7361-R3_MSA_Nov2020_MaineSnowmobiler

Eastern Maine Snowmobile Club- 50 seasons and still going strong!! (Portions of this article were taken from the original printing in the ME Snowmobiler newspaper written by Ted Kimball)

In the summer of 1970 Roland Ginn’s Barber Shop in South Brewer was the place for the guys to gather and talk while waiting for their hair cuts. Rollie kept telling everyone, almost every day, about his idea: “Let’s start a snowmobile club.” The talk continued through the summer and people from sur- rounding towns: Brewer, Holden, Eddington, Dedham, Orrington, Bangor, and Hampden along with others from beyond became involved. As the talk grew so did the idea and it wasn’t long before they were acting on their talk. One person who was listening to all this talk was Rodney Clewley and one day he spoke up and told them he would donate two acres of his 90 acres of land if they wanted it. Nothing else was said to him at the time because it was still just an idea. By September of 1970 the group had planned an organizational meeting to be held at the Pend- leton St. School in Brewer. They invited then MSA Director Frank Farren Bob Creighton of the Big A SC, and Ed Armstrong publisher of the Me Snowmobiler to join them. When the meeting was ended, 120 families were ready to become members of a club that didn’t have a place to meet, didn’t have a name and didn’t have funds to build any- thing with! The organizers of the meeting signed up 120 family mem- berships before they even had a name for the club. At this point some of the original group went back to Rod Clewley and asked about the land dona-

tion. His response was- “I never thought you would take me up on it, but if I told you I would give you the whole 90 acres, that is exactly what I would do. The two acres is yours! Now they had land on the Levenseller Rd in Holden to build on. In October of 1970 members started clearing the lot. As Ted Kimball wrote in account of the beginning of EMSC- “There were so many members with chain saws going it wasn’t safe any where in the neighborhood!” Trees were cut, brush was piled and burned and a plan for the building size was made up. Work continued through October and into November on the land. On November 25, 1970 con- crete was poured for the 40x80 building. One major issue was- How would they pay for a building? Holland Brothers snowmobile dealer on Wilson St. in Brewer was approached. The idea was to raffle off a new snowmobile and trailer but they didn’t have the money to buy it. Ed Holland gave them a Rupp snowmobile and trailer BUT NO key until they raised enough money to pay for it. Not only did they raise enough money to pay him but raised $2500 for the building. In steps Margurite Dwyer who worked for Agway at the time and made arrangements for them to buy a 40 X 80 building at Agway’s cost. Charles Harmon was president of Bangor Sav- ings and Loan Co at the time and agreed to write a ten year mort- gage once the shingles were on

the roof. Agway agreed to deliver the building package once this mortgage loan arrangement was made. Construction of the building took place all through the winter of 1970-71. Outside walls were up in Jan 1971, roof trusses were built on site and the roof was installed. The shingles still needed to be on to get the loan so they were placed inside on the floor that had two inches of ice on it and heaters were used to warm them up. 16 to 20 people shingled the roof in February of 1971 in a couple of days. In March of 1971 the first meeting of the club was held inside the building even though there was still ice on the floor and the inside was not com- plete. Monthly meetings have been held there ever since In April of 1971 the first annual meeting was held to elect new officers and replace the original founders: Ted Kimball, Tom Cox, John Cluff, and Louis Sawyer. The other original founders were Roland Ginn, Irving Murray, Don Gray, Norm DeCesare Jr., Don Costain and Sonny Shaw. Choosing a name for the club became the next issue. Since there were people from many differ- ent towns involved in the forming and building and being members, it was decided to call it Eastern Maine Smowmobilers. Attorney Dana Devoe set about to file incor- poration papers with the state and ran into a snag. The State Attorney General’s Office said we couldn’t use the spelling of MAINE on our incorporation papers so it was decided to drop the “e” on those forms and incorporate as Eastern

MAIN Snowmobilers, Inc. For the past 50 seasons we have used the complete spelling of Maine on everything. The clubhouse was built 50 years ago with all volunteer labor. The mortgage was paid off in ten years thanks to a fundraising event that still continues today, the 300 Club. It is still run by all volunteer labor today. It includes a full kitchen, men’s and ladies’ bathrooms, a furnace room and two storage closets in the bathrooms as well as a 65 X 40 main hall area, which is just the way it was built in1970-71. It even has the original fireplace that the ladies at the time of build- ing wanted. They had to raise their own funds to have it built and Glen Fox donated all the fieldstones as long as the ladies, children and many pickup trucks came and hauled them. In 1994 member John Toppi felt the club should have a storage garage for the grooming equip- ment. He started a fund raiser and a 20 x 30 building was erected in two weekends, including the con- crete slab. His fundraising efforts of buying a plank and a fund raiser by the women of the club to publish cookbooks were successful and along with donated materials and dedicated volunteers the garage was completed. It was dedicated to John on April 23,1995. Today it houses all the trail maintenance and grooming equipment. An arson fire in May of 2007 destroyed the back wall and roof of the building. That was a challeng- ing time for the club and its mem-

bers but it was re-built to the same specs as the original. The fireplace needed a little TLC but it still stands today and is used at every event in cold weather. Even though we had to have a restoration company do the work, volunteers were still there to make sure EMSC was restored as it had been for so many years. Since 1970 membership has remained fairly consistent with around 100 members annually. Dedham, Orrington, Bucksport, Clifton, Bangor and Hampden have formed their own snowmobile clubs but EMSC still has an active member base. The club still meets monthly from September to April and the annual meeting is still held in April. Club members still vol- unteer to do all that is needed to keep the club running. We have three original members who are still members from that first group in 1970: Dick Crawford, Charlie Mitchell Jr, and Carl Gerow. Fund- raising events are still ongoing with raffles, auctions, dinners and the 300 Club Drawing. We have approximately 200 landowners and eighty miles of trails in Holden, Eddington, Brewer and Bradley we maintain with four sleds, pipe drags and mogul master drags. Landowners are recognized each year with an invitation to a Land- owner Supper. The club motto has been and continues to be: “Eastern Maine Snowmobilers- Dedicated to Family, Fun and Friends!” Con- gratulations EMSC- a half century and still going strong!!

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