|
Our History
In the early 1960's, Kent county resident Richard Bresnahan was pondering the high costs of the many trips his family of seven took up north each winter to enjoy skiing. In 1962, he decided to do something about it. That year, he and his two brothers took the equipment from their septic tank business, and started to clear trees from the rolling hills on Belding road in Rockford. Mr. Bresnahan was a World War II veteran, assigned to the U.S. Army 10th. Mountain Division. He trained for his service in Pando, Colorado. Those memories inspired him to name his new venture Pando Ski Center.
The Bresnahan family ran Pando Ski Center for the next fifteen years, and then sold it to the current owners in 1977. They renamed it Pando Park. In the years that Pando has been open, it has established several “firsts” in the area of winter sports in Michigan. Among those are the following:
| |
1) |
Pando was the first ski area in Kent County. |
| |
2) |
Pando was the first ski area in Michigan to allow snurfers and snowboarders unrestricted access to its hills. |
| |
3) |
Pando hosted the World Championships of Snurfing in the late 1970’s, including 1979 when Jake Burton Carpenter came here and won the first competitive snowboard race ever run. |
| |
4) |
Pando built the first “snow tubing” hill in the state of Michigan. |
Pando Park will continue to grow and add new features in the years to come. We hope that you enjoy your visit to our facility and will return many times throughout the season. Go tubing, snowboarding, or skiing. You can do it all at Pando Park. |
