Klemens Muranka of Poland jumps during the 2019 Continental Cup ski jumping tournament at Pine Mountain in Iron Mountain. The annual international competition set for Feb. 12 through 14 has been canceled, the Kiwanis Ski Club announced Friday. (Theresa Proudfit/Daily News photo)

IRON MOUNTAIN — The annual Pine Mountain Continental Cup competition originally set for Feb. 12 through 14 has been canceled due to limits on social gatherings amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kiwanis Ski Club announced Friday.

It’s the first time since World War II that the event, a fixture in the community since 1939, will not take place, club members said.

“The coronavirus has claimed another victim and it is our treasured ski jumping tradition,” Nick Blagec, Kiwanis Ski Club president, said in a news release. “With the restrictions currently in place on outdoor gatherings in the State of Michigan, we would not have been permitted to have spectators, resulting in significant impacts to the financial outcome of the event.”

The club made a “substantial investment” in major venue improvements this past year to continue to host the international event and remain “an economic driver in Dickinson County, the Upper Peninsula and the State of Michigan for many years to come,” Blagec said in the statement.

“A negative income year,” he said, “is not an option.”

The Kiwanis Service Club has sold and will continue to sell ads for the 2021 Dickinson County Healthcare System Pine Mountain Continental Cup program. That program will be given away at various tourist attractions throughout Dickinson County “to introduce our visitors and tourists to our great winter tradition of ski jumping and the businesses that support it,” according to the news release.

The Kiwanis Ski Club also will sell a limited edition 2021 button instead of booster buttons. These buttons will allow for one individual tour of the new tower, either ski jump weekend Feb. 13-14 or summer dates to be determined.

The other jumping facilities that also will be open include the judges tower, Springer Haus, clubhouse and Popple Palace.

Souvenir wood from the old tower will be available for purchase as well in the Popple Palace on Feb. 13-14 — “your chance to support the future of ski jumping and have a piece of history,” Blagec stated in the release.

Other details on the Feb. 13-14 events will be provided at a later date.

“With that beautiful new tower sitting on top Pine Mountain and having to wait another year to see her christened with jumpers coming off, there is no one more disappointed than the members of the Kiwanis Ski Club,” Blagec said in the statement. “But at the end of the day, nothing is ever more important than the health and safety of the athletes, coaches, organizing committee and our ski jumping fans.”

Plans for further developments and events at the Pine Mountain Ski Jump complex, which includes the Veterans Memorial, are in the works.

But Blagec stressed, “To continue to get the complex up to International Ski Federation specifications for World Cup and to develop a year-round attraction for tourists, we need your help. We need the support of not only individuals and businesses in our community, but those from other locations that want to see our great tradition continue and see the economy in Dickinson County prosper.”

To contribute to the Kiwanis Ski Club Capital Campaign, go to the website at www.Kiwanisskiclub.com or send a donation made out to the Kiwanis Ski Club to Kiwanis Ski Club, P.O. Box 475, Iron Mountain, MI 49801.