By Carol Fisher-Linn
In a conversation with Ellicottville businessman, Mike Timkey, it was interesting to learn that back in 1979, right before the big Ellicottville “boom,” his dad, George “Bud” Timkey, an automobile business owner from Lockport, with the urging of friends Bud and Rita Dobbins looked for a way to relocate to Ellicottville. His wife, Mary, a teacher and sports enthusiast loved skiing, and he had hopes that his teenaged children (Peter, Paul, Mike and Patricia) might have an opportunity to work at a new family business. Hearing that Holiday Valley Motel was for sale (located where current Holiday valley Inn sits) he purchased said motel only to discover that he didn’t like being an innkeeper, nor did his children. Fortunately for Bud, the boom was on and Holiday Valley was more than happy to buy the motel from him.
found a way to relocate
his family from Lockport,
NY to Ellicottville in
1979, right before the
“boom”. He did so by
purchasing the Holiday
Valley Motel. He later
sold that and purchased
the land which would
eventually become The
Boardroom on 219.
The Ray Dineen farm was for sale so Timkey and his associates made an offer on a wedge shaped parcel of the farm that sat on Route 219 and Holiday Valley Road from what is now the location near the Ellicottville Health Center (Pharmacy) edging onto the Telemark (now property of The Lincoln Boutique Motel and Pour Taproom).
Salamanca businessman Tom O’Rourke, John Northup of Northrup Construction, Bud Timkey, and Buffalo attorney Walter Brock joined forces to develop the second group of condominiums in Ellicottville (Valley Village at Holiday Valley was first), Alpine Village. By Fall festival 1982, the first of 44 planned condos was open for public viewing. With the much desired location facing the slopes of Holiday Valley, the two-story,1440 square foot units started at $59,900 (45 years later, they now sell for $400,000-$500,000). Talk about a boom!
In 1984, one of the old Dineen barns was moved 100 feet closer to Route 219 to become Barnyard Ski Rental. Bud’s son, Mike Timkey and his wife Jodie took a chance on establishing a ski rental business. The old barn was remodeled but burned to the ground months after opening. Mike gathered pals and rebuilt. In 1991 they transformed themselves into one of the premier snowboard shops on the east coast, according to their website. The Boardroom is now overseen by Bud’s grandson, Spencer and his wife Molly.
Going back to the “old days” before any growth took place in Ellicottville, the Ray and Nina Dineen 400-acre family dairy farm sat in that location (and across the street where Wildflower and The Ellicottville Depot Restaurant now sits). If you stand at the corner of Holiday Valley Road and Route 219 imagine a bad curve and an old toll gate and toll house on the Plank Road (Route 219). Now, we are talking about a time in the late 1800’s but it seems to appear in early 1900 lore as well. In 1958, the old Telemark opened on what had been Dineen farmland. In 1961 a piece of the Dineen farm was leased by HBC homes managed by Bill Abriatis, where they erected several prefab homes. With the help of Bill Robinson through the Ellicottville Historical Society site, a story was unearthed about the huge county wide horse pulls at Dineen farms in 1962. There was a racetrack on the property for training horses, or so the stories go. The entire area was farmland in the Holiday Valley, Wildflower, Alpine, Ellicottville Depot area until you got closer to the village. The area also included the Hintz farm, the Goode farm and the Fox farm. All of Wildflower was farmland, as was Donlen Drive according to Village historian Ellen Siriani Frank who now lives on Donlen Drive. She recalls that in the ‘70s horses were in the surrounding pastures and she laughingly tells the story of a neighbor complaining to Ray Dineen about his goats getting on top of her car. It was a delicate dance as Ellicottville evolved from farm town to ski town to tourist town.
Today, Holiday Valley, built on these farmlands is a premier WNY four-season resort, ranked #11 in the East in the prestigious SKI Magazine 2025 Reader Survey Awards, and only one of two NY resorts on the top 20 list. Notably, Holiday Valley took the #1 spot in the “Top Resorts for Quick Trips. Additionally, Holiday Valley ranked #2 out of all Eastern resorts for “Likelihood to Return”. Knowing a bit of the history, it makes one wonder where we go from here?