About 30,000 people are expected to visit Saddleback.
RANGELEY – They came. They listened.
And each time Bill Berry Jr. spoke more about his vision for Saddleback Mountain, their smiles got broader and that sparkle in their eyes got brighter.
From the murmurs of excitement in the crowd of more than 250 who gathered for a reception to welcome Berry and his wife, Irene, it’s safe to say people in the Rangeley area feel good about the new ownership.
“You have given us all a reason to believe in Santa Claus,” said Lillian Ellis, whose statement was met with a rumbling of similar sentiment whispers and nods.
Berry, a retired University of Maine at Farmington geology professor, along with his wife and seven children, bought the mountain in a nine-way partnership for more than $8 million last month.
Tom McAllister, the mountain’s longtime general manager who will stay on, told the crowd that this past summer when everyone in town asked him why he was smiling all the time it was because, “I knew something they didn’t,” pointing to the Berrys.
At 4,116 feet, Saddleback includes 41 trails, two double chairlifts, three T-bar lifts and 8,300 acres of lush forest and alpine lakes and ponds.
Downhill slide
Since the 1980s when the mountain logged around 45,000 skier visits each year, the resort shriveled up more and more each year as the former owner, Donald Breen, was consumed by a heated battle against the federal government over land rights around the Appalachian Trail, which runs along the ridge of the property.
Last year, skier visits were under 20,000, a figure that local business owners and residents duly noted.
But when Berry announced Wednesday night that he planned to embark on a massive television and radio ad blitz, people clapped gratefully.
Skier visits are expected to at least double to around 30,000 this year.
Berry fielded a variety of questions from the group.
When they asked if there would be a nursery to provide child care, Berry told them he was working on it.
When they asked about night skiing, Berry told them it was too cold, but that he was considering a snow-tubing park to be open after the slopes closed.
When they asked about expanding the lodge, Berry admitted not for this season, but assured them it would more than double in size soon yet still keep its rustic charm.
When they asked him the hotel rumors, Berry told them construction for a 120-room hotel would start soon, stressing it would be simple and tasteful.
Bigger and better
The lifts will be open until 5 p.m. in March when the days get longer. Every lift will be open every day. There will be 80 employees this year, more than ever.
“We hope to continue every program that was going and hope to make them bigger and better,” Berry said.
The Rangeley Rotary Club, co-sponsors of the event along with the town’s chamber of commerce, sold hats that read “Saddleback’s Back.” Berry and his wife proudly put them on.
“You just couldn’t have found a better match,” said Mark Beauregard, chairman of the town’s selectmen. “Their outgoing nature and the way they’ve involved the community in their plans is a good sign.”
Roger Page, one of the original founders of the ski area back in the late 1950s and a man whose name is synonymous with Saddleback, had, perhaps, the biggest smile on his face.
“They have perfect plans. Right in step. Their plan is definitely going to work,” Page said, adding that what impressed him most was the systematic and realistic approach the Berry family was taking to grow the mountain.
“Local businesses are going to do a hell of a lot better,” Page said. “He doesn’t realize the impact of what he is doing. Eighty jobs this winter. With all the layoffs around here, this puts Rangeley ahead of the curve.”
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