Steve Petrowiak and his son, Matthew, have recently taken over Leland Leichtnam’s pontoon rental business.

Leichtnam plans to move out of the area in the near future, and when Steve heard about it, the two began to talk.

“I didn’t want to see it die off,” Steve said of the pontoon rental business.

This is the first year Steve and Matt have been running the business, although the process began well before the summer started.

What was formally called Hall Lake Cabin Rentals, is now known as Pioneer Pontoon Rentals. Matthew has a Facebook page up and running by that name that anyone can view and find out more information from.

All that is needed to rent a pontoon is a valid driver’s license and the requirement that one must be at least 18 years of age.

“We’re pretty booked for this coming weekend. This is definitely the busiest weekend for renting,” Steve said of the weekend before the Fourth of July.

When asked where the majority of people renting the pontoons are from, Steve and Matt both agreed that it’s about 50/50. Half are people from around the area while the other half are from out of town or even out of state.

“I think a lot of people were originally from the area or have family here now and are visiting. We’ve had one from New York and another from Texas,” Steve said.

So far, Pioneer Pontoon Rentals offers three different kinds of pontoons.

“We’ll ask people what kind of experience they’re looking for first, fishing or leisure, and then the amount of people they’re looking to bring is a factor too,” Steve added. “After we find out that, we go from there.”

While it’s possible to fish off of all the pontoons, the Bennington is set up the best for fishing. There was some talk of getting a fishing boat down the line.

“We were thinking of getting a fishing boat because quite a few people ask about it, but we’ll see where this takes us,” Steve said.

“We want to get the hang of this first,” Matthew added.

The pontoons are being kept at the Petrowiak’s residence on Pioneer Drive, but Steve and Matt will gladly deliver a pontoon anywhere in town.

“We’ll drive it to Gomsrud or the Marina or wherever in town it works best to meet,” Steve said.

“This has been a learning experience for us,” said Steve. “It’s been very time consuming but we’re learning as we go.”