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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-09-13-TCC-min Town Celebrations Committee Minutes of Meeting September 13, 2017 Parker Room, Town Office Building Members Present Lorain Marquis, Chair; Dick Grogan, June Baer, Suzanne Caton, Linda Dixon, Carol Flynn, Karen Gaughan, Mary Hutton, Cerise Jalelian, Bill Mix, Sandy Podgorski, Geetha Padaki, Sondra Lucente, Kim Coburn. Members Not Present Glen Bassett, Paul Jenkins, Wayne Miller, Gina Rada, Sue Stering, Dave Taylor, Bob Tracey, Sam Zales, Julie Miller, Henry Murphy. Business • The Chair declared that a quorum was present. • The minutes of June 27, 2017 were approved. • The next meeting will be on September 27, 2017 in the Parker Room, Town Office Building. Structure of Committee and New Appointment • Lorain explained the structure of the Committee. Town Celebrations Committee("TCC")is comprised of the voting members of the Committee,who are appointed to three-year terms and non-voting Subcommittee members who are appointed to one-year terms. In the event of a vacancy on the Committee, appointment to the Committee is offered to the person who has served longest on the non-voting Subcommittee. Karen Gaughan has agreed to fill the current vacancy on the Committee. World War I Project for 2018 • George Gamota, member of the Board of Directors of the Lexington Historical Society attended the meeting to explore the possibilities of having the Historical Society partner with the Town Celebrations Committee in putting together a special program honoring the 100'h anniversary of the World War I Armistice. He said the Historical Society has started discussing the event and was planning to hold a meeting on Tuesday, September 19, 2017 at the Community Center to further brainstorm. • He said that what had been discussed so far was to have a panel of experts. Suggested invitees are: o Joseph Nye, from Harvard's Kennedy School. o Brig. Gen. (MA-Ret) Kondratiuk, Director of Historical Services, Massachusetts National Guard. o Dr. Christopher Capozzola, World War I historian at MIT. o Daniel Leclerk an historian who served on the State WWI Commission. o Renaud Ledonne, a Lexington High School Senior, whose great uncle was a pilot(for France) during WWI. o George said that the thinking was to have the program on a Sunday or Monday evening before Veterans Day 2018. • The Committee generally endorsed working with the Historical Society to put on a joint program. Lorain, Bill Mix and Sandy Podgorski indicated that they would be attending the meeting on Tuesday. Veterans' Day Breakfast • Lorain had handed out a checklist for the event. Generally, she said we were in good shape for the event. • The main item that needs to be finalized is the program for the breakfast. Lorain has been in contact with the High School, and especially the history teacher, Michael Egbert, who is very excited about having students participate. Those students who do participate can be eligible for community service hours. Some possibilities are to have students interview veterans in their family and then the student and family member could attend the breakfast. For those interested students who do not have a veteran in their family, it might be possible to arrange for an interview with a local veteran. The project might result in an essay. • Lorain indicated that, after feedback from the Rotary Club, the feeling was that the Breakfast should be free to Veterans. Non-Veterans would be encouraged to make a donation, and there would be a way for them to do so at the breakfast. Kim reminded us that the reason it had been decided to start charging for the breakfast was to encourage attendance. It was thought that if people have even a little"skin in the game"they would be more likely to come. After some little discussion, it was decided to make it free for Veterans this year. The Lexington Minutemen will contribute $80 toward the breakfast and the Rotary Club is expected to contribute. Thus, even if no one else pays, it would not be problem financially. • Everyone would still have to obtain a ticket to be able to attend. Tickets can be obtained at Michelson's Shoe Store and the Community Center. Tickets will not be available at the Bedford COA this year. Bedford residents can get tickets from Gina. • Lorain said we had been asked what percentage of attendees at the breakfast are actually veterans. She said she was unable to find the surveys that had been filled out last year and wondered if anyone knew where the surveys were. As no one present knew, she said she would send out an email to all members. As an educated guess, it was thought that between one-third and one-half of attendees were veterans. • Other points about the breakfast: o Invitations to Veterans were "all set." o Sandy had a wonderful draft for the flyer. ■ It was mentioned that if we use a photograph of a person that would be recognizable, we would need to get that person's permission to use the photograph. o Bill Mix suggested adding the Merchant Marine Flag to the other Service Flags, as the Merchant Marine played an important role in World War 11. o Dick Crogan said that the MIA/POW table is all set. o Karen said the clergy would be booked. It will be Msgr. Garrity at St. Brigid. o The notice to the Colonial Times was sent the day of the meeting. o Solicitation of Door prizes will be done by Dick, Wayne and Sandy. o Bill Mix will check with the William Diamond Junior Fife and Drum Corps on the cost of having two fifes and one drum for our breakfast. o Sandy will ask Wagon Wheels about centerpieces. Subcommittee Updates and Other Items. • Suzanne Caton, chair person of the newly formed subcommittee on Sponsorships for the Patriots Day Parade, reported that there had been discussions about changing the way TCC offers sponsorships from asking for sponsors for individual parade units to providing the opportunity for levels of giving. There would be set levels, for instance $500, $1,000, etc. and different levels of recognition to correspond with the levels of giving. Suzanne called a meeting for the following Wednesday, September 20, 2017 for further discussion. • Geetha Padaki, chairperson of Dance Around the World, reported that it had been hoped to have the next celebration/performance this fall, but that key participants had failed to respond. The decision was made to postpone the event until the winter or Spring. Some dates being considered are January 21, 28, and some dates in February or March, or perhaps May after the Patriots Day Parade. She also said she was having trouble scheduling the High School gymnasium for the event. She was told that high school athletic events could preempt the Dance Around the World Performance. Even if the performance were scheduled, if the high school needed the gym for an athletic event, that event would take precedence. This will be looked into. • Kim reported that the contact person taking Jeff Leonard's place at the High School is Ida Pappas, Director of Performing Arts. Meeting was adjourned at 8:27 pm. Respectfully submitted, Mary Hutton, Co-Secretary