In 1996, Rick Bryan, serving as Chairman of the Oskaloosa Park Board, was scheduled to play in a Pro Am Golf outing but was rained out. With nothing on the schedule for the balance of the day, for reasons of curiosity, he decided to travel to rural Boone, Iowa to see what had ever became of the ski area that he knew had existed in earlier years. In addition to being the Plant Manager for a company in Oskaloosa, Rick was also President of Fun Valley Ski Area in Montezuma. Fun Valley was opened in the winter of 1970 by Rick’s parents Edwin and Kay and following Edwin’s death in 1992, Rick was elected President of that company. The Fun Valley Ski Area was truly a family operation with all seven kids and later the grand-kids helping in rental, grooming, snowmaking, lessons, retail, etc. not to mention having a concrete trowel or hammer and saw in hand when another expansion project was initiated.
Upon arrival at Boone, it was discovered the property previously occupied by the ski area known as Ski Valley had fallen in disrepair after years of being non operational. Impressed with the vertical of the trails, the large run-out at the bottom, the close proximity to highway 30 and the demographics, Rick decided to assemble a business plan for Fun Valley, Inc. to acquire the property. Loans were secured, the land was purchased and the construction of Seven Oaks began in the spring of 1997. The name Seven Oaks was created from a combination of seven siblings and the majestic oak trees that adorn the timber.
Rick’s son Joel had just graduated from UNI and was offered the opportunity to be the General Manager of the new ski area. Joel had spent every free moment at Fun Valley for years and had performed virtually every job at one time or another. His passion for the ski industry caused Joel to be an obvious first choice for the task of managing a new ski area.
A triple seat chair lift (made by CTEC) was acquired in Kentucky, disassembled, re-engineered, transported to Seven Oaks, assembled on site (named Cyclone) and tested. Approximately one mile of electrical and water lines were trenched in for snowmaking, new lights were installed, two rope tows were put in, the lodge was largely gutted and rebuilt, the maintenance shop was converted into a rental shop, snow guns were acquired as was a Prinoth snow cat for grooming and the rental shop was equipped with skis, boots, poles and snowboards.
Seven Oaks opened for its first season of skiing and snowboarding in winter of 1997-98. Advertising was aggressively pursued to let the region know that a new ski area existed but this first year of operation was greeted with El Nino, a natural phenomenon bringing unseasonably warm temps and a subsequent short season.
In the summer of 1998, Joel carved out the first mountain bike trail and a race was held. Ultimately, Seven Oaks hosted the first Iowa Games Mountain Bike race. No additional improvements were made during the summer of 98 but we all looked forward to a second season. A second season that would surely be better than the first, with colder temps, more snow and more customers due to continued advertising was eagerly anticipated. But that wasn’t the case. For season two, the winter of 1998-99 we were greeted with La Nina, the little sister of El Nino with similar weather patterns. Hence year two was pretty warm, had some rain and netted in another short ski season.
Now the bank was really nervous due to two ski areas having two meager back to back seasons. It was ultimately decided that Fun Valley should divest itself of Seven Oaks so following a lot of sleepless consideration, Rick and his wife Connie decided to purchase the assets of Seven Oaks as sole proprietors and rid themselves of all ownership in Fun Valley.
The acquisition was
If your business isn't here, contact us today to get listed!