FARMINGTON – Hiking up Sugarloaf, camping at the top, and getting in two runs the next day, punctuated by picnics. That’s how some of the first Maine skiers got their taste of winter bliss, ski museum consulting curator Megan Roberts said Wednesday.

You can hear tales, browse old ski magazines, marvel at ancient, nonwaterproof ski jackets, get the feel for heavy hickory skis, and otherwise come face-to-face with the joys and challenges of old-time skiing starting Saturday, when the Ski Museum of Maine opens in Farmington.

The museum, formerly in Kingfield, has moved to the Church Street Commons after years of planning, according to a news release.

The museum’s first exhibit will feature ski equipment manufactured in Maine, Roberts said “We have some skis from the late 1800s that are just boards.” Later, from the 1920s to the 1940s, local companies started a booming business.

These days, with skiing and its trappings a major industry, its easy to forget that the sport began as a grassroots obsession.

“You had to get yourself to wherever you wanted to go,” Roberts said. “You had to walk up the hill.” Let alone find one. “Skis were basically boards,” she added, “so they really didn’t turn. (Skiers) would just pretty much go straight.”

For that reason, people gravitated toward open hills. Like today, they’d make a whole day or weekend of the trip, she said. Unlike today, they wouldn’t usually stay in posh hotels or fuel up in a cafeteria. Instead, they’d have picnics at the bottom, and camp out if they stayed overnight.

In 1936, about the time skiers were discussing putting the first rope tow near Waterville, an ad was printed. “No longer will you have to walk back after gliding over hill and dale on your hickories,” Roberts read.

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