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EDEN, WEBBER COUNTY — The skiing was pretty good Friday at Nordic Valley Ski Resort in Weber County.
"This is awesome. We finally got some snow," Jeff Leibold said. He lives in Pleasant View but loves coming to Nordic Valley.
However, for as good as the runs were Friday for Liebold, there's nothing like his post-ski sit down.
"Just chilling out before we head back home," he said with a smile while sitting in his chair behind his vehicle in the parking lot. "I love it here."
There is no doubt Liebold enjoys taking in the beautiful views of the valley, but there is one thing that is tough to see.
"It is really sad what is going on here," Liebold said.
He is talking about the historic barn at Nordic Valley, or what is left of the barn.
A fire Monday morning damaged it beyond repair.
"The calls came in, and they started flooding in from community members and yeah, everybody was just heartbroken," Rob Behunin said.
Behunin is the chair of the Nordic Valley Village Community Benefit Foundation. He says right away, management teams started talking about future plans. They knew how much this barn meant to locals.
"There is a spirit of this barn, and this valley, and this community, that is just inextricable. So yeah, it was really overwhelming, the support," Behunin said.
Even before the fire, there were plans to build a community park just across the street.
Nordic Valley Ventures, which owns the historic barn, has committed to donate an acre of property to the Nordic Valley Village Community Benefit Foundation for the community park.
Now, after the fire, the foundation is planning on building a replica of the barn in the park.
"The Phoenix rises out of the ashes, so to speak, to coin the metaphor or the cliché," Behunin said. "This has really given us the emphasis to mobilize the troops and put everything together very, very quickly. We got our team planning this in just the past couple of days."
A new lodge will be built where the current barn is, but the foundation hopes to salvage some of the old barn for the replica.
"Maybe we will get the wheel or the hay loft, that sort of thing. We will have some wonderful artifacts in there," Behunin said. "We want to preserve the spirit of the barn, and we want to be a part of the community. We know this is important to them. It's important to us. I've spent some time in the barn, but not as much as some of these folks you see skiing around here today, these season pass holders, and so it was important to us."
It certainly won't replace the old barn. But for those who loved seeing it before the fire, it will still bring back memories.
"Yeah, that is great," Liebold said. "It is just one of those old-school places that everybody loves who comes here."
No dates have been set yet on when the new park or replica barn will be built.
Behunin said for those asking how they can help with ideas, labor, or financially, his team is still working on a website with that information, but in the meantime, visit nordicvalleyvillage.com to get more information or make a donation.
"We are interested in however people want to help," Behunin. "We had a gentleman call us and say, hey, I have some great ideas. That's what we're looking for. We want to include the community because this is for the community."
