The Clearwater Ski Club faces a big challenge in maintaining the ski hill and is managing to do so only through the help of many volunteers and donors, says club president April Akroyd.

Akroyd, recently re-elected for a two-year term, spoke to the Times following the club’s Winter Wonderland Craft Fair Nov. 16. She had two messages, first, that the club is grateful to everyone who helped out during 2008, and secondly, that the ski hill, with its large building, is a very expensive facility for the small, non-profit society to maintain.

The building was constructed in 1990, she said, and requires not just mortgage payments but also ongoing maintenance and repairs. Currently, the large wood stove must be replaced, and outside the building, the roads are in need of repair. There are just 188 members in the Clearwater Ski Club, and the receipts from annual dues, lift tickets and equipment rentals are not nearly enough to pay all the operating costs.

What would really help keep the facility running, says Akroyd, are cash-generating rentals of the building for weddings, family parties, reunions, meetings and other events. She says the club invites service clubs and other organizations in the area to co-host fundraising events with them at the ski hill. Anyone interested in renting the building, or co-hosting a fundraising event, should call the Ski Hill at 250-674-3848.

Akroyd said the Ski Club wants to thank all those who volunteered time and contributed money and services to the ski hill this year. At the craft fair Nov. 16, the door prizes, all contributed by vendors, were won by Jan Johnston, Candus Graffunder, Jody Phillips, Kim Muddiman, Isabell Hadford, Cheryl Carter, Lois Geiger, Leslie Groulx and Avril Smith. The winner of the free vendor’s table for next year’s fair, to be held Nov. 22, 2009, was Little Pipsqueaks.