HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-03-14-TCC-min Town Celebrations Committee
Minutes of Meeting
March 14, 2018
Room 242, Lexington Community Center
Members Present
Lorain Marquis, Chair; Glen Bassett, Kim Coburn, Linda Dixon, Karen Gaughan, Cerise Jalelian, Paul
Jenkins, Sondra Lucente, Julie Miller, Wayne Miller, Sandy Podgorski, Bob Tracey
Members Not Present
June Baer, Suzanne Caton, Carol Flynn, Mary Hutton, Bill Mix, Henry Murphy, Geetha Padaki, Gina
Rada, Sue Stering, Dave Taylor, Sam Zales
Business
• The Chair reported that a quorum was present.
• Lorain introduced Wei Ding, who has submitted an application for membership on the
committee. Lorain said that Wei, who serves as Membership Director with the Chinese
American Association of Lexington (CAAL), would be a valuable liaison with the Chinese
community as well as an effective member of the committee.
• The minutes of the meeting of February 14, 2018 were approved.
• The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 21 in Rm. 221 at the Community Center.
Approval of Parade Applications
The Committee approved the applications of five units involving fees, as follows:
The McDermott Family (formerly The Syzygy Group), Ian McDermott, old military 10-wheel truck:
Tony Barrie Band
US Naval Sea Cadet Corps, Gosnold Division
William Diamond Jr. Fife and Drum Corps
Massachusetts Military Museum, George DeBonis, Tanks and other 1940-era military vehicles.
The Committee tabled discussion on two applications,pending further negotiations:
Martin Cox—Military Vehicles - Tank and Half Track
New England Historic Military Vehicles, Bob Barber, a fleet of approximately 12 vehicles.
The Committee approved the following parade applications with no fee involved:
Association of Black Americans of Lexington, 7-8 marchers
Lexington High School Class of 1965
Lexington Historical Society Antique Fire Engine
Minuteman Cane Award Selection Committee
Monroe Center for the Arts
Sustainable Lexington (electric vehicles). 3 rows of 2 cars, request placement at end of parade so can
end up at high school and invite people to inspect the vehicles.
The Fitter Female (one vehicle)
Wilson's Farm Float
The Dance Inn (approved pending receipt of application).
Arrangements still need to be finalized with several units and should be completed soon:
His Majesty's 10th Regiment of Foot
His Majesty's First Regiment of Foot
The Windjammers.
Patriots Day, Monday, April 16, 2018
• The Old Guard has confirmed their participation.. They will perform on the Battle Green on
Saturday, April 14 with two divisions, the historic fighting reenactment and the fife and drum
units. It is still uncertain whether they will march in the parade.
• The Williamsburg VA Fife and Drum Corps and the William Diamond Fife and Drum Corps
will perform a joint concert at Tower Park at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday.
• The Westfield, IN high school band will perform on the Green at noon on Monday.
• Another prestigious group, The Navy Band, out of Newport, RI, is participating.
• Lorain brought up the suggestion of designating Tower Park as a picnic area on parade day as a
way of encouraging families to attend the parade. Kim suggested contacting the leader of
LexFun! for advice. This group might want to take this project on and support it.
• Julie suggested recruiting the Haydenettes to march in the parade. Kim has a contact and
volunteered to inquire.
• The Stuart Highlanders, a longtime parade participant, have not responded. Lorain will call.
• Sandy reported that the Schedule of Events, after many last-minute changes, is at the printers.
• Sandy also shared a poster advertising Patriots' Weekend, to be distributed around town.
Karen will contact the clergy association and request posting it on church bulletin boards.
• Lorain and several others had a very productive meeting with representatives of the Concord
Town Celebrations Committee where they discussed potential collaborations, information
sharing, and swapping best practices. Concord, for example, runs a very successful annual Flag
Retirement Ceremony on Veterans Day that we might want to consider. Lorain has scheduled a
similar meeting with the Arlington TCC next week.
• Cerise reported that all tickets have been printed. She clarified which VIP's need tickets to the
reviewing stand vs. bleachers for the Reenactment. Committee members will get two
Reenactment tickets each. We need to make a real effort to fill the bleachers for afternoon
parade. Kim suggested giving a block of advance tickets to several constituencies such as
CAAL, the Indian Association, and others. Cerise stressed that every vehicle in the parade
must have an authorized committee vehicle tag, for security purposes.
• The sponsorship program is underway. The mailing has gone out and responses are coming in.
The committee website has been updated to include a sponsorship page.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Linda Dixon, Interim Secretary
Future Meetings: 03/28/18, 04/04/18, 04/11/17, 04/25/18, 05/02/18, 05/16/18, 05/23/18, 06/06/18.