CAMDEN — A contingent of ski enthusiasts will be descending on Camden next week, when the Ski Museum of Maine holds a day-long fundraiser with a lot of activities, including a look back at the Snow Bowl’s history as Maine’s only operating seaside ski area and a look to the future with General Manager Landon Fake.

The Ski Museum of Maine was founded in 1995 by Don Hayes of Ellsworth, Don Fletcher of Orono and Greg Foster of Cumberland.

Its formation came about after a group of people began feeling that people were losing sight of the fact that Maine has a rich ski history. The founders and board members have undertaken the mission of identifying and preserving Maine's skiing heritage, and to share it with the younger generations.

According to their website, the Ski Museum of Maine board has expanded over the years to include Jean Luce, Stratton; Dick Keenan, Cape Elizabeth; Tony Jessen, Freeport; Don Fowler, Carrabassett Valley; Glenn Parkinson, Freeport; Al Webster, Carrabassett Valley and Holden; Tom Hanson, Orrington; Fran Clukey, East Holden; Greg Sweetser, Cumberland, Megan Roberts, Farmington, Cindy Kailey Hiebert, Bethel; and Chris Bradford, Sanford.

Current board and officers include Jill Ducharme, president; Wende Gray, vice president; Vito Courtney, treasurer; Russ Murley, secretary; Scott Andrews, director and consulting curator; Leigh Breidenbach, Cooper Friend, Dave Irons, Glenn Parkinson, Megan Roberts, Phil Savignano, Greg Sweetser, Gerry Thompson, Michele Varuolo Cole, John Weston, Karla Wolters and Don Fowler, clerk.

Its current executive director is Bruce Miles.

On Thursday, Feb. 5, the Ski Museum of Maine will host looks at the past history and future of the Snow Bowl, and also honor Jack Williams for his numerous roles and support of the mountain and its activities. Their program includes a day of skiing or riding at the Snow Bowl, an opportunity to ride the Jack Williams Toboggan Chute, dinner at the Waterfront Restaurant and overnight lodging at the Riverhouse Inn.

During the reserved dinner, where Christie and Fake will speak, the museum will have ski history memorabilia on display. Social hour and appetizers begin at 5 p.m., dinner is at 6 p.m. and at 7 p.m. the program continues until 8 p.m. For information on full-day tickets or for dinner and the evening program only, visit www.skimuseumofmaine.org.

Following is a story about Jack Williams, written by Josh Christie. It was originally published in the Ski Museum of Maine's Snow Trail Winter 2015 Newsletter and is reprinted with permissions.

Jack Williams: Documenting and Shaping History in Camden
By Josh Christie

Thursday, Feb. 5 is "Ski Museum of Maine Day" in Camden, a full day of programming that includes a day of skiing or riding at the Camden Snow Bowl, an opportunity to ride the Jack Williams Toboggan Chute, dinner at the Waterfront Restaurant with Ski Museum of Maine programming (including a look back at the Snow Bowl's part by John Christie, and a look to the future with General Manager Landon Fake), and lodging at the Riverhouse Inn.

The Midcoast event affords us an opportunity to look back at the history of Maine's only operating seaside ski area, as well as the legacy of Jack Williams, a tribute to whom will be included in the evening event at the Waterfront.

Opening in 1936, the Camden Snow Bowl is among the oldest continuously operating ski areas in New England. It's, in fact, one of only two operating Maine areas opened before World War II (Shawnee Peak is the other). The area was originally built by volunteers, hardy Maine souls willing to donate their work during the national Great Depression. Work on development began in the fall of '36, when upwards of 150 volunteers built a lodge, skate house, and toboggan chute.

As the land that became the Camden Snow Bowl was provided by the town of Camden, it cleared the way for assistance from the Works Project Administration. The WPA employed millions of Americans to carry out public works projects. In 1936, the agency provided labor to build a road to the Snow Bowl lodge, as well as to groom the trails. Another New Deal agency, the Civilian Conservation Corps, installed the first rope tow at the Snow Bowl in the late 1930s.

While most public attention turned towards the Snow Bowl these days concerns just the ski slopes and toboggan chute, the marquee term for the resort's early years was "Winter Carnival." In the years before the Great Depression, nearly every town in Maine held a winter carnival, many of which drew spectators numbering in the thousands. While their popularity statewide had waned a bit by 1936, that didn't deter organizers or fans in Camden. And their instincts were correct: that year, the carnival drew what some estimate to be 5,000 people. Just two years later, the carnival drew an estimated 10,000 fans.

Over the coming decades, the popularity of the Camden Snow Bowl swelled and shrank due to a number of factors largely out of the resort's control. Operations at the resort continued during World War II, but were limited. The Winter Carnival saw a brief reemergence in the 1950s, when a 1957 carnival (the first after WWII) brought more than a thousand participants and spectators to Camden. Tragically, the base lodge built by those many volunteers burned to the ground in 1967, but was replaced by the A-Frame lodge at the base of the ski slope. Throughout the 60s and 70s the operations at the mountain "modernized," with the addition of a T-Bar that went nearly to the summit of Ragged Mountain (1967), snowmaking (1973), and a shorter T-Bar and chairlift (1976).

We've currently entered the most exciting period for the Snow Bowl in decades, with public and private interests investing in new development at the resort. The $6.5 million dollar project combines $4.5 million in private commitments and $2 million bonded by the town of Camden to make a number of changes and improvements to the ski area's lifts, trails, snowmaking, and base area. Among these changes are a new triple chair (replacing the old long T-bar), a new double chair (replacing the short T-bar), a carpet-loading lift for the beginner area, recontouring of a number of trails, and a doubling of snowmaking coverage. A new base lodge, replacing the one built in the 1960s, will be constructed in the summer of 2015.

Much of our knowledge of the Camden Snow Bowl's history is thanks to John R. "Jack" Williams. A Maine native who grew up skiing at the Snow Bowl in the 30s and 40s, Williams is also distinguished as a local historian. His book, The Camden Snow Bowl: A Historical Documentary 1936 - 1996, is a deeply researched and comprehensive (not to mention well-written) history of the resort. The information from that book, along with details from Camden historian Barbara Dyer's research, informs the history of the Snow Bowl on the resort's website. This article, as well, pulled much of its historical information from that work.

(Williams' historical writing covers more than just skiing—he also authored a book on the history of the town of Camden, History of Camden, Maine 1907-1930, which was published in 1989.)

Though his contributions to the historical record of Maine skiing are great, Williams' involvement with the Snow Bowl doesn't end there. Jack has been involved with the area for decades, acting as a director of the Camden Outing Club and a member of the Long Range Planning Committee. In addition to these investments in the past and present, Jack is also involved with the area's future. In 1991, he organized the Ragged Mountain Recreation Area Foundation, an endowment for recreational projects in the area that's been a principal actor in current redevelopment.

Along with being the chronicler of the history of the Camden Snow Bowl, and an organizer looking towards its future, Williams has a physical legacy at the mountain. Jack organized the rebuilding committee that resurrected the toboggan chute in 1990. To backtrack a bit; the chute was originally built in 1936, rebuilt in 1954 by local Coast Guardsmen, and lasted until 1964 when it fell into disrepair. In the fall of 1990, Williams and others raised about $9000 to build a third (and, for the time being, final) version of the toboggan chute out of pressure treated wood, as well as a warming hut at its base. In January of 1991, the chute was named the Jack R. Williams Toboggan Chute in honor of the man who has done so much for the mountain. That year was also the first of the U.S. National Toboggan Championships at the Snow Bowl, a competition that celebrates its quadranscentennial this year.

To reach Holly S. Edwards, email hollyedwards@penbaypilot.com