Fred Nichols is planting flowers. He is also painting. And scheduling. And promoting.

He is preparing for the beginning of the Bangor harness racing meet. It begins Friday night at 7:15. Nichols is entering his ninth season as the meet director.

“I’m the janitor, too,” Nichols points out.

It is a busy business and a lot of work for one man. But Nichols is happy to be busy. He’s happy to be in business at all.

Racing could have been a dead issue in Bangor, or at least on its way to the graveyard.

But Nichols believes he has this year and possibly next year before things start to become dicey again.

Although nothing was ever decided, the city sought to find a way to build a new Bangor Auditorium. But the where and the how got in the way.

It was the “where” in the equation that concerned Nichols and others in the industry. One plan called for racing at Bass Park to be abandoned. A number of options were presented for use of the property. None of them were good for the grooms, the trainers, and the many others associated with every-day business at the track.

But just as with many great, or at least big, ideas, money got in the way. Where would the money come from? Who would pay? A lot of people wanted the auditorium and a lot of people wanted someone else to pay for it.

So, with funding for the project left spinning its wheels in the mud, harness racing at Bangor Raceway is still alive.

“We’re going to get through this year just fine,” Nichols said. “Racing will still be alive in Bangor. People will be employed and people will be spending money.”

Bass Park has its opponents outside the new auditorium scope. These are people who say that harness racing is on its last legs. “Just drive by there,” they challenge you. “There’s no one there.”

But Nichols says the crowds are fine. He’ll tell you the meet makes people happy.

“The hay farmers will be happy. The vets will be happy. The tack shops and the local restaurants, they’ll all be happy. In addition to the horsemen, of course.”

Nichols isn’t getting rich off the deal. He said last year that he about breaks even. But he also believes the opportunity to do better than that will come.

He believes the cavalry is coming to the rescue. The cavalry, in this case, is a combination of video lottery terminals and a casino. Both are volatile political issues.

Someone once said politics makes for strange bedfellows, and the attempt to get a referendum for VLTs on the November ballot has done exactly that.

It has brought Nichols and Robert Tardy together. Tardy is a former state lawmaker from Palmyra. He is also a self-described “pit bull for Scarborough Downs,” a harness racing establishment in the southern part of the state that receives far more annual racing dates than Bangor.

He and Nichols have not always seen eye-to-eye on industry issues. To see them working together is, well …

“Surprising, isn’t it?” Nichols said. “The VLTs certainly worked fabulously in other states and provinces. Between those two [VLTs and a proposed casino] at least there’s some activity that could have a positive effect on the industry. I couldn’t say that two years ago. There wasn’t anything under foot then.”

The casino, Nichols believes, would also support the racing industry. But for now a casino is nothing more than a pipe dream.

“The problem with the casino thing is there’s no meat to it. It’s a media child with nothing to look at. At some point that’s going to have to change. Someone is going to have to put it down on paper. The truth is in the details,” Nichols said.

Not surprisingly, Tardy and Nichols disagree on the effect a casino would have on the industry. Tardy is on record with his belief that a casino would hurt harness racing – that cars would go right by harness tracks on their way to a casino.

Nichols the optimist sees the cavalry coming. Nichols the realist is planting flowers. He is sprucing up the old joint.

He is running qualifiers. He is awaiting the arrival later this week of the Canadian contingent that summers in Bangor. He is waiting for Friday night when, Mother Nature willing, the lights will go on and another season of racing at Bangor Raceway will begin.

Bangor Raceway is scheduled to have racing on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons at 1:30 in May. Beginning June 11, in addition to the Friday and Sunday race dates, the raceway adds Tuesday night racing. The Friday-Sunday dates continue in July with additional Tuesday nights on July 9 and 16. The final day of the Bangor meet is Sunday afternoon, July 21.

“It’s the 119th year at this site. It survives,” Nichols said.

Don Perryman can be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600, or dperryman@bangordailynews.net.