BETHEL — The Ski Museum of Maine will celebrate Nordic skiing in Maine with its 30th annual Carter’s Last Stand Nordic Day on Thursday, Jan. 1, at Carter’s X-C Ski Center, Vice President Wende Gray said.
The event was established by Dave Carter, a renowned cross-country skier and co-owner of Carter’s X-C Ski Center.
Carter passed away earlier this year after a battle with cancer.
“This year’s Carter’s Last Stand is going to be a special one,” Gray said.
“The event itself is going to be 30 years old, so we’ll be celebrating that anniversary, but we’ll also be celebrating the life of Dave Carter,” Gray said. “We’ll be honoring Dave’s life, the 30-year anniversary and the Ski Museum of Maine at the same time.”
Carter’s wife, Anne, said that her family was “happy to honor the memory of my husband, Dave, by hosting the annual Carter’s Last Stand New Year’s Day event.”
“Dave had an extensive collection of old wooden to modern-day Nordic equipment,” Anne Carter said. “We hope that the Ski Museum will be able to preserve and display his collection at its satellite museum planned to open in Bethel in 2015.”
The admission fee for the event is $25 for adults, $15 for kids ages 6 to 18 and free for kids 5 and younger, Gray said. The price of admission includes a trail pass, a lunch consisting of chili, chowder and soup, a choice of several outdoor activities and a fireside chat.
Gray said all money raised at the event will go toward the Ski Museum of Maine in Kingfield.
“We’re trying to raise money for a satellite museum in Bethel right now, so all money we raise at Carter’s Last Stand will go toward those efforts,” Gray said.
Carter’s Last Stand will begin at 9 a.m., and those attending can register for events at that time.
Starting at 10 a.m., Gray said that people can choose from a variety of outdoor events, including a snowshoe tour with a forest biologist, an uphill Nordic ski climb to Farwell Mountain Lookout, a guided Nordic tour along the Androscoggin River or a kids’ Nordic relay race.
From 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., a buffet lunch will be held inside Carter’s Lodge, followed by a Nordic skiing fireside chat at 1:30 p.m.
Gray said that the fireside chat is an hour-long presentation using PowerPoint or slide shows organized by the Ski Museum of Maine, revolving around topics of the heritage and history of skiing in Maine.
The day will wrap up at 3:30 p.m. with the drawing of the Great Ski and Sport Shop Raffle, where people will have the chance to win a variety of prizes, including $500 to the Kittery Trading Post, $250 to the Ski Depot and $100 to Carter’s X-C Ski Center.
Gray said that some of the events would be dependent on the weather.
“Given the way the weather is supposed to be on the day of the event, there’s the possibility that there won’t be a tour or some of the other outdoor events,” Gray said. “However, we do plan on doing the snowshoe tour with the the forest biologist, and we’ll certainly take people who visit on a walk through the woods and the trails in the area.”
To reserve a spot at the event or for more information, call 207-539-4848.
mdaigle@sunjournal.com
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