On Saturday a noted Elkhart County landmark will be on the auction block. Mount Wawasee, a bump in the typically flat terrain south of New Paris will be sold in four parcels. At 1,000 feet, Mount Wawasee is one of the highest points in northern Indiana.
Way back in 1962 Loyal Wilson, Robert F. Haskin and Clifford Hamilton, bought the property and converted it into a ski resort. The resort was called Mount Wawasee and despite its location and rather modest incline, became a happy gathering spot for thousands of skiers — and in its later days, snowboarders — over the next 25 years.
The ski resort was closed under new ownership in 1987. The resort itself has now sat vacant nearly as long as it thrived as a community hot spot. It’s time to rekindle that fire.
Snowboarding was in its infancy back in the mid-1980s. Many bigger ski lodges — never mind the little Indiana hills — didn’t quite know how to handle the beginning of the craze. Mount Wawasee closed just as the popularity of snowboarding began to take off. These days snowboarding competitions are some of the most popular events of the Winter Olympics. ESPN’s X Games has also launched the sport into a whole new stratosphere.
Go to nearly any hill in the country and skiers are routinely outnumbered by snowboarders. It’s a sport dominated by young people and a local ski/snowboard resort would give young people a healthy outdoor venue for interaction and exercise for at least a third of the year.
The sale of the hill, located just south of C.R. 50, has generated a huge amount of interest. Hundreds of people flocked to each of two open houses held at the site recently. We anticipate Saturday’s auction, which begins at 10 a.m., will attract many possible investors. Obviously, anyone with the proper means will be eligible to purchase the parcels and do with them what they wish. Based on the hill’s history and the buzz its sale has generated, though, we hope whoever buys it will consider its importance as a local landmark and its potential as a community draw.
Mount Wawasee Part II? We certainly wouldn’t mind.
