BETHEL — Less than three weeks after selectmen OK’d a WinterFest plan to add several inches of snow next month to the downhill-bound lane of lower Main Street for a special skiing and snowboarding competition, the board has asked organizers to scale it back.

Picture a skateboard park atop a mound of snow, complete with raised rails and jumps on which competitors would ride and be judged for cash prizes, and you’ll know what the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce‘s WinterFest Rail Jam plan for Jan. 28 entails.

Selectmen now want the the course shortened, like local skateboarder and snowboarder Nate Clukey suggested as a possibility at the board’s Nov. 23 meeting.

Originally, the plan that selectmen approved at that meeting, was to close the east-bound lane of Main Street from Clark Street to Home Slice Pizza from noon to about 9 p.m. on that Thursday for a two- to three-hour event that could attract more than 1,000 people to downtown area businesses.

Sugarloaf and Sunday River ski resorts held a similar invitation-only competition on Valentine’s Day last year in Portland’s Monument Square where they built a two-story starting ramp leading into a 30-foot-long, three-rail staircase complete with an overturned lobster boat hull as the park’s sliding surface finish area.

Dubbed The Downtown Showdown, it featured 16 skiers and 16 riders from industry teams, shops and academies, was a huge hit with youth and attracted more than 1,500 people.

Bethel’s WinterFest will be held from Jan. 23 through 31.

Skiers and riders who want to participate in the Bethel event would first have to win qualifiers at Mount Abram Family Ski Resort in Greenwood, chamber Executive Director Robin Zinchuk said on Thursday.

However, since getting the selectmen’s approval, some owners of businesses that would be affected by the traffic shutdown and residents raised concerns.

Fears were also raised about safety due to the course’s proximity to the Railroad Street intersection.

Additionally, it was discovered that a town ordinance prohibits non-vehicular traffic on Main Street.

Following decisions made at a WinterFest Committee meeting Wednesday night, Zinchuk said the committee will meet with selectmen on Monday, Dec. 21, to talk about amending the ordinance to allow non-vehicular traffic like skiers and snowboarders for special events.

If successful, the Rail Jam would become an annual WinterFest attraction.

“We feel like this is the first year of the event, and that it will have a nice start,” Zinchuk said.

“Hopefully, it will gain the confidence of the people in the village, that we can put on an event safely and without inconveniencing them too much, but this is all new to everybody, so we’re moving ahead.”

“I’m sure they’ll put on a good show,” she said.

Zinchuk said they can’t hold the competition across from the chamber, because that Bethel Station lot now has a night-skating rink, and will have a giant snow maze, and another snow sculptures exhibit to go with the WinterFest theme of a Winter Playground.

Additionally, they’d have to build scaffolding for a giant ramp like Sugarloaf and Sunday River did last year.

But lower Main Street already has the needed bit of an incline.

Zinchuk said organizers are amenable to changes.

“We don’t want it to be an interference,” she said.

“We want it to be fun, so we want to do whatever we need to do to have it be a positive thing for the community and let people see what it’s about and see if they like it,” Zinchuk said. “We don’t want to rock any boats.”

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