Taking aim at a new future in the County
by MacKenzie Rawcliffe
A group of social entrepreneurs has been able to reimagine the natural resources and historical traditions of Aroostook County into a new and creative economic model. The Maine Winter Sports Center, seeks to “reestablish skiing as a life style in Maine.” The founders of the Center believe this will not only strengthen the sense of community but also promote a healthy lifestyle and reinvigorate the local economy. How could something so simple as skiing do all this? With a creative vision and a lot of hard work. “You need the vision, someone who sees what is possible,” Says the Center’s Vice President of Economic Development, Max Saenger. “A Pied Piper leader who will figure out a way to make things happen.” At the same time, “you can’t sow the seeds unless the ground (in the community) is ripe.”
In Aroostook county the soil was very ripe. After only six years the Center has been able to build biathlon and cross country skiing facilities in both Fort Kent and Presque Isle, start 32 community ski programs in Aroostook County and host several international events, most notably the first World Cup Biathlon event in New England.
Both the 10th Mountain Lodge in Fort Kent and the Nordic Heritage site in Presque Isle are world class facilities. This high quality is a part of the Center’s long term plan as well as a big investment. For instance, both have large wax buildings where professionals can wax their skis in well ventilated team cabins. these buildings are really only needed during international events. The Center also spent a lot of time making sure that their facilities would be well suited for media coverage. In the 2006 season biathlon had 800 million world wide viewer hours. With this in mind, the organizers brought European television producers and biathlon officials in to advise them. All of the buildings and courses were built to accommodate the international media before the Center had held its first competition.
Throughout the process this has been the key to the Maine Winter Sports Center’s accomplishments, they anticipate and plan for success. Attracting international events was a main component of their plan: it would bring in money as well as free publicity, increase local pride, and help interest and motivate kids to get involved in ski programs. The organizers knew that sometimes what is needed most in a struggling area is a change of attitude, and being known as one of the best biathlon venues in the world goes a long way towards restoring community confidence and pride. Getting the community excited and involved in the program turned out to be the easiest part. Nearly 700 people volunteered for the first World Cup competition in Fort Kent. The planners took great pains to get everything right down to the smallest detail (For example: the Russian athletes don’t want ice in their water). They made their plans early and checked them with experts to be sure that they were going in the right direction.
According to the Center’s website Biathlon World Cups held in North America tend to bring in few spectators, sometimes little more than 50. This can be demoralizing to the organizers and the athletes as well as unimpressive for television viewers. In contrast, the quantity and quality of Aroostock County spectators at these events have set Maine apart. During the 6 days of competition nearly 18,000 people watched the competition in Presque Isle and nearly 20,000 in Fort Kent. The Center provides local schools with a Biathlon teachers guide that fufills the Maine Learning Results and helps students understand different aspects of the event. Athletes are surprised when they arrive and find spectators that know them and the rules of the event. Some students have even formed fan clubs for their favorite athletes.
The County has a growing international reputation as a unique place that puts on high quality, fun, friendly and efficient events. This reputation, along with consistently good snow, has helped the area get other events like the Biathlon Junior World Championships in 2006 and the future Biathlon World Cup in 2009. These events have a huge effect on the local economy; the 2004 World Cup was estimated to have brought in $5.2 million to the Fort Kent Community.
Finding volunteers for the year round community programs is a little more difficult, but possible according to Vice President of Programs John Farra. It is a longer commitment and not quite as exciting as a World Cup, but Farra only needs 1-3 people in each community for a program to thrive. To get their message out the Center tries everything from newspapers to newsletters to e-mails, but Farra has found that sometimes you just have to get on the phone. “You can’t force them to drink the water, but you can sure bring them to it” he says. Once you’ve made a personal connection, perhaps by giving something to the community like a free clinic or help building a ski trail, people will want to give back.
The Center’s programs focus on youth because they “are the future and what will sustain us” says Farra, but the Center also organizes social and competitive adult programs. Seeing a community member still skiing at 86 years old is not only a great lifestyle role model for kids but also most of their dedicated volunteers come from the adult ski programs.
The most recent project for Farra has been to develop a skiing curriculum for local gym teachers that fits the Maine Learning Results. To really engage students and attract future volunteers Farra believes kids need to be introduced to skiing in school. For many gym teachers this is intimidating because they themselves may not know how to ski but the Center thinks it is important to promote sports that kids can take beyond high school. The Center has made a huge effort to convince gym teachers to include skiing in their curriculum, offering free seminars, teaching a few classes, getting equipment and encouraging teachers to call for support. So far they have 13 schools that teach cross country with more developing programs.
In the end what are the most important elements that have made the Center successful? To Max Saenger it is the connection to local culture and history as well as the natural resource of snow that will carry the Center into the future. For example both facilities were built with the local culture and skiing tradition in mind. (The 10th Mountain lodge is named after the famed 10th Mountain Division and the Nordic Heritage building is designed in a Scandinavian style.) Farra points to persistence and flexibility as the key elements. When one method of outreach doesn’t seem to work it is not abandoned, but rather examined to see what went wrong and how the Center can do it better. They also are flexible and constantly shifting their programs to fit the needs of the community. During the summer when kids would rather not do summer training they encourage other outdoor activities as well as offering 7 free coaching sessions a week.
For more information call the Maine Winter Sports Center at (207) 492-1444 or see their website at www.mainewsc.org