The Ski Museum of Maine is opening its doors for the first time on Dec. 1 with an exhibit that highlights ski gear that was made in the Pine Tree State.

Most of the stuff being shown for this first-ever exhibit belongs to board member Glenn Parkinson, a Freeport man who's also the president of the New England Ski Museum and the author of First Tracks, a book on the early years of Maine skiing.

The museum will be located in the Church Street Commons building in the center of Farmington, directed by Megan Roberts, a local ski activist.

Four members of SMOM's exhibits committee -- including Megan, Greg Sweetser and myself -- met with Glenn in Freeport to select and pick up the gear.

Megan and Glenn examine two items made in Maine, an early 20th-century ski pole (basket up) and a toy skate-ski
ALL PHOTOS SCOTT ANDREWS

Megan feels the leather toe strap on a ski that's about 80 years old

The shelf of historical ski waxes in Glenn's basement

The Ski Museum of Maine doesn't currently have a website of its own, but its Maine Ski Hall of Fame can be visited online by clicking here.

SMOM's online historical exhibit of photos of skiing Pleasant Mountain in the 1950s and 1960s, published last winter through the Maine Historical Society, can be viewed by clicking here.

Stay tuned to the Ski Bum blog for more info as SMOM's opening day approaches.

E-mail this entry to a friend