FARMINGTON — A campaign to make improvements at Titcomb Mountain Ski Area received a boost when two local companies recently offered to match donations up to $60,000.

When Farmington Ski Club sent out letters for a corporate appeal for help with needed projects earlier this year, Franklin Savings Bank and Western Mountain Financial Services, and Kyes Insurance stepped up to help. They have promised to match donations over this year, potentially raising half of the needed $120,000.

Kyes Insurance owner Dick Bjorn and Franklin Savings Bank President Peter Judkins discussed the potential for the community to raise the funds and settled on the matching contribution with each paying half of matched funds, Judkins said Wednesday.

The club, started in 1939 with the present lodge built in 1949, plans to make some major improvements over the next six years, Karleen Andrews, mountain manager said.

Two T-bar lift cables need to be replaced at $20,000 each, snowmobiles need to be replaced, snow-making equipment is needed, gravel for the parking lot is needed and the 12-year-old carpet in the lodge needs to be replaced, she said.

The cable may need to be replaced this year or next, Dick Forster, board member, said. It’s inspected every May and for the last three years, inspectors have given the club one more year, but this year may be the year it has to be done, he said.

The club hopes this year it can replace snow sleds used in rescues on the Nordic trails, replace the carpeting, work on trails and complete cutting a new trail on top for use as a giant slalom race course, he said.

There are other projects planned within the next few years, he said. This matching fund is a “great opportunity for Titcomb Mountain,” he added.

“These are expensive items that are outside of the normal budget,” Shelley Deane, a member of the Titcomb Ski Club Educational Foundation Board of Directors, said in a release. “Our mission is to keep skiing affordable at Titcomb and not have to turn people away.”

The Farmington Ski Club owns and operates the local community ski area. The capital improvement campaign is intended to help raise funds beyond operating costs without raising ski prices.

“We are so lucky to have a community ski area that provides healthy outdoor winter activities for everyone,” Forster said. “Because we are able to keep our ticket prices down, it’s possible for families to join in the fun without breaking the bank.”

Numerous volunteers keep Titcomb open. Volunteers make snow, maintain trails, teach skiing, run the commissary and staff a volunteer ski patrol, Deane said.

The club will need to raise $60,000 in donations, Forster said.

“Every dollar donated is effectively two dollars with this generous match,” he said.

He said he hopes community members who appreciate the value Titcomb provides will contribute.

Checks should be made out to Titcomb Ski Club Educational Foundation and mailed to P.O. Box 43, Farmington, ME 04938. All donations are tax deductible.

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