SAM Magazine—Boyne Falls, Mich., Aug. 21, 2026—The Midwest Ski Areas Association (MSAA) welcomed an upbeat crowd of 503 ski industry professionals to its annual Summer Meeting and Trade Show—one of the biggest turnouts in MSAA history and up nearly 6 percent over 2025—held at Boyne Mountain, Aug. 16-18. This year’s event introduced an updated, more condensed schedule and a new program in MSAA executive director Bo Bigelow’s second year leading the association.
Previously, the event was two-and-a-half days. To accommodate a two-day schedule, the annual golf scramble was moved to arrival day on Sunday, ahead of the official start of the conference rather than in the middle of it, as it has been in years past. MSAA also introduced a new arrival day program for Midwest ski patrollers led by Bigelow, National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) director of risk and regulatory affairs Dave Byrd, and AlpenRisk’s Mark Petrozzi, who delivered a four-hour training that will become an annual part of the conference.
At Monday’s general session, SMI Snow Makers president Joe VanderKelen was honored with the Jim VanderKelen Lifetime Achievement Award, named after Joe’s dad and founder of Michigan-based SMI. During his speech, Joe VanderKelen stressed that it was important for young professionals to have mentors, and to eventually become a mentor. In addition to his dad, Joe said several mentors have been critical in helping him along the way, including former Peak Resorts owner Tim Boyd, late resort executive Chris Diamond, former NSAA president Michael Berry, Perfect North Slopes owner Chip Perfect, and Boyne Resorts president and CEO Stephen Kircher.
The MSAA business meeting kicked-off Tuesday’s general session. The membership in attendance, which included personnel from 53 different ski areas, elected a new board member, Andrew Berns from Hyland Hills, Minn. Bigelow reported the association was in good financial health and added five ski areas to its membership for a total of 84 dues-paying member ski areas.
Following the meeting was a “fireside chat” (complete with a little artificial fireplace on stage) moderated by Crystal Mountain, Mich., COO Karyn Thorr who engaged panelists Kircher, NSAA president and CEO Mike Reitzell, and Schmitz Brothers Resorts co-owner Rick Schmitz with questions about the Midwest’s impact on the larger ski industry landscape, participation, perception, and guest experience, among others.
The subjects covered in more than 40 different educational sessions over two days reflected the diversity of attendees’ roles at their ski areas, with personnel hailing from nearly every department and level of management. Technical workshops in lift maintenance, lift operations, terrain parks, snowmaking, and grooming were held alongside sessions about events, AI, risk management, adaptive programs, staffing, guest experience, and more. The event also serves as the first stop for NSAA’s Fall Education Series, a slate of sessions that will also be featured at other upcoming regional conferences.
MSAA board chair Schmitz and MSAA’s Bigelow led a S.W.O.T. (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis during the MSAA Leadership Roundtable that produced a variety of good ideas and takeaways for the many in attendance.
Of course, introducing new people to skiing and snowboarding was identified as one of the Midwest’s biggest strengths. “We are built for growth, and we are built for conversion,” said Schmitz. Effectively raising awareness of the variety of skiing opportunities in the region was discussed as both a weakness and an opportunity that should be addressed. Shorter winters caused by climate change was not named as a threat during the session, an omission that several attendees acknowledged afterwards.
Schmitz and Bigelow were also part of the group that led the NSAA Small Ski Areas Committee meeting Monday afternoon, which drew a big crowd and was also joined remotely by more than two dozen others on Zoom. The meeting covered several topics the committee has been working on including recent proposals by National Ski Patrol, survey results, a new expanded SAM Equipment Marketplace coming online in September, ANSI B77 updates, the legal landscape, and other updates from NSAA.
Three different trade show sessions allowed for plenty of mingling between exhibiting suppliers and ski area operators. Companies came from all over North America to gain traction or solidify relationships with the vast Midwest ski area market.
The 2027 MSAA Summer Meeting and Tradeshow will be held at Grand Geneva Resort in Wisconsin, Aug. 29-31, 2027.
