Museum to hold state skiing history slide show

FARMINGTON – The Ski Museum of Maine and the Farmington Historical Society will present “Down-Mountain and Cross-Country: 140 Years of Skiing in Maine,” a narrated slide show, at 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 1 at the Ski Museum. The museum will open at 6 p.m. that day.

Approximately 150 photos, some more than a century old, have been assembled from the Farmington-based museum’s collections and 35 other sources, including several of the state’s leading historical societies and skiing organizations. Photos to be presented cover the entire span of skiing in Maine, from the founding of Aroostook County’s Swedish Settlement in 1870 to present-day happenings all over the state.

The narrator will be Scott Andrews, a Portland-based ski journalist and museum director who assembled the photos and performed much of the research. Andrews has written on skiing in Maine and New England in newspapers and magazines for more than 20 years and is a contributor to Skiing Heritage, the official journal of the International Skiing History Association.

“Skiing has been part of the Maine way of life since the late 1800s, offering recreation and competition to both residents and visitors,” says Andrews. “The museum’s objective is to feed the passion of Maine skiers and to illustrate the significance of our sport to our state’s lifestyle and economy.”

“Down-Mountain and Cross-Country: 140 Years of Skiing in Maine” is sponsored by the Ski Maine Association and the Sugarloaf Mountain Ski Club.