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Town Celebrations Committee Minutes of Meeting May 24, 2017 Parker Room, Town Office Building Members Present Lorain Marquis, Chair; Glen Bassett, Suzanne Caton, Linda Dixon, Carol Flynn, Karen Gaughan, Mary Hutton, Paul Jenkins, Sondra Lucente, Rich McDonough, Julie Miller, Wayne Miller, Bill Mix, Sandy Podgorski, Gina Rada, Sue Stering. Members Not Present June Baer, Kim Coburn, Dick Crogan, Cerise Jalelian, Linda Levitt, Henry Murphy, Geetha Padaki, Dave Taylor, Bob Tracey, Sam Zales Business The Chair declared that a quorum was present. The minutes of May 10 were approved. The next meeting will be on June 7, 2017 in the Parker Room, Town Office Building. Gresh Lattimore, Parade Narrator, attended as a guest. Lorain introduced Carl Nelson from the Wellesley Town Celebrations Committee. Lorain distributed the new custom-ordered TCC polo shirts to the members. Overview of Wellesley Town Celebrations Committee – Carl Nelson, Sponsorship Chair The Wellesley TCC is a Town-appointed committee in charge of all celebrations. Their major annual event is Wellesley Weekend, which occurs on the third weekend of May. The highlight of the weekend is the parade on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. followed by a picnic at 6:00 with a band, fireworks, and pony rides. The Town provides an annual budget of $9,000. To supplement these funds, the TCC attracts about 30 sponsors as follows: 2 @ $5000 for fireworks; 8 @$500-$1500 for the picnic band; and patron donations of $250. A “pass the hat” collection at the picnic nets about $3000 and pony rides at $5 each bring in some revenue. The Committee charges $500 for any vehicle driven in the parade that does not belong to a non-profit organization. They don’t charge fees for any politicians running for office, but the candidates usually make a donation to the committee. The parade route has been reduced from 5 miles to 2 miles. It starts at the Community Center at the junction of Routes 9 and 16 and proceeds to the Town Center along Route 16. By holding this event the week before Memorial Day, they can attract lots of parade units (this year there were 121 marching units) and a good crowd. Carl Nelson feels that Wellesley, with a population of 28,000, is a lot like Lexington and he hopes to learn some lessons and best practices from his visit with the Committee.