RANGELEY — An informational meeting on a plan to turn Saddleback Mountain ski area into a community-owned company drew a supportive crowd of more than 200 on Wednesday night.

They seemed prepared to translate their confidence and enthusiasm into memberships and donations.

Organizers of the effort to buy the ski area say if they can raise a $4 million down payment, they will take over the business and turn it into a community nonprofit. A capital campaign to raise $25 million is underway.

The cost to buy Saddleback would be $6 million. The $25 million would buy the ski resort and the forestland, provide operating cash, replace the chairlift, and expand the base lodge, trails and snow-making. 

“This is a very well-vetted plan whereby we (the community) will have control,” Saddleback Community Mountain Resort organizer Peter Stein told the gathering at Rangeley Lakes Regional School on Wednesday night.

The Berry family, which owns Saddleback, has had it on the market since 2012. The resort stayed closed for the entire season last year after multiple attempts failed to secure money for a new, faster lift, or to find a new owner.

Stein said at a news conference last week that the Berrys have agreed to transfer the operation if the group can raise the initial $4 million.

Questions from the community included what will the role of Maine state government be, where has this public-private partnership model worked elsewhere in terms of ski area purchase and subsequent ongoing operations and what are the levels of investment?

Organizers answered that the role of state government will come later in the process as the group applies for state grants. Examples of where such a partnership has worked included ski areas Mad River Glen in Vermont and Bridger Bowl in Montana. 

The public portion of the agreement with the Berry family will come through the supportive work of The Trust for Public Land, said Wolfe Tone, the Maine director of this national organization, a nonprofit that facilitates and funds the creation of parks and protected lands. 

Tone explained that their work focuses on conservation as well as economic development. It was clear from Stein’s comments that the involvement of the TPL “sealed the deal” that is on the table.

The Trust for Public Land and the New England Forestry Foundation are working to buy 3,249 acres of forestland adjacent to the mountain.