The temperature hovered around zero degrees outside, but one by one boys and girls ages 4 to 12 arrived at the Four Seasons Lodge in Madawaska on Jan. 3 for their weekly Saturday afternoon ski program.
Led by Dawn Bragdon with assistance from local skiers, more than 45 children donned their skis and spread out across the yard in front of the lodge for an afternoon of games and instruction.
“The coldest day of the year, and we get the biggest crowd,” Bragdon said, adding that one family even brought their 2-year-old. Starting with 30 youngsters when this year’s program began in November, Bragdon registered 87 by Jan. 3.
Participants rent equipment for $50 a season, with a cap of $100 per family, regardless of the number of children involved. Anonymous donations provide for families short on funds, and money from rentals is used to buy more equipment.
The youth ski program is just one of the activities sponsored by Madawaska’s Four Seasons Trail Association, dedicated to the promotion of healthy lifestyles for area residents. From construction of the 30-by-60 lodge in 2007 to the year-round schedule of events, Four Seasons is a completely volunteer effort and source of pride for the hundreds of people and businesses who made it happen and continue to support it.
Every morning, Dawn’s husband, George, opens the lodge, perched on a hill overlooking the town, and walks their dog Loki on the trails.
“It’s beautiful,” he said of the sweeping view of the valley, “and it’s right in town.”
There are more than 7 miles of trails, ranging from about half a mile to about 6½ miles. Use of those trails for walking, running, skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, biking and nature study is free, and equipment may be used on a daily basis for a voluntary donation. Winter events include a Tiki Torch Night in March, when trails are lit with 100 Tiki torches, and a Rally in the Valley in February, a day of games coordinated through the Northern Maine Medical Center Healthy Hearts Program. The annual Christmas party is a highlight, with Mr. and Mrs. Santa arriving in a horse-drawn sleigh.
There also is a sliding hill, where children from the ski program concluded their day Jan. 3, using tubes donated by L.L. Bean, Twin River Wellness and the Four Seasons Trail Association.
Colin Jandreau, association president, recalled that the popularity of skiing had waned in the area. But when the Maine Winter Sports Center erected world-class ski venues in Fort Kent and Presque Isle and the Caribou High School Ski Club constructed a building in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Madawaska was inspired to build its own facility and expand the 5K loop created in the 1960s and used primarily for high school races. The effort was kick-started with a donation from Reno Deprey, a former Madawaska teacher and ski coach who spent hours clearing the original cross-country trails.
“Mostly made up of the parents of student skiers, the club was established in 2004/05,” Jandreau said. “The town of Madawaska stepped up in 2005 to hire (trail designer) John Morton to re-work our existing trail system into a more skiable recreational trail with the possibility of competition trails as well.
“From there, the club secured the volunteer expertise of (retired Ezzy Insurance owner) John Ezzy, who embarked on the massive fundraising project to build the lodge. The water district deeded us 8 acres, and easements were secured from landowners. Cliff Ouellette (retired mill manager and engineer by trade) agreed to oversee the construction, and the rest is history.”
That history is recorded on plaques in the lodge, listing the names of contributing volunteers and businesses, and in a detailed scrapbook created by Tina Ouellette, containing photographs and clippings documenting every step in the construction project.
I was perusing the scrapbook while waiting for the start of the Jan. 11 Deprey Classic ski race when I was joined by one of the people pictured on its pages.
“This is all volunteer,” said Gil Roy, a retired Fraser Paper Co. pipe fitter, who was cited in a newspaper clipping as one of four men who each gave more than 1,000 volunteer hours to construction of the lodge. “It was finished in a week,” he said of the work on the basic structure in May 2007. “They started on a Saturday, and the roof was done by the following Saturday.”
Roy groomed the trails until a few years ago and serves as membership chairman of the Four Seasons Trail Association.
“I’m in it for the kids,” he said. “It’s just fantastic.”
A fire crackled in the fireplace and spaghetti sauce simmered in the kitchen as 54 skiers registered for Sunday’s 6.5K race, named to honor Reno Deprey, now 85 and living in Alaska but still skiing in the 55K American Birkebeiner in Hayward, Wisconsin. Madawaska’s Deprey Classic is the first of five weekly Aroostook Cup races, each held at a different Aroostook County venues. Teams from Fort Kent, Madawaska, Presque Isle, Perth-Andover, Caribou and Stockholm were represented Sunday, with teams earning a point for each participant and additional points for placing.
The sleek racers were role models for members of Bragdon’s youth program, who competed in their own race prior to the Deprey Classic. “The kids look up to them,” Bragdon said of the high school skiers who assist her.
“There are few and fewer activities within the financial reach of most families,” Four Seasons Trail Association leaders say on their website, expressing a need for “opportunities for our children to remain in the area once they reach adulthood. The Town of Madawaska and the Four Seasons Trail Association have chosen to meet these challenges head-on.
“We feel that by providing first-class outdoor facilities and programs for all sectors of the population we can promote healthier lifestyles and create economic opportunities that take advantage of the natural beauty of the region.”
For more information, visit fourseasonstrail.org.
Kathryn Olmstead is a former University of Maine associate dean and associate professor of journalism living in Aroostook County, where she publishes the quarterly magazine Echoes. Her column appears in this space every other Friday. She can be reached at kathryn.olmstead@umit.maine.edu or P.O. Box 626, Caribou, ME 04736.