Birkie officials come south seeking donors
For decades, skiers from southern Wisconsin have traveled north to the American Birkebeiner.
On Thursday, January 8, the Birkie will come south, looking to lure donations for a capital campaign to secure and build a permanent start area near the Telemark Resort.
Veteran Birkie skier Tom Klein will host the gathering of Birkebeiner officials at his shop, the Bicycle Doctor, 105 Main St., in Dousman, Wis. Klein also will lead his band, The Front, to entertain the crowd and help motivate donors.
The stop in Dousman is one of several fundraising gatherings in the upper Midwest organized by Ben Popp, executive director of the American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation. The foundation has launched a campaign to generate $2.3 million for improvements to the Birkie trail system and the race that has drawn tens of thousands over 42 years.
The goal of phase one is $650,000, and the projects it will support include: purchase of land or an easement for a start area, construction of a connector trail to the start, a storage building that will serve as a warming area for skiers on race day and construction of a ski bridge over Highway 63 to Main St., in Hayward.
Donations to date have topped $325,000, putting phase one just beyond the half-way mark. Birkebeiner officials have targeted race day, Feb. 21, as their goal for reaching the $650,000.
Tickets for the Birkebeiner event at the Bicycle Doctor are $50 and include beer, food, entertainment and the discussion with Popp and other Birkie managers. The gathering is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. and end at 9. Go to the Birkie website to register and find more information.
Tom Held writes The Active Pursuit blog for silentsports.net.