RUMFORD — They don’t come for the cooking — well, not for her cooking. Muriel Arsenault just keeps them coming back.

For decades now, she’s headed Muriel’s Kitchen at Black Mountain of Maine. On ski race days, more than 100 people stream through her little gray building in search of piping hot plates of spaghetti, red hot dogs, coffee and cocoa, anything to fill the belly and warm up.

“(Chisholm Ski Club’s) Chummy Broomhall said we had to feed the volunteers. There was quite an uproar. I said, all right, I’ll take care of it,” said Arsenault, 86.

Except that she didn’t particularly like to cook.

So mostly other volunteers bring in pans of food that she serves straight from the stovetop, putting in 10- or 12-hour days making sure everyone’s happy and fed.

“She’s a very good delegator and organizer,” said Muriel’s son, Dave.

That’s where, for nearly 30 years, she’s found her niche.

“And, boy, they better do as I say,” said Arsenault, all smiles.

Muriel’s Kitchen graduated to its current quarters in the 1980s, a wood-paneled structure built by volunteers with a dining room that can fit 50 if a bunch are willing to stand. Before that, she ran a simple doughnuts-and-coffee operation in another small outbuilding.

For all her time on the mountain, Arsenault has never been one to slap on skis and hit the hill. She jokes that she tried skiing with her late husband, Leonide “Blackie” Arsenault, and “hated every minute of it.”

“He was a born skier,” she said.

Together they ran Blackie’s Ski Shop, became members of the Chisholm Ski Club and found themselves spending more time at Black Mountain.

She can see much of the action on race days through the large windows fronting the kitchen. Her season of Muriel’s Kitchen starts Jan. 1 this year, the day before the big U.S. Cross County Championships start.

“I live for it,” Arsenault said. “People are so good to me.”

A local man was traveling once in Germany, wearing a Black Mountain of Maine hat, when he was stopped by a German man who saw his cap.

“He said, ‘Do you know Muriel’s Kitchen? Best food I ever had,’” said Sylvia Wendt, Muriel’s daughter. “He had come up with one of the Olympic teams. So she’s known all over the world.”

Two years ago, Arsenault celebrated a milestone for Muriel’s Kitchen: The building got cold running water. Before that, she’d take dirty dishes home to wash at night. This winter will be the first with hot on tap.

Arsenault, who makes the trip in from her home in Roxbury Pond, said she can’t see herself stepping down.

“They better not take it away from me,” she said, “that’s all I can say.”

Know someone everyone considers indispensable? We’d love to hear about them. Contact staff writer Kathryn Skelton at 689-2844 or [email protected]