Mendon Mini-Golf and Snack Bar plans to be open mid summer

By Polly Lynn

A mountain of stones will house one of the 18 mini-golf holes on the new Mendon course. Jeff Bridge, an excavator from Bridgewater Corners, works on the landscaping.

By Julia Purdy

MENDON — The bend in Route 4 in Mendon, opposite Meadow Lake Drive, will soon perk up with the completion of the Mendon Mini-Golf and Snack Bar. Owner Tim McBain of Mendon says the snack bar should be open for business by mid-July, with the rest of the project opening “as fast as possible” thereafter, according to McBain.

Inspired by their 5-year-old daughter Maddy, McBain and his wife Carolyn have taken the plunge to create a family business that promises to be a lot of fun—and a lot of work. The couple has “always wanted to do mini-golf,” McBain said, from when they lived in Hawaii 15 years ago. Those plans, however, have remained only a dream until now.

The McBains seem to be building the 8th Wonder of the World. Seven contractors and the McBains (includingMaddy,) broke ground on the project a few weeks ago and have made visual progress daily since. The site work now contains a rectangular slab for the snack bar and a large stone structure, destined to become a mini-mountain containing a mini-golf hole. A professional golf course designer is assisting in planning the holes and NBF Architects designed the snack bar to meet requirements of both the state and the town of Mendon.

When completely built out, the McBains plan to incorporate Vermont’s iconic features into the 18-hole course: a red barn, a covered bridge, a gold mine, a marble quarry, a Bennington Battle Monument, maple syrup, a ski slope, a swamp, and the Long Trail. Water features include small waterfalls inside the “mountain” and a miniature Quechee Gorge.

The rest of the 1.7 acres will contain a snack bar, 55-foot-long batting cages for softball and baseball, a playfield, an open arcade, a covered pavilion, restrooms, and picnic tables scattered under the large trees. McBain is designing the landscape features with native plants to preserve the feel of a natural environment and also to shield neighboring properties.