RUMFORD – Community members were jubilant Wednesday afternoon when they learned that the local ski area had been bought by a northern Maine company that plans to expand and rejuvenate the 40-year-old facility.

Maine Winter Sports Center of Fort Kent announced Wednesday afternoon that it had entered into an agreement to buy and develop Black Mountain of Maine Ski Resort.

“It’s a great thing for this community,” said Gary Dolloff, chairman of the Greater Rumford Community Center board, the group that runs the Black Mountain Ski area. “We’ve been running it on a tight budget for years. MWSC can put more money into it.”

A local group has been working with Maine Winter Sports for several months to try to nail down the deal. It all depended on a grant from the Libra Foundation, a philanthropic, Portland-based organization that helps fund nonprofit groups that aim to improve the quality of life for Maine people.

Town officials and the local economic development council believe the purchase will enhance the economy of the area as well as improve the health of local people.

“It will revitalize the ski industry. This is certainly good news,” said Selectman Jolene Lovejoy, a member of the local group that has been working with Maine Winter Sports for several months. “As a selectman, I’m tickled pink.”

Town Manager Robert Welch agreed that the economic impact of the sale will be a big plus for the town. “I think it’s great. It will fit into some other things coming down the road,” he said, adding that the town lent support to the idea of the purchase all along the way.

He said the development will allow an increase in the number of skiers who visit the family-friendly skiing facility and “make a good ski area even better.”

Dolloff said the community center board has always wanted to keep prices down so that the slopes and cross-country trails would be available to as many people as possible. “MWSC is looking at skiing as a way of life, the best outlook for the mountain,” he said.

Lovejoy, too, emphasized the health impact of making the facilities more widely available. “A major goal for the area is to improve health. Skiing fits right in with that,” she said.

Scott Christiansen of the River Valley Growth Council said his group conducted the required economic impact survey as part of the purchase of the mountain. “This is a big deal. It increases our recreational profile and our region as a destination. We were able to show there was a concrete economic and job gain, more spending and more jobs,” he said.

Those figures came in at a $1.6 million economic impact for the area, as well as 44 new jobs scattered throughout the region.

“My hat is off the Roger Arsenault and his team. They drove this,” he said.

Arsenault of Rumford is a longtime member of the Chisholm Ski Club, the group that provides most of the work and planning at the mountain. He is a defining member of the group that pursued the sale of the mountain.

The River Valley Chamber of Commerce views the sale as a real plus, too.

“It’s wonderful!” said Cheryl Dickson, president of the chamber. “It can only boost the economy of the River Valley area, it will help the area tremendously. The company that has purchased the mountain has developed other similar ski areas and has helped to make them grow. It is a positive thing for this area and we love it.”

Lovejoy said a local press conference will be called in the very near future to outline details about the sale and the specific ideas for development.

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