Powder Ridge: The Zemel Brothers, a Cancelled Rock Festival, and New England's First Quad Chairlift

New England Ski History states that in 1962, Louis Zemel sued U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk for denying him permission to travel to recently overthrown Cuba; the case, Zemel v. Rusk, went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld the decision to deny Zemel access to Cuba.

In 1970 the ski area was slated to host the Powder Ridge Rock Festival, a three-day event planned for July 31-August 2, with a lineup that reportedly included Fleetwood Mac, James Taylor, Joe Cocker, Van Morrison, Jethro Tull, Janis Joplin, John Sebastian, Chuck Berry, and "possibly" Led Zeppelin, with Connecticut newspapers projecting attendance of up to 50,000, per New England Ski History. After local opposition, the event was halted on July 27, 1970, just days before the planned start; due to the short notice, up to 30,000 concert-goers showed up anyway. Wikipedia's article adds a detail not found in New England Ski History's account: "The planners of the festival skipped town with the money, but thousands of young adults showed up at the ski area expecting a second Woodstock. Melanie Safka is the only performer who showed up and ignored the court injunction banning the festival (she performed on a stage powered by Mister Softee trucks)." In the wake of the cancelled festival, per New England Ski History, both Louis and Herman Zemel were arrested for violating the court injunction, charges that were later dropped.

After local lawsuits delayed construction, the "747" lift opened for the 1972-73 season, "becoming the first quad chairlift in New England," per New England Ski History; Wikipedia's article independently corroborates this, describing the 1972 expansion as including "the construction of the first quad chair in New England, dubbed the '747 lift.'" In February 1981, Louis Zemel reportedly declared the 1980-81 season had been Powder Ridge's strongest yet; ten months later he passed away at age 70, and his son David Zemelsky took over day-to-day operations. Founder Herman Zemel separately passed away on July 5, 1995, following a stroke, at age 80. The two sources on the 1990s change of ownership disagree with each other and are presented here as each states it, without merging them: Wikipedia states plainly, "In 1990, Powder Ridge was purchased by a company called White Water Mountain Resorts." New England Ski History gives a different, more granular chronology: "Circa the early 1990s, Ken Leavitt reportedly acquired an option to purchase Powder Ridge, with the intent of developing a waterpark," and only "in January 1997, Ken Leavitt announced his company, White Water Mountain Resorts, Inc., had acquired Powder Ridge," a deal that "leveraged $1.72 million in loan guarantees from the Connecticut Development Authority." Wikipedia, citing First Tracks!! Online's September 23, 2006 report, states that on that date it was announced Powder Ridge would not operate during the winter of 2006-2007, at a time the ski area was more than $2.5 million in debt to TD Banknorth; the article distinguishes that announcement from what actually happened: "While the ski area later chose to operate that winter, it would permanently close after the end of the 2006-2007 ski season." In the spring of 2007 the town of Middlefield voted to purchase the ski area but was unable to; a private operator, Middlefield Holdings LLC, bought the property during summer 2008 for $2.75 million, and on December 29, 2008 the town of Middlefield in turn bought Powder Ridge from Middlefield Holdings LLC for $2.55 million, per Wikipedia. In July 2012 the town and Brownstone Exploration & Discovery Park signed an agreement for Brownstone to buy the ski area for $700,000, paid in $100,000 annual increments, with Brownstone also agreeing to invest $2 million into restoring the property, though the company itself estimated an additional $1.5 million would be needed to bring the facilities to then-current standards; the sale closed on September 13, 2012, per Wikipedia, citing the Hartford Courant. The two sources disagree on the exact reopening date and are reported here separately rather than merged: Wikipedia states that, after "some delays in the planned reopening for the 2013-2014 season, the park was reopened for skiing in early January 2014." New England Ski History instead states that, "led by Sean Hayes of Brownstone Exploration & Discovery Park, Powder Ridge reopened in late December of 2013." At its 2013-14 reopening, per Wikipedia, Powder Ridge "created a new rule requiring helmets while skiing/snowboarding on the mountain, making them the only mountain in Connecticut to have this rule in place" at that time.

A planned mountain-biking season at Powder Ridge was announced and then called off, distinct from a later, actual addition of the activity. New England Ski History's own news index for Powder Ridge lists a NewEnglandSkiIndustry.com headline dated July 5, 2014: "Powder Ridge Cancels Mountain Biking Season." That same New England Ski History page separately states that, after restoring ski area and base facility operations under the new ownership, "the new ownership added lift served mountain biking starting in June 2016" — a New England Ski History statement, not a Wikipedia one; Wikipedia's live article contains no such sentence. In the summer of 2017, per New England Ski History, Powder Ridge opened a synthetic ski and tubing area at the bottom of the 747 slope, and "with the addition, the area claimed it was the 'first full service year-round urban mountain sports park and resort'" — the area's own self-description, reproduced here as an attributed, quoted claim rather than as settled fact.