New downtown Gorham Bike & Ski Shop renews discussions around reviving Waterville’s little-known skiing past

A new Gorham Bike & Ski, a comprehensive-service shop at 50 Concourse West, has nestled itself between The Villager Family Restaurant and Yardgoods Center. This new downtown Waterville location, opened in December, represents an addition to the four other company stores in Brunswick, Kennebunk, Portland, and Saco, and a seasonal store in Jackson, New Hampshire. All of these locations offer gear and equipment for cross-country skiing and outdoor recreation. 

Gorham Bike & Ski employs between 25 and 30 people companywide when fully staffed, with additional part-time workers hired in the summer. The New Hampshire location operates only from November to March according to Dave Palese, the company’s general manager.

Adorning the increasingly busy commercial strip, the new storefront faces the recently constructed Bill & Joan Alfond Main Street Commons dorm directly. This places the business in a location frequented often by Colby students..

“We’re really a true family shop for bikes and skis,” Palese said in an interview with the Morning Sentinel. “We do everything from kids bikes all the way up to high-end mountain, road and electric bikes, as well. We do everything for everybody, and that’s how we built the business over the years.”

Palese’s reasoning for the company’s strategy included its broader aspiration to tap into the local recreationally-oriented demographic which he felt was being neglected

“We just felt that, in general, the area was underserved for both skiers and bikers,” Palese explained in a recent public statement addressing the company’s decision to establish operations in Waterville.   

According to Palese, the store will be open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday The 1,800-square-foot store has three full-time employees, including its manager, Paul Denis.

Coinciding with the store’s December opening, Palese went on to gleam,“This is our 25th year in business,”  saying of the company envisioned by Jamie Wright.

Palese noted proudly that the December store opening coincided with the company’s 25th year in business.

“[Founder Jamie Wright] started the business in Gorham with a one-man shop in 1995,” Palese said. “He moved the store from Gorham to Portland in 1997 to be closer to a bigger population. He has grown the business ever since.”

Palese  underscored how he felt the Waterville expansion was well-situated to capture the city’s close proximity to both surrounding ski areas and Colby College students. In doing so, he emphasized how the decision to open the shop also enabled the brand to accomplish its larger goals of expansion and facilitating future ventures in Maine’s growing recreation market. 

Palese also hoped that Waterville could once again become known in the region for its draw among skiing enthusiasts, a reputation now given to surrounding ski resorts and locales further inland.

“We’re hoping to kind of help with that as much as we can,'' Palese remarked.  “We’ve also heard talk about bringing the ski hill back again.”

Palese also referenced discussions that have been occurring over several years, led primarily by the nonprofit Friends of Quarry Road, about possibly reestablishing a downhill ski area, between upper Main Street and Quarry Road, immediately off North Street. 

Beginning in the 1930’s with a rope tow, the recreation area quickly became a hub of activity for local ski enthusiasts. The hill was closed during World War II, then re-opened by veterans and the Colby Outing Club in the late 1940’s. 

Briefly regaining popularity in the late 60s and early 70s when operated by the College, it was subsequently abandoned due to increasingly high operating costs the Colby was unable to pay. 

The ski area was not revisited until 2007 when the City of Waterville and local advocates moved to reopen a year-round recreation area, known as Quarry Road Trails, near the site of the old Colby ski slope along the Messalonskee Stream.

The shop’s arrival in downtown Waterville has brought these conversations back into focus, reviving  discussions between the City of Waterville and the Friends of Quarry Road, dating back to the 2017 public workshop about the site's potential restoration of a downhill skiing slope. 

Friends of Quarry Road has also worked with the city to generate funding for investment in the recreation area contracted with the SE Group from Burlington, Vermont, back in 2017 to update the master plan for the area to reflect development ambitions for the next decade.

The defunct ski area once boasted a 1963 Hall T-Bar lift, which served trails dropping some 235 vertical feet, including the Colby Ski Area, which was located a short two miles away from the Colby Campus. 

Also containing a 1200 foot T-bar, the aforementioned rope tow, and a 32 meter ski jump, the site drew ski enthusiasts from in and around Kennebec County and Central Maine and served as training slopes for eager Colby learners. 

Currently, the recreation area features snowmaking and grooming on its Nordic trails in the winter. City officials have noted that these trails do see frequent use.

Friends of Quarry Road has recently pledged to create an alpine skiing and tubing facility at the Quarry Road Recreational Area aimed at recapturing the site's past. If opened, the City of Waterville has agreed to manage the ski area.

“Improving the quality and access for the Quarry Road Trails would be a great plan,” Ciaran McEnroe `21 said. “Colby students often hike there and Nordic ski as well, and it can be a great place to get away from campus and get outside. With it being so close, improved trails and management would benefit the school and community well, providing nearby access to excellent recreation.”

Palese also voiced the interest that Gorham Bike & Ski has in the project and hopes to see it gain traction as operations begin for the company’s first season in Waterville at the newly opened shop.

~ Aaron Mills `24