A “SNOW” Museum in the Lake Tahoe area is moving closer to reality
Chapter 13 of Hero Redefined helps readers relive the exploits of Alex Cushing and others who spearheaded the longshot-but-successful bid to bring the 1960 Winter Olympic Games to what was then Squaw Valley (now Palisades Tahoe). But it also notes the lack of a true Olympic Museum to chronicle the rich history of the Sierra Nevada mountain range and heroic efforts by those who brought those ‘60 Games to the Lake Tahoe area.
There has been an effort to change that, led by community leaders working on the “Sierra Nevada Olympic & Winter Sports Museum” – SNOW. I had the pleasure of meeting up with three of those leaders earlier this month, learning more about SNOW and hearing of momentum building to get it to the finish line.
On April 2, I joined author and Tahoe community treasure Eddy Ancinas, SNOW Board Chair Bill Clark, and Placer County Board of Supervisors Member Cindy Gustafson to see the proposed site for SNOW and the temporary holding spot for the Museum’s artifacts at the Boatworks Mall in Tahoe City.
Cindy Gustafson, Eddy Ancinas and Bill Clark (left to right)
Gustafson and Ancinas pointed out where SNOW is to be located – on a hill above the old Olympic rings sculpture near the entrance to Palisades Tahoe. It is a fitting, easy-to-find, prominent place for the Museum. I became even more excited when Clark, Ancinas, and Gustafson showed me around the temporary museum space at Boatworks and explained the vision for SNOW. It will be about the banner 1960 Games, yes – but also much more. After all, the area has a colorful past featuring 19th Century gold miners who schussed down the Sierra Nevada range on longboards, and characters like John “Snowshoe” Thompson, the mail-carrier who skied from Placervile, Calif., to Genoa, Nevada, to deliver letters on both sides of it!
What’s more, SNOW will feature interactive exhibits, classrooms, an education center, a community event space, a cafe with adjoining deck, and of course an eye-popping assortment of exhibits, photos, and videos that will bring the 1960 Winter Games to life for all those who visit.
Clark said after years of challenges in getting a Forest Service permit for SNOW, there is now a path to show that the Museum is really not ‘commercial’ in its mission, seeing as how it is a 501(c)3 non-profit. What’s more, the land in question has actually been in the hands of Placer County, and not the USFS, for about a quarter-century.
I hope a permanent SNOW Museum will come our way in the next couple of years – and more than that, I hope people around the U.S. and the world will visit what I expect will be an iconic addition to the Lake Tahoe and Sierra Nevada landscape.