MONTICELLO – During the Public Works Committee meeting of the Sullivan County Legislature on Thursday, June 13, the Owner of Holiday Mountain Ski and Fun Park, Mike Taylor, spoke to the board about his desire to create another summer activity at the resort during the summer. The activity that Taylor proposed to be implemented is tubing, and using the Neversink River for that activity. 

The owner said that in working with the Sullivan County IDA, they will have made about $8 million in improvements to Holiday Mountain, which includes all new snowmaking and a new chair lift they are installing this summer.

“We’re putting in six miles of snowmaking pipe and 125 more snow guns are going in this year,” Taylor said. “It’s working pretty well; at the end of the day our truth is we want it for the kids and the area.”

He noted that Holiday Mountain is very important for the economy and tourism in the winter.

“We’ve had great success with the [Sullivan Catskills] Visitor’s Association, working with the casino and waterpark and the Chamber of Commerce,” he said. 

Taylor also said that his eldest daughter, Drew, recently graduated from Marist College and will be working on getting the after-school programs at Holiday. 

“When the Town of Thompson owned Holiday Mountain, everybody skied,” he said. “So it seems like we’ve almost lost a generation of kids that have winter activities.” 

Keep the fun going 

Taylor then talked about the ski mountain looking at different ways to make Holiday work year-round. He mentioned that they have a fun park with go-carts and batting cages. 

“We seem to find that most of our clientele will be camp groups in the summertime and we are embracing them,” he said. “The camp population is growing here and we’re looking for more activities for them.”

Taylor said that he already went to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC) about using the Neversink River for tubing and that they told him that the river is open to anybody and is shared access. 

“You can canoe and you can fish, nobody owns the river,” said Taylor. “They own the embankments on the side, but the river is wide open for people.”

Taylor said that he first went to Department of Public Works Commissioner Ed McAndrew about using the Denniston Ford access, which is below Rock Hill between Woodridge and Thompsonville. He said that McAndrew told him that the Town of Fallsburg owns the Denniston Ford bridge. When Taylor went to the Town of Fallsburg board, they were all for it and said it was a great idea. 

“They checked with the neighbors and there were no objections about using this for launching tubing in the summertime,” said Taylor. 

However, Taylor said that when Town of Fallsburg Attorney Richard Baum did a title search, he realized that the taking of the road did not include the land under by the county bridge, which makes that portion county property. 

“So what we’d like to do is schedule camp groups, at least for this season,” Taylor said. “Try to bring camp groups in and launch them off of the county property… it’s a four-mile ride down to Bridgeville to the end of Holiday Mountain.”

Taylor also said that the currents aren’t crazy on the river as it’s not white water and would be good for beginners and kids. He said that they are working with their insurance company to make sure that they can do it. 

The board was all for the idea of using the Neversink River for tubing in the summer as long as the legality of the situation is worked out. 

“The approach that you are taking for this county should not fall on deaf ears,” said District 3 Legislator Brian McPhillips. “I think it’s amazing what you’ve done. I think the hardship to get creative because of this winter and for you to still steam forward, shows a lot of the resiliency of the people of this county. If it wasn’t for people like yourself, I think we’d be in a much different space.”

District 7 Legislator and Chair of the Public Works Committee Joe Perrello also said he is in favor of making it happen. 

“Legal will look into it and make sure we can do it,” said Perrello. “If you can provide the information and make sure with the insurance that they’re okay with it, I’m okay with it.”