It started at Big Rock Alpine Ski Area, just south of Presque Isle. It spread to Black Mountain of Maine in Rumford. And, now, we support its expansion at Spruce Mountain in Jay.

What is it?

Free skiing.

Really.

The Maine Winter Sports Center, which owns Big Rock and Black Mountain, organizes free skiing on specified days of the week, part of its mission to re-establish skiing as a lifestyle in Maine. Not establish that lifestyle. Re-establish it.

It’s a mission Maine Winter Sports Center is pushing in an age of video games, movie rentals and other electronic entertainment that lure families indoors on cold winter days. The allure of sitting in front of a computer or television screen is one of the largest contributing factors to Maine’s growing girth as too many families have steadily moved away from outdoor recreation.

Free skiing, the bargain that it is, is a terrific incentive for us to get outside.

This week, Spruce Mountain Educational Foundation board member Francis Gagnon – involved with the Spruce Mountain and Chisholm ski clubs – will be knocking on the doors of local businesses seeking sponsorships for Wednesday night skiing at Spruce from late January to early February. Gagnon said he got the idea of inviting businesses to help, which includes an offer for them to post business signs and merchandise displays inside and outside the ski lodge during the free ski nights, from the successful program started at Black Mountain last year.

Part of that success is that travelers seeking free skiing are also bringing new business – dining, shopping and gas purchases – to town.

Spruce and Black mountains are nonprofit ski slopes, but Spruce is much smaller than Black Mountain and welcomes guidance from its Rumford neighbor.

Black Mountain is well-qualified to offer such guidance, having transformed itself in recent years, becoming an active competition site for high school, collegiate and world class ski competitions.

It wasn’t too long ago that Black Mountain was a struggling slope, but in the past three years – with backing from Maine Winter Sports Center – it has a new ski lodge, lights and chairlifts at the top of the mountain, and other improvements.

Spruce Mountain isn’t nearly as ambitious, but it is a delightful slope that offers Nordic and downhill skiing of varying challenge.

Gagnon is getting the free Wednesday ski nights organized there to see if he can drum up some interest in the slope, which is owned by Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls. He’s hoping to lure people who have never thought of skiing and others who haven’t skied in a while to strap on their boots and give it a try. He’s hoping to re-establish the skiing lifestyle.

He’ll need the support of local businesses to make this work, and he’ll need skiers to make it fun.

Mainers – all New Englanders, really – love a bargain. This is such a bargain and we encourage businesses to support the project and hope families will take advantage of the free skiing.