Three of the main fixtures of Thanksgiving weekend around Lake James set their own entry rules for 2026, and they don't match. The Potawatomi Inn's Thanksgiving buffet requires a reservation. The new speakeasy dinner at Elixir on Angola's Public Square requires one too. The Pokagon State Park toboggan run, which opens Friday, November 27, won't take a reservation from anyone.
The lake season is over, the boats are being winterized, and the long weekend now runs on a schedule set by the state park and a downtown restaurant. If guests are coming to the lake house this year, plan the four days in that order: make the Thursday and Saturday reservations now, and save Friday morning for showing up early.
| Day | Where | Booking | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thu., Nov. 26 | Potawatomi Inn Thanksgiving buffet | Reservation required | 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. |
| Thu., Nov. 26 | Pokagon toboggan run | Closed | None |
| Fri., Nov. 27 to Sun., Nov. 29 | Pokagon toboggan run | First come, first served | 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. |
| Fri. or Sat. evening | Elixir, 85 S. Public Square | OpenTable, two-hour slots | Dinner from 5 p.m. |
Thursday belongs to the Inn, and the Inn wants a name on the list
The Potawatomi Inn's Thanksgiving buffet runs Thursday, November 26, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Reservations are required. Adults pay $36.99 and children ages 4 to 10 pay $17.99, plus tax and service charge. For a table of six adults, that comes to about $222 before tax and service, which is roughly what a host might spend on groceries for a home dinner. The difference is that nobody washes a roasting pan.
The Inn sits at 6 Lane 100 A on Lake James, inside the park. It has 126 rooms, 12 cabins and two restaurants. The Inn's dining page lists Lakeview Restaurant as serving breakfast from 8 to 11 a.m., lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and dinner from 5 to 8 p.m. every day. That gives a fallback for the guests who arrive Wednesday night and the ones who stay through Sunday.
Timing matters for one more reason if your lake house runs out of beds. The Inn's fall special takes 25% off the best available rate on weekday stays of two or more nights, and the offer window runs September 8 through November 25, 2026. That puts the end of the discount one day before the buffet. Relatives who can come early in Thanksgiving week land inside the window. Relatives who arrive Thursday do not.
The toboggan run is closed on Thanksgiving Day, according to the DNR's holiday and break schedule. The park's whole Thursday plan is built around the dining room.
Friday morning, the run stops taking names
The rules flip on Friday. The DNR's toboggan run page lists the 2026-27 season as Friday, November 27, 2026, through Sunday, February 28, 2027. Regular hours are weekends from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and the holiday table holds those hours for all three days of Thanksgiving weekend.
Here is how a rental works:
- $20 per toboggan per hour, tax included. The DNR says fees can change without notice.
- One driver's license or state-issued ID is held as a deposit and covers up to four toboggans.
- No all-day rentals, no group reservations and no group rates.
- Sleds go out first come, first served.
- Cash, check, Visa and MasterCard are accepted.
- Everyone riding must wear gloves.
- Park entrance fees are charged on top of the rental.
The track is refrigerated, so it runs with or without snow. The DNR says the run sees about 90,000 riders a season. From a 30-foot tower, the course drops 90 feet over a quarter-mile, with a top recorded speed of 42 mph, and each ride lasts 20 to 30 seconds. A short ride on an hourly clock means the line, not the ride, decides how many runs your $20 buys. With no booking system to hold a time slot, the only way to shorten the line is to get there when it opens.
The ID rule matters for a big group. One license covers four sleds, so a family of twelve with three adults bringing IDs can take out a full fleet in one trip to the counter.
The pass math when every guest brings a car
Thanksgiving weekend at the lake often means a driveway full of cars, and Pokagon charges entry by the car, not by the person. The state's 2026 entrance fees are $7 a day for an Indiana-plated noncommercial vehicle and $15 for an out-of-state plate. An annual pass costs $50 for Indiana residents and $120 for nonresidents.
Against those numbers, an Indiana car that goes to the park on Thursday for the buffet and again Friday, Saturday and Sunday for the toboggan pays $28 in daily fees. That's more than half of a $50 resident pass in one weekend. The winter-break schedule decides the rest. The DNR lists the run open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on December 19 through 24 and December 26 through January 3. It is closed Christmas Day and open New Year's Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, January 18. A household that comes back over winter break will cover the pass before New Year's. A guest from Michigan or Ohio pays $15 a day, so a three-day visit costs $45, well short of the $120 nonresident pass. Daily fees usually make more sense for visitors.
The holiday schedule page has a 2025-2026 heading, but the dates in its tables line up with this season's calendar. Confirm hours with Pokagon State Park before you load the car on a holiday.
Saturday night moves to the Public Square, and the reservation rule comes back
Once you've had enough of the hill, the next stop is the Public Square in downtown Angola, where a newer restaurant runs its evenings on the same rule as the Inn's buffet.
Elixir is at 85 S. Public Square, across from City Hall. According to KPC News, owners Sean and Shauna Elsten restored one of the city's oldest buildings into a lunch spot serving smash burgers that turns into a Prohibition-era speakeasy just before sundown. KPC News described hidden doors, secret pass codes and a piano player in the balcony. Sean Elsten told KPC News where the name came from:
"This building was a drug store in the 1900s and they made their own elixirs; that's how we got the name. It was built in 1850 and among the oldest still standing."
The Elstens are lake people themselves. KPC News reported that they moved to Crooked Lake from Fort Wayne 15 years ago, and Mayor Dave Martin led the ribbon cutting from across the street.
The two halves of the day run differently:
- Lunch, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Walk in for smash burgers, salads and sandwiches.
- Dinner, 5 to 10 p.m., kitchen closes at 9. Book through OpenTable from Elixir's visit page. Seatings come in two-hour blocks, and parties who want to stay longer are asked to email the restaurant. The dinner menu, according to Steuben County Tourism, includes salmon, lobster tail, strip steak and ribeye.
- Closed Tuesdays. Thanksgiving weekend falls Thursday through Sunday, so this only matters for guests who stay into the next week.
The two-hour seatings line up with the toboggan run's closing time. A party that turns in its sleds at 5:30 p.m. Saturday can be at a 7 p.m. table downtown and out by the time the kitchen closes at 9. The dining room is small. KPC News described a single row of tables and a couple of private nooks in the back, so a weekend table for a big family takes a booking made well ahead.
The building also links to a second downtown stop. During the renovation, the Elstens found a sealed 1894 letter written by Cyrus Cline, who served as Steuben County's superintendent of schools and later served four terms in the U.S. House. The Cyrus and Jennie Cline House on East Maumee Street now houses the Steuben County Historical Society's museum and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2017. A guest who likes history can tie the dinner and the museum together in one afternoon on Maumee Street.
Before the run opens, Halloween still belongs to the park
The weekend schedule starts a month early. Pokagon's Halloween Happenings runs Saturday, October 31, from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., and it's the last event on the park's current calendar before the toboggan opens. If you buy a resident annual pass for that visit, it will already be in the glovebox on November 27.
On the lake side, Club Paradise at 3861 N. Bay View Road on Lake James lists hours from 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, with the Parrot Pub opening Sunday at 4 p.m. It is closed Monday and Tuesday. The Lake Shack on Snow Lake lists two different sets of hours on its own site, so call before you drive over in the off-season.
Lake property in Steuben County runs on a calendar that changes after Labor Day. If you're hosting family at your place on Lake James, Crooked Lake or Snow Lake this Thanksgiving and someone at the table asks what it would sell for, Lion & Christlieb can give you a current answer based on this season's lake market. Start with an Instant Home Valuation before the toboggan opens.
