BLUE LAKE, Calif. (October 27, 2026) — Blue Lake Casino Hotel is pleased to announce that Michelle Gomes has joined the team as the new manager of Blue Lake Fuel & Fun, the well-loved gas station and convenience store on the Rancheria. Gomes brings more than twenty years of retail operations experience, with a focus on team leadership, inventory control and sales growth, along with a decade-long connection to the Humboldt community she and her family call home.
Over her career, Gomes has worked in an exciting variety of industries, including food and beverage, corporate retail, sporting goods and outdoor retail. At every stop she moved through a range of roles and excelled at lifting up her division and the property as a whole.
Gomes describes her approach as servant leadership, a style she adopted early in her career. “It’s important to be supportive of the team around you. It’s a community thing, where they support you,” she said. “So just being there for them, working with them, sometimes maybe leading from the back and letting them lead me.”
That philosophy shows up in the day-to-day. Although her background is in retail rather than fuel stations, Gomes says she is eager to learn every part of the operation alongside her team. “I want to be on the register with them. I want to do the ordering with them. I want to work the trucks with them,” she said. “If your team knows they can count on you, they’re more apt to help you out. You get a reciprocal thing there.”
She is also quick to credit the team she has joined. “I’m lucky to walk into a great team already, and they’ve all been really welcoming and accepting. I’m really grateful for that,” Gomes said. “Change is scary, but at the end of the day, we’re all helping each other.”
Gomes’s first impression of Fuel & Fun came from the friendly cashiers and the popular hot food counter, where she treated herself to chicken and jojos. As she settles in, she will be trained on all systems and introduced to the departments Fuel & Fun works with daily, while looking for new ways to expand service and improve the experience for guests and team members alike. She is already thinking about merchandising, including brightening the shelves near the casino area to make the space more fun and inviting.
For guests, her goal is simple. “I want them to feel that when they shop here, they’re getting the best bang for their buck,” Gomes said. “A lot of people come for the gas prices, but I also want them to see a variety of products that are affordable, and a friendly environment where they can have fun and interact with the staff.”
For her team, the goal is personal. “I just want people to know that I’m approachable, that I supported them when they needed it, that I’m understanding, and that in some way, hopefully, I made it a better place for them to work,” she said.
Gomes and her family have lived in Humboldt for the past ten years, after a path that took them to Florida, Las Vegas, and Guam. She says nothing compares to home. “To me it’s the best of both worlds, where the mountains and the ocean come together. I love the redwoods, I love the rivers,” said Gomes, an avid fisher, hiker and camper. Her grown daughters have all stayed in the area, and she enjoys community events such as Arts Alive, Friday Night Market, and Oyster Fest.
That sense of community is a big part of what drew her to Blue Lake Casino Hotel. During the interview process, Gomes learned about the many ways the Tribe supports the local community, and she wants to be a part of it. “I feel like I’m a part of something bigger here,” she said. “It’s very interesting to me what the Tribe does in the community, and I enjoy being part of that and getting to know more about what they do. There are a lot of cool things they’re doing here.”
Gomes also looks forward to sharing in the excitement of the events the property hosts. “They do fun stuff here that we get to be a part of, like Comic Con and all these events where people come and have fun,” she said. “It’s fun to be a part of that and share in that excitement with them.”
Please join us in giving Michelle a warm Bluefoot welcome. Guests are invited to stop by Blue Lake Fuel & Fun and say hello.
About Blue Lake Casino Hotel
Blue Lake Casino Hotel, a Trademark Collection® by Wyndham, is a casino hotel in Blue Lake, California, five miles off U.S. Highway 101 in Humboldt County. Open 24 hours a day, the casino offers more than 500 slot machines, table games and a poker room. The hotel is an enterprise of the Blue Lake Rancheria and is independently owned and operated by the Tribe.
About Blue Lake Rancheria Enterprises
The Blue Lake Rancheria is a federally recognized Native American Tribe in northwestern California, near Eureka and Arcata and five miles inland from the coast along California Highway 299. Located within the aboriginal territory of the Wiyot people, the Rancheria was founded in 1908, terminated in 1958 and restored to federal recognition in 1983. Today, the Tribe has 100 acres of land in trust. Its economic enterprises include Blue Lake Casino Hotel, Powers Creek Brewery, Blue Fusion Bistro, Alice’s Restaurant, Wave Lounge, Blue Lake Fuel & Fun, Blue Lake Tribal Manufacturing, Ta’m Resilience Campus and Claudia Brundin Center. These enterprises support hundreds of local jobs and fund government operations and a wide array of social services that benefit Tribal members and the region.
Learn more at https://www.bluelakecasino.com/
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