By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
MARS HILL, Maine — The Friends of Bigrock recently secured the $150,000 needed for the Maine Winter Sports Center to turn the operation of the Bigrock Mountain ski area over to the local board of directors, and now Bigrock General Manager Bill Getman said he’s fairly certain the mountain will be open to skiers this winter. “As of Sept. 17, we have over $150,000 committed to our cause,” said Getman, “which gives us the capital to open up this winter, which I’m 98 percent sure will happen. The reason why I hesitate to say 100 percent is that lawyers are reviewing papers concerning the transfer as we speak, so nothing has been signed, sealed or delivered. Once the ink dries, I can say with 100 percent certainty that we’ll be open this winter.
“Hopefully the process will be completed this week. We need to move forward because right now we’re kind of in limbo,” he said. “For example, we need to transfer our insurance, but we can’t do that yet until everything is finalized. We anticipate that happening this week.”
The non-profit Maine Winter Sports Center, which had owned the Bigrock Mountain community ski area since 2000 and had administered outside financial support from the Libra Foundation, announced Aug. 6 that it was ending its relationship with the mountain.
Once the Maine Winter Sports Center’s decision was publicly announced, an organization called The Friends of Bigrock formed and began a fund-raising website to receive donations with the goal of raising $30,000. Another behind-the-scenes group was created to look for corporate donors, raise funds and talk to influential individuals who could help save Bigrock.
“The support that we’ve received has been overwhelming,” said Getman. “We’ve received online donations from people in Seattle, Arizona and Chicago. That’s been outstanding. I even sent a thank-you letter to a kid who gave us his $5 allowance.
“The business support has been equally amazing. We just got a $280 check from MMG Insurance for their Casual for a Cause campaign where employees can wear casual clothing and blue jeans by making a monetary donation and that money was donated to us,” he said. “I talked to Sherry Sullivan at Governor’s Restaurant and they’re selling 12-15 Bigrock Burgers a day, so businesses have taken a fun and creative approach at raising funds for us. Corporations have also stepped up and are giving us money, so the response to our fund-raising effort has been phenomenal.”
While officials reached their initial $150,000 goal, Getman said more money needs to be raised.
“The new board wants to raise a total of $300,000 because we do not want to be in the position to have to do this again,” he said. “That would give us the capital to tweak our program and make this self sustaining.”
For more information or to make a donation, call 425-6711 or log onto http:/www.gofundme.com/save-BigrockMountain.
