Ridge Runners
raising funds for new clubhouse
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
JOE “SONNY” PELLETIER, a member of the Chapman Ridge Runners Snowmobile/ATV Club, installs one of the lights under the eaves of the club’s new 34-foot by 70-foot clubhouse. Work on the new building is nearing completion. In addition to a large meeting room, the clubhouse features a kitchen, men’s and women’s restrooms, and an entryway.
CHAPMAN – If you build it, they will come. And if you’re lucky, they’ll help come build it.
The Chapman Ridge Runners Snowmobile/ATV Club is closing in on the completion of its new 34-foot by 70-foot clubhouse located at 94 Town Hall Road. Ground was officially broken April 12.
“We didn’t have a set time schedule,” said Mickey Maynard, club president. “We just worked steady all summer. There was probably a core group of three to five people that worked on it most of the summer with a few others that would work off and on.
“Things have been going very well,” he said. “We’re probably 80 percent done on the inside, and the exterior is about 95 percent done. All we need to do on the outside is some window trim, landscaping and finish the siding on one gable end. The outside will be done within a couple of weeks. The majority of the interior work will be dry walling and finishing up the kitchen.”
The interior is primarily tongue in groove knotty pine. The main room measures 34 feet by 45 feet.
“We’ll have meetings here, suppers … any kind of a function will go on in this room,” Maynard said. “The kitchen, which features a new cook stove and other appliances, also includes a pantry and a utility room, plus the new clubhouse has both a men’s and women’s restroom, as well as a 10-foot by 16-foot entryway.”
The club simply outgrew the former meeting place, which is located just a stone’s throw from the new building.
“There really wasn’t room to have a function at the old facility,” said Maynard, of the 23 feet by 39 feet building. “We couldn’t rent it out because we didn’t have the restroom facilities and the building was over 100 years old. It’s just outdated. We only heated the kitchen portion of the old building with a furnace, so we had to go in early to heat the main room up.
“Our new clubhouse, which has in-floor heating, will be heated all winter,” he said. “We feel the public will have better use of this building than they would have that building. Interestingly, our new clubhouse will be heated using hot water from our groomer barn. We have a wood boiler and we burn scrap wood that we pick up from the trails and that makes the hot water that will be piped underground into this building. We do have a backup oil furnace in case we have a winter where there are no blow-downs, but we wanted to try a ‘green’ approach.”
Maynard said since the former clubhouse is a historic building, the club will not tear it down.
“It is a landmark for Chapman. It’s an old, one-room schoolhouse and people want to see it stay,” he said. “We’ll keep it up and keep it sitting there. We’ll probably use it for cold storage.”
The club is looking to raise additional funds to finish the project.
“We’d like to get some furnishings – tables and chairs – donated to us, if at all possible,” said Linda Pelletier, club member.
A fund-raiser yard sale will be held Saturday from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. at the clubhouse. A lunch consisting of hot dogs and desserts will be available to purchase. Anyone wishing to donate non-clothing items for the yard sale can bring them to the clubhouse prior to Saturday.
“Funds are very tight,” said Maynard, noting that the project has had a few major contributors including Buck Construction. “We’ve gone through what we could borrow toward the building which was bare minimum. While the majority of the labor has been donated, the materials cost probably a little under $100,000. We still have work to do, so money raised from this point on will be used to finish the project.”
Maynard said the building will be “100 percent completed” by March or April and available to rent, but the club hopes to have an open house in November and will likely hold its October meeting there, as well.
There are presently 70 members of the Chapman Ridge Runners Snowmobile/ATV Club. Anyone wishing to contribute to the project can contact Maynard at 764-1236.
THE MAIN ROOM of the new Chapman Ridge Runners Snowmobile/ATV Clubhouse measures 34 feet by 45 feet and is finished with tongue in groove knotty pine. Club officials say the building will be “100 percent completed” by March or April and available to rent by the general public. Above, ground was officially broken April 12. Work remains, but volunteers are making progress. Mickey Maynard, club president, said work is about 80 percent done on the inside and 95 percent completed outside.
