for the economy,” Bradford said when the story ran on April 1, 2014.
On April 1, 2010, the headlines were also surprising when Bradford unveiled Lakeside Inn’s plans to put in a high rise hotel with rotating rooftop restaurant and a zip-line from the top floor to Emerald Bay.
That two-day ad campaign started with a front page story created for Bradford, who is the owner of Lakeside Inn and Casino, touting an artist’s rendition of the proposed addition. It was followed the following day with an insert tabloid in the local newspaper called, The Examiner. Inside “The Examiner” Bradford thanked community members who were “quoted” in the first day’s story.
The tabloid poked fun at area gaming and large-scale development, environmental and local economic issues. “I think we managed to tease about nearly everything that gets locals fired up,” said Lon Rush, Lakeside Inn president at the time. “For those who were justifiably blinded by the scope of our wild claims and satire, we hope they can enjoy a chuckle now as we meant no harm. Sometimes it just helps to step back and have a laugh at ourselves and the issues our town is passionate over.”
“The gullibility of some people is the most memorable,” Bradford said when asked When asked what he remembered most about the feedback on those two jokes which were created by Weidinger Public Relations in Stateline, Nev.
Since he only does the April Fool’s jokes in print every four or five years, expect the next one in 2018 or 2019.