The Maine Winter Sports Center was developed at its core, as an economic development engine for rural, isolated communities with a strong skiing tradition. Our decision to begin operations in Aroostook County was driven by the state of its economy in 1999 when we began. At the time "The County" had one of the highest unemployment rates in the State and one of the highest poverty rates in the country. That, combined with the role it played in introducing skiing to the United States in the 1870's and several other factors made it a perfect choice to test our unique model.

When we made our first proposal to the Libra Foundation in the Spring of 1998, our situation assessment included a description of Aroostook County's traditional economic model that had been devastated by the closing of Loring Air Base, the emergence of foreign competition in the lumber industry and a change in American eating habits affecting the vitality of the potato industry. The predictable result for this isolated community was not only a dramatic increase in the unemployment rate, but also a dramatic decline in the 18-35 year old population as they left to find opportunity and start their lives elsewhere. In fact, in my previous career at L.L., I was always amazed at how many people were from The County. These are exceptionally bright, energetic, passionate people who, following graduation from the Bowdoin's, Colby's, Bates', Middlebury's, Dartmouth's and Harvard's of the world, to name a few, are making a substantial contribution to one of the most respected retailers in the world - and not, unfortunately, to the re-emergence of a healthy, sustainable Aroostook County economy.

An argument could be easily forwarded that this exodus was the most devastating of the hits to the traditional economic model of Aroostook County and it seemed clear that any solution would have to start by creating the kind of real opportunities that would keep the youth in the County, and these families together.

The premise of the Maine Winter Sports Center model is that the isolation of Aroostook and the realities of foreign competition make its traditional economic model problematic. On the other hand, the abundance of dependable snow, world-class ski terrain, and the warmth of the people make Aroostook a natural location for a ski-based economy.

Additionally, the low cost of living, a labor force with a strong work ethic, two university campuses and universal access to the high speed cable network makes Aroostook a strong candidate to compete in the information industry where distance from market is not a factor in a community's ability to compete in a global marketplace.

Our plan was to create an economic model based on leveraging world-class skiing infrastructure. The engine to drive this new model would be the relatively obscure sport of Biathlon - relatively obscure in North America anyway. Biathlon is the most popular winter sport on TV in Europe, regularly drawing 20 million prime time viewers for each of their 9 weeklong series. They will draw an additional 20,000 - 100,000 spectators to the venues across the World Cup tour. It is a huge television industry in Europe and we believed we could make events held in the US attractive to this market.

North America had been host to a handful of efforts in the past 15 years, none of which had been successful. The venues had primarily been the Olympic venues of Lake Placid and Canmore, Alberta, as well as a facility just north of Quebec, Canada. None of these events produced good TV. Crowds of less than 50 spectators were uninspiring for both the athletes competing and for viewers watching on TV. The events were also marked by little volunteer support.

We believed we could create a different reality, on all levels of the experience - for the athletes and for the TV viewers. We also believed that in the process we could create a new economic reality for the people of Aroostook County.

There are two levels to the economic model.

Event-based model

• Unlike World Cup cross country skiing events, a biathlon World Cup event brings with it European TV coverage and with that millions of TV impressions across Europe (our recent success in attracting the Outdoor Life Network adds 6 million viewers and 17 hours of biathlon coverage on TV in North American as well). Those impressions are critical to creating awareness of Aroostook County as a skiing epicenter within the marketplace.
• The hundreds of athletes and officials, and thousands of spectators will also bring with it a significant direct investment of spending into the local economy (The 2004 World Cup in Fort Kent, brought $5.2 Million in economic impact to the community over the 4 days of the event.

Tourist-based model

• The world-wide awareness and prestige that comes from events like the World Cup, the 2006 Biathlon Junior World Championship in Presque Isle and National Championships that are held in our facilities will draw recreational skiers to the County. This more regular traffic will sustain the infrastructure required to successfully host the World for the major events.

Our first step was to create venues that would rival the top facilities in Europe. We hired an architect from Europe who had competed on the Biathlon World Cup circuit and who understood what would be required of the venue. We also brought in members of the International Biathlon Union to consult on the design, as well as the European TV producers who would actually be working in the venue in the event we were successful in securing a World Cup bid.

Our second step was to prepare the communities for an event like a World Cup or World Championship. We knew how motivated and hard working the people of Aroostook County were toward anything they believed would help improve their community. All they needed was to be grounded in an understanding of what a world-class event would look like and what would be expected of them to successfully host one.

The response has been overwhelming from our first event on. While other World Cups are being organized with 50 or fewer volunteers, Fort Kent had have over 700 for their World Cup. This group reflects a cross section of the community, business leaders, craftsman, the education community, local government and the retired community. Their efforts transcend the event and have added a village improvement focus (it was already one of the loveliest villages in the state), the addition of a new dorm at the University of Maine at Fort Kent campus, which served as the athlete village during the event. The volunteers have brought the event to life, and are breathing new life into the community as well.

Events like the Festival at Fort Kent were created and run like a World Cup to give the community experience with the organization and execution of a World Cup. Sponsors like TD Banknorth came on board to help fund the grand scope of the Festival and to allow Fort Kent and Aroostook County to put their best foot forward to the World. In the meantime, the international biathlon community was watching with an increased interest, and a growing belief that Aroostook County might be the piece that has been missing in North America.

Presque Isle, which was awarded the World Junior Championships for Biathlon in February 2006, had also been preparing itself with major races like the TAMC Nordic Heritage Sprints. The Sprints are held annually between Christmas and New Years and have brought hundreds of racers from around North America and hundreds more spectators to Presque Isle. The result is hotels filled at a time of year that is typically slow for the local industry.

While we are still in the very early stages of the development of this new economic model, early signs have been very encouraging and the prospects for the future are brighter than ever.