sports commission

TRAVERSE CITY — More snow may hardly seem thrilling for anyone anxious about spring finally coming to Traverse City.

But Preserve Hickory President and co-founder Laura Ness is excited about a $125,000 grant from the Great Lakes Sports Commission that will help make even more of the frozen stuff for the ski hill, Hickory Hills. Along with $75,000 in funding from Preserve Hickory, the grant will buy additional snowmaking equipment, trail improvements and more.

“We’re really excited to partner with the Great Lakes Sports Commission on this next step for Hickory (Hills),” she said.

Grants like this are right in line with what the Great Lakes Sports Commission aims to achieve, nonprofit board Chairman Fritz Erickson said. The nonprofit, with locations in Marquette and Traverse City, looks to boost sports and recreation to drive economic development. It also aims to drive even more community support for sports and recreation.

Preserve Hickory raised more than $2.5 million for a $4 million-plus overhaul for the city-owned ski hill, with other grants and $1.5 million from a city parks improvement fund providing the rest, as previously reported.

That demonstration of local support for the park was one factor that made Preserve Hickory’s project stand out, Erickson said.

“We’re kind of big fans of different kinds of events that bring people in, particularly around youth,” he said. “We love to see how we can support activities that keep kids active and engaged and so forth, and so the ability to provide this kind of support really fulfills the mission that we have as a sports commission.”

Several parts of the first phase for Hickory Hills’ upgrade aimed squarely at kids, including a bunny hill and “magic carpet” lift to boost young learners uphill before they can handle the tow ropes elsewhere, as previously reported.

Next, Preserve Hickory wants to partner with the city to install lighting on roughly a half-mile of a Nordic cross-country skiing trail, plus other trail improvements to ready them for more high-level official racing events, Ness said.

Downhill racers won’t be left out, either, as part of the second phase will include improvements to the alpine race hill, Ness said. And Preserve Hickory and bicycling advocacy organization El Grupo Norte is partnering on a design for mountain biking trails there, although the development isn’t funded just yet.

It all builds on an effort to make Hickory Hills a four-seasons park, Ness said.

That includes disc golf course improvements and a new lodge available for event rentals — city commissioners in March approved a rental policy and updated fee list.

But the next grant- and Preserve Hickory donor-funded additions that should get underway in the summer aren’t the last step, Ness said. More warm-weather activities are possible, and the grant will help pay for feasibility studies to see which ones will work at the park. A 2014 plan identified some potentials but wasn’t the final word on which ones will be there.

Erickson said he and several board members will tour the hill Thursday to see firsthand the home of what he thinks is a “really cool project.”

“I think most of the board members felt the same way, because what it does is really provides, I think, an exciting set of opportunities for people in the community to be able to really enjoy the outdoors, to be engaged, to promote a variety of events and activities,” he said.

The park sits northwest of city limits at the end of Randolph Street, between Hickory Meadows downhill and the soon-to-be-public Hickory Forest uphill, as previously reported.