JAY — Spruce Mountain Ski Area directors on Friday afternoon, Dec. 13, held a reveal to showcase changes made by the reality TV show Maine Cabin Masters.

Jeanne Chretien, right, and Rhonda Hardy enter the Spruce Mountain Ski Area lodge Friday, Dec. 13, during the Maine Cabin Masters reveal in Jay. Both women grew up skiing at the local ski area. Chreten said she learned how to ski at the area. We were here every Wednesday night in high school, skiing under the lights, Chreten said. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

About 100 community members and town officials waited more than half an hour to walk up to the renovated lodge to tour the inside and changes made outside. First, releases had to be signed. Then young people on skis or snowboards were filmed using the bunny trail and new tow rope for the TV program. Attendees were cautioned several times that photos or videos could not be taken or shared on social media before the TV program airs in February.

The show airs Monday night at 9 p.m. on the Magnolia Network. More information may be found on the Facebook page.

Later, Ron Jacques, president of the ski area said the show will air the end of February or beginning of March. A date is not known yet, he noted.

The ski area was undergoing a generational transition, Jacques said in November 2023. More volunteers and donations were needed to maintain the ski slope, which is owned by the towns of Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls.

It was announced in August that Maine Cabin Masters had agreed to help the ski area with needed renovations. The work began in September. When asked about writing an update on the project, officials with the company indicated they wanted to wait until the reveal.

The Maine Cabin Masters crew takes footage of the public Friday, Dec. 13, as they enter the Spruce Mountain lodge for the big reveal in Jay. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

The lodge now features an updated sign welcoming skiers. The inside is brighter with new windows and the smell of new wood greets those entering. The ski trails are illuminated with vibrant lighting. A large granite stone is in back of the lodge.

“This is an exciting day,” Sarah Delaney of Livermore said while walking up the roadway. “It is big news.”

“It’s pretty special,” Justin Shink, a Spruce Mountain Ski Area board member from Livermore said inside the lodge. “Having grown up skiing here, seeing the transformation, the work keeping the ski slope open for generations is awesome. My kids ski here.”

The Maine Cabin Masters crew slates a shot Friday, Dec. 13, before the public is invited in to admire the Spruce Mountain lodge reveal in Jay. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

“It is beautiful, what they have done,” Terry Bergeron, a Jay selectman noted. “It is much different, much better.”

Gary Desjardins of Livermore is on the OTIS Federal Credit Union board, which donated $10,000 towards the project. “I am representing the credit union,” he said. “It means a lot to me, a lot to the community. OTIS needed to contribute. It’s all about the kids. They use this place. It is quite wonderful.”

“What is neat is all the old pictures of skiers,” Jim Manter of Livermore noted. “The new view with the granite stone on the back side is a nice touch of nostalgia. It touches with the history of the founders of the ski mountain, the ski slope. I last skied here in 1974. It is quite a change.”

Spruce Mountain Ski Area board of directors and their children are decked out Friday, Dec. 13, in their ski gear to model for some opening and closing photos for the Maine Cabin Masters Spruce Mountain Ski Area lodge renovation reveal in Jay. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Emma DiPompo of Jay is manager of the ski area. “I am so excited to work in a place like this,” she said. “I would have worked here anyway but it is so cool, so different. So much has been done. So many people donated. So much got done in a short amount of time. It’s like 40 years of renovations in a summer.”

When seen at another event Saturday, DiPompo said she will need to remind people not to share photos or videos until after the reveal show airs. She expressed sadness about having to do that.

“It’s really nice,” Hannah Burhoe of Jay, who is the lift operator, stated Friday. “The lift will be easier to operate.”

Jeanne Chretien of Turner grew up in Livermore Falls. “I learned to ski at Spruce Mountain Ski Area,” she noted. “I taught my kids to ski here. My great nieces and nephews ski here now. I skied here every year in high school. I am in my 50s now. I have many great memories. I knew all the original people involved. Jimmy Morrill was in my class.”

Chretien said during high school she was at the slope when it was open – every Wednesday night and on the weekends. “If you skied, this is where you were,” she explained. “There were a lot of great ski teams. I watched it grow from the bunny tow to the upper slopes. We called the lodge the hut.”

“It is beautiful,” Chretien said. “I am so happy for the younger generation to have all the amenities that they have put in. I was fortunate to grow up in a small town like this. It is so nice to come back and see people I have known all my life.”