HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-04-02-TCC-minTOWN CELEBRATIONS COMMITTEE
Virtual Meeting MINUTES
April 2, 2025
Members Present (12 members; no vacancy): Glen Bassett, co-chair; Linda Dixon; Yifang
Gong; Dave Grabel; Mary Hutton; Cerise Jalelian; Lorain Marquis; Geetha Padaki, co-chair;
Sandy Podgorski; Sue Stering. Absent: Sondra Lucente; Karen Tyler, Veterans Liaison.
Honorary: Robert Tracey. Quorum: 7 Full Members.
Subcommittee Members Present (15 members, 4 vacancies): Sudha Balasuryan, Bonnie
Karshbaum, Gresh Lattimore, Jamie Lee, Ashley Rooney, Pam Winters, Hong Xie. Absent:
Steve Cole, Mirela Vaso, Perla Walling-Sotolong, Huma Wasim.
Guests: Jim Shaw, publisher Lexington Times Magazine
7:04 PM: Geetha called the meeting to order; then passed meeting to Glen.
- Glen reminded TCC members that Virtual Meetings will continue for the next two years.
7:09 PM: Minutes of March 26, 2025 were approved with changes.
Patriots' Day (April 19)1 Glen:
- Just two more meetings until April 19th!
- TCC Volunteers responsibilities at morning reenactment: as many as possible are asked to
attend and help with crowd control behind the metal barriers. Gates open at 4am. Also help
the Lexington Minutemen with ticket control. Viewing Stand will be across the street from
Hancock Church, as is traditional.
- Cerise asked that TCC Volunteers arrive at 3:45am. Tasks for TCC Volunteers may be
signed up for by emailing her.
- Cerise also reminded everyone that a Volunteer Training Session will be held on Saturday,
April 5, at St Brigit's Kelty Hall from 3-4pm. A Zoom followup session will also be held shortly
thereafter.
Ashley reminded everyone that the Iex250.org website contains all the information you need
Patriots' Day Parade: Dave became co -host of Meeting:
- Golf Carts still need a couple drivers. Glen & Gresh will facilitate the Cart Handout at Lois
Lane, down from the Starbucks on Bedford St on the left. They will provide water for each
cart, which Glen will have picked up on Friday/18 April. Only paper or cans; plastic bottles are
now prohibited. Then they will go the Maple St / Mass Ave Registration tent at Maple St /
Mass Ave to take over two of the carts used by the Float Judges.
- Staking: Wednesday/16th TCC members will paint the numbers/locations of the Parade Units
from 1-4pm, beginning at the Maple St/Mass Ave registration location, The following day,
Thursday/17th, DPW workers will place the actual stakes in the ground.
- Classic Cars / Sue: 8 of 9 are already confirmed. Sue will call the 9th to confirm, The Lions
Club is responsible for the Tricon Winner Banner; winner to be made public on the 17th.
- Army National Guard Flyover / Pam: Which aircraft still to be determined. Dave has learned
that the original $6,000 cost will now be covered by Guard resources, not TCC.
- 150 Masons will join the Shriners at their position at the end section of the Parade.
- Dance Groups / Jamie: While two groups will simply march in the Parade, the other groups
will perform in front of Cary Hall from 1:30 to 2:15pm.
- Dignitaries are the responsibility of Lex250. No Federal personnel have applied to attend.
Senator Markey will attend.
- Ambassadors / Yifang & Linda: The actual banners and polls will be located at Joseph St, not
the East Lexington fire station as is customary. Linda reports that signups for Ambassadors
are growing: 22 are already registered; today another 44 have signed up from various
sources. Parents are responsible for any young children they bring along to the Parade.
- Sponsors / Lorain: There are 69 sponsors; 61 banners are needed; the others are responsible
for their own banners. 61 banners x 2 ambassadors per banner = 122 ambassadors needed.
Last year $23,000 was raised; this year $53,290 has been raised.
- Vehicles / Dave: Equipment trucks must have IDs (a plastic card hanging on a lanyard) to
enter the LHS parking lot. 40 buses are expected to bring participants to the Parade at both
Pleasant St and Maple St Registration desks. They will drop off their Units about 11:30am and
pick them up at LHS from 3-6 pm on. The St Brigid Parking Lot will be closed to these
vehicles. IDs may be picked up at the Police Station beginning on April 14th. At the two
Registration Desks, volunteers will use 4 iPads provided by the Town. It is crucial that all
Units sign -in so we confirm their order in the Parade and that they are able to be paid, if need
be. Just two nominations have been received for the Pat Flynn Outstanding Youth Award.
- Banners / Sudha & Linda: Linda brought up the need to have universal banner wording on all
banners, especially the 28 old banners in hand. After a lengthy discussion it was agreed that
all banners are to reprinted with common wording. Sudha will follow up.
- Floats / Linda: There will be 13 floats this years; usually there are just 6-7. There will be 4
judges, including Bev Kelly, Carla Fortman, and Geeta Kannan.
Jim Shaw:
- The updated Parade Roster needs to be sent to the viewing stand soonest. Unit order of
march is crucial for the announcers to know. There will be 3 announcers to cover the 130 unit
Parade. Linda is providing the script for be read for each of the participating Units. Dave will
also be working on this.
- A camera will be looking down the Mass Ave Parade Route. Jim needs a cart of his own and
will contact DPW to arrange and pay for it.
Other Business:
- Dance audio equipment is the responsibility of the Dance Groups. They shoud contact the
Police Station for further details.
- Bonnie will seek to provide additional photographers for the occasion.
9:27 PM: Meeting Adjourned.
NEXT MEETING: April 9, 2025.
Respecfully submitted, Gresh Lattimore, Secretary