HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-03-08-TCC-min
Town Celebrations Committee
Minutes of Meeting
March 8, 2017
Parker Room, Cary Hall
Members Present
Lorain Marquis, Chair; June Baer, Suzanne Caton, Kim Coburn, Dick Crogan, Linda Dixon, Karen
Gaughan, Mary Hutton, Paul Jenkins, Sondra Lucente, Rich McDonough, Julie Miller, Wayne Miller,
Bill Mix, Henry Murphy, Sandy Podgorski, Bob Tracey
Members not present
Glen Bassett, Cerise Jalelian, Linda Levitt, Geetha Padaki, Dave Taylor, Sam Zales
Business
The Chair reported that a quorum was present.
The minutes of the meeting of February 22, 2017 were approved.
The next meeting will be March 15, 2017.
Approval of Applications
No Fee (4 Units)
The Committee approved the following parade units with no fee involved:
LexFarm. 10-15 marchers, no vehicle
Lexington Council for the Arts- float and 10-20 participants
Lexington Historical Society, Antique fire pumper pulled by Boy Scouts
Waldorf School, 20-40 marchers with flutes and recorders.
Tabled pending further discussions with applicants:
Bhakti Center of Lexington - Float pulled by ropes - need to advise applicant that undersized wheels
restricted speed of cart and caused massive traffic backup in 2016 parade. Lorain will discuss parade
guidelines with them.
Children's Center of Lexington -youth-pulled vehicle.
Fee Requested (3 Units) – Same as 2016
The Committee approved the following units and fees that represented no change from 2016:
Aleppo Shrine Clowns, 8-12 marchers.
His Majesty’s First Regiment of Foot, 20 marchers.
Lexington Minutemen, 18 marchers.
Counting these units just approved, 49 units have been approved and confirmation letters have been
sent out or will go out immediately.
Patriots Day, Monday, April 17, 2017
The Patriots Day stakeholders meeting has been rescheduled to Thursday, March 9, 10 am, in the
Selectmen’s Room in the Town Office building. Lorain encouraged everyone to attend.
The Old Guard will not be participating in any part of Patriots Weekend this year.
The Committee discussed a request from Gina Johnson to display her memorial wall of heroes at an
indoor location on Patriots Day as she can no longer participate in the parade due to logistical
reasons. While the group felt that this would be too costly to consider, we will work with her to
seek some solution, as Gina has been a strong and supportive partner in our Veterans Day activities.
Lorain sounded out the committee on moving the Memorial Day ceremony indoors and making it
more meaningful, citing weather concerns, long marching distances, and loss of crowd participation.
This will be discussed at future meetings.
In terms of budget, we have spent $21,480 so far on parade application requests.
Paul Jenkins reported that George DiBonis of the Big Red Mass Military Museum (tanks and other
military vehicles) promised to send his application asap and will hold his price steady.
Thanks to Rich McDonough, parking will be available to the public on Patriots Day at the following
locations: Lexington Community Center; Scottish Rite Museum and Library; Grace Chapel; and
Lincoln Field. We will advertise the availability of these lots in our publicity.
Kim and Linda have communicated and are finalizing the tee shirt order for Parade Ambassadors.
Due to construction at both Clarke and Diamond middle schools, the Middle School band is unable
to gather or practice and hence, is unable to participate in the morning parade this year.
Former TCC member Tanya Morrisette will recruit a fifer, drummer and flag bearer to lead off the
Parade as the Spirit of ’76.
No further word on the 36 soldiers supposedly coming from Georgia.
Paul and Dick will review and analyze each application for the number of marchers, number and
type of vehicles, determine the number of linear feet each unit will require, and produce a parade
lineup plan. This plan will be used when installing the stakes for parade lineup on Sunday.
We will go with 8 golf carts this year.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:10 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Linda Dixon, Co-Secretary
Future Meetings
March 15; March 22; March 29,
April 5; April 12; April 26;
May 3; May 10; May 17; May 24; June 7.