2023-02-15-LEX250-min - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Semiquincentennial Commission (Lexington 250 ) Wednesday, February 15, 2023 Meeting Minute s Pursuant to notice duly filed with the Town Clerk, the Semiquincentennial Commission (Lex 250) convened via Zoom on February 15, 2023, at 4:00, as allowed by legislation (S. 2475) extending the suspension of certain provisions of the Massachusetts Open Mee ting Law. Present: Steve Conners (Reenactment Community), Barry Cunha (Local Business Representative), Bebe Fallick ( Tourism Committee Representative), Cerise Jalelian (Town Celebrations Committee Representative),Mona Roy (Community Representative), Julie O’Leary (Civic Representative) Welcome by Mona Roy, Vice-Chairperson 4:02 pm Guest: Patrice Tedesco, Freedom’s Way National Heritage Area 4:05 pm Ms. Tedesco, Executive Director of Freedom's Way, introduced this resource. It is a non-profit organization working with the National Park Service and numerous communities in northern MA and southern NH. They have been collecting photos and stories, particularly revolutionary-era stories, from individuals and member groups, which they will integrate into a virtual museum. They are compiling an Ebook for distribution in April. They did a survey and identified 258 historic monuments in their geographic area and are producing a photo and text for every one. They have hired an historian and have a graphic designer on site. They have funding and can offer modest grants for someone who has a story to tell and needs help to develop it for their town. They are planning a Town Hall with all 45 member towns in the future to focus on this. They have developed an app for android and iphone where the user can indicate "I want to see these specific monuments" and the app shows how to see them. Anyone can post any event in multiple places on their website. They are developing a podcast where they will tell the story of a particular monument, then ask one or more questions for the visitor to bring to the site, to ponder during the actual site visit. During the month of May, they will feature "Hidden Treasures" - inviting all member communities to advertise and market their programs on a combined website. The apparent overlap and need to integrate information from the variety of interested entities was discussed, and agreement was stated. Ms. Tedesco indicated willing participation and communication on the part of Freedom’s Way. Guests: Daughters of the American Revolution (State & Lexington) MDAR State 250 Chair Pat Karakashian MDAR State Historian Charlene Goddard Lyle MDAR State Regent Carolyn Nutt