KINGFIELD, Maine — The Ski Museum of Maine, an organization dedicated to preserving the unique and storied history of the ski industry in Maine, has moved to Kingfield and into a new home located above the Sugarloaf Sports Outlet. The new location provides the Ski Museum with a more secure and financially viable home, thanks to a new partnership with Sugarloaf.

“It’s a pretty ideal location for us,” Ski Museum President John Christie said. “The space is more than adequate and a bit bigger than our current location, actually. The Kingfield area is growing as a year-round destination, and being that it’s right in the heart of ski-country, it seems like the right place for us.”

The Ski Museum of Maine began informally in 1995 when members of the Sugarloaf Ski Club were cleaning out the organization’s files from the 1950s through the 1970s. Lacking space to store the material and reluctant to destroy it, they suggested creating a museum. The museum existed without a physical home until 2006, when it opened in downtown Farmington.

The museum continued in the Farmington location on a month-by-month lease, until Sugarloaf General Manager John Diller proposed the idea of the Kingfield location to Don Fowler, a Ski Museum Board Member and Kingfield resident.

“We have always been big supporters of the Ski Museum, and we’re excited to be able to help in this way,” Diller said. “Having a secure, long term home for the museum will help the board work to preserve the unique and fascinating history of all of Maine’s ski areas.”

Ski Museum Director Megan Roberts said that the new location will allow the museum to concentrate more on its primary goal of preserving Maine’s ski history without worrying about its physical home.

“After all of the growth we’ve experienced over the past three years, it’s great to be able to catch our breath and concentrate strictly on our goals,” she said. “The new location is a nice large space, and we’ll be able to display even more of the artifacts and collections that we have accumulated over the years.”

According to Christie, who is the author of the The Story of Sugarloaf, the availability of knowledgeable volunteers in the Kingfield area was another reason the move made sense.

“There are a lot of older folks in the area who love to volunteer, and many of them have unique, first hand knowledge of the history we’re trying to preserve,” he said.

The museum will offer a “sneak preview” at its new location during Sugarloaf’s Annual Homecoming Weekend, October 10-11, and is planning an official grand opening for late November or early December.

For more information on the Ski Museum of Maine, please visit www.skimuseumofmaine.org. For more information on Sugarloaf, please visit www.sugarloaf.com.