By Carol Fisher-Linn
Who has more fun than the folks in camo or Carhart brown?
It’s a brand-new year. We all begin with a seed of an idea for something new, something different, even if we don’t say it out loud. We observe tiny seeds of others’ ideas sprout at every turn, even the ones that seem far-fetched or impossible: A wee bakery tucked away in Great Valley, a bikes and burritos shop in an old mill, a tiny catering service turned into Dina’s empire, a rough fur barn turned elegant into The Silver Fox … you get the idea. Or it could be a simple experience elsewhere (example – The Fall Festival) and something great is born.
HoliMont is such an example. Their website tells us that “After witnessing the Winter Olympics at Lake Placid in 1932, William Merk, founder of HoliMont, was inspired to pursue his passion for skiing in the Ellicottville area. After skiing for years with the Ellicottville Ski Club on Fish Hill and throughout the Greer and Holiday Valley areas, he decided to start a private ski club.”
The seed took a while to germinate, but in 1961 Merk and local investors purchased land on Route 242 calling it HoliMont from the phrase “Holiday Mountain.” They cut the first trail in 1961 and seven were cut in 1962, which was considered the official first season of HoliMont. In true ski-pioneer fashion, a Tucker Sno-Cat towed members up the steep hill, and the rest is history with more terrain and chairs added, including Greer Hill in 1995 which was its own seed of so much of Ellicottville’s ski history. Happy 60th Anniversary, HoliMont!
More seeds appeared, not on the slopes but on a beach in Puerto Rico. Two HoliMont members were soaking up the sun in their contractor “off season” when a seed fell and Brad Banks from Midland Asphalt and “Weed” Frederick from ABC Paving Co. helped it sprout. Classically, a cocktail napkin often plays a role in germinating seeds, i.e., Disney’s Shark Week started on a cocktail napkin; Oprah’s empire started with lunch scribblings by film critic Robert Ebert; the original scoring system for NASCAR was born on a napkin, and Aaron Sorkin wrote most of his famous movie (“A Few Good Men”) on the back of cocktail napkins while he was bartending at the Palace Theater in New York City. Such was the beginning of Contractor’s Week with names of skier contractors they knew scribbled on their cocktail napkins.
Jennah Bradley, Sales/Marketing Director at HoliMont, informs us that Friday, January 27th is Contractor’s Day – from 9am-4:30pm. Between 600-700 people attend to promote their businesses, rub shoulders with their fellow contractor colleagues, and set up their own displays while perusing others. For active fun, they can participate in the 34th annual Dave Pitkin race or the bombardier ball drop where balls are dropped from the chair lift into cans below (with luck and skill) for prizes. Donate generously because all the proceeds from that drop go to the HoliMont Adaptive Ski Program. For those who don’t know what that is, this ski program focuses on the instruction and guidance for adults and children with disabilities. PSIA trained instructors provide a safe, compassionate skiing and riding environment for adaptive students’ needs. Imagine … If even half of the 700 people attending donated $5 for a ball to drop (or be dropped for them) you will have raised $1,750 for this amazing, worthwhile cause, while having a merry time! Why not make this biggest HoliMont event for the season a real win-win and drop two?
Food! One of the best parts of this event is lunch and Hors d’oeuvres provided by Dina’s at the Mont. B&L Wholesale is once again the lead sponsor for the event, joined by twenty to thirty others from near and far whose company logos are advertised all over the resort. It is truly a day that many look forward to. If you would like to attend the event, tickets are on sale on our website https://holimont.com/events/. If you would like to become a sponsor, contact Jennah Bradley at jennah@holimont.com or call 716-699-2320.