HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-01-10-TCC-min Town Celebrations Committee
Minutes of Meeting
January 10, 2018
Room 221, Lexington Community Center
Members Present
Lorain Marquis, Chair; June Baer, Suzanne Caton, Kim Coburn, Linda Dixon, Carol Flynn, Karen
Gaughan, Mary Hutton, Paul Jenkins, Sondra Lucente, Julie Miller, Bill Mix, Geetha Padaki, Sandy
Podgorski, Sue Stering.
Members Not Present
Glen Bassett, Cerise Jalelian, Wayne Miller, Henry Murphy, Gina Rada, Dave Taylor, Bob Tracey,
Sam Zales.
Business
• The minutes of November 29, 2017 were approved.
• Lorain reminded the committee that additional TCC logo shirts can be ordered. Committee
members should talk with her if they want to order a shirt. Order will be sent in soon.
• Linda Dixon urged the committee members to attend some of the programs planned for Martin
Luther King Jr. Day, 1/15/18. She especially recommended the program that will be held at
Brookhaven.
Patriots Day 2018
• Lorain reported that 12 Patriots Day Parade applications have been received. Committee voted
to accept the applications as shown below in the Approval of Parade Applications section.
• Sondra Lucente will contact Hallamore to follow up on their parade application.
• Bill Mix volunteered to contact the University of Massachusetts Lowell Marching Band about
applying to march in the parade.
• Lorain reported that she has received an application from the Westfield High School Marching
Band from Westfield, Indiana. Since the band has 210 members, the committee recommended
that further discussions be held with the band concerning their expectations for Patriots' Day
participation. Sondra Lucente volunteered to talk with them.
• Since the Westfield HS Band indicated their desire to attend the reenactment and subsequent
pancake breakfasts, the committee decided to contact the 3 current pancake breakfast venues to
see if they could handle that many more customers.
o Kim Coburn will talk with the Boy Scout Troop at St. Brigid's
o Paul Jenkins will talk with the First Baptist Church
o Karen Gaughan will talk with the Church of the Redeemer
• The committee agreed that we should ask Norm Cohen to be this year's Grand Marshall. Linda
Dixon volunteered to ask Norm.
• Paul Jenkins noted that the ongoing construction on Massachusetts Ave will start up again in the
Spring and will have an impact on the parade line up.
• Suzanne reported that the list of businesses to be solicited for parade unit sponsorships and the
sponsorship request letter should be ready this month for submission to the Board of Selectmen
and Town Manager for approval.
• Karen Gaughan will contact the Clergy Association for names of the clergy to participate in the
Patriots' Day programs.
• Sandy Podgorski has started creating the schedule of events for the Patriots' Day weekend. The
committee discussed the need to print fewer hard copies of the schedule this year and to make
more use of the Town website.
• Lorain reported that she has requested that the Patriots' Day stakeholders meeting be held on
February 13 and that she has submitted all the required letters requesting permits for the
Patriots' Day events. She also reported that she is working on the VIP invitations.
• Geetha reported that the video from last year can be updated with new dates and be re-used for
this year. It was suggested that the video be posted on the Town website.
• The committee suggested that Sondra ask Jerry Michelson and the manager of Brookline Bank
to be parade float judges for this year.
Dance Around the World 2018
• Geetha reported that she in not getting commitment from the Town's ethnic groups to
participate in this year's Dance Around the World, primarily because the groups are too busy
with other functions this year.
• The committee decided to postpone Dance Around the World until next Fall, with a date
preferably in late October or early November.
• Lorain will talk with the Town to try to move the budgeted money from FY 2018 to FY 2019.
• Geetha suggested that the committee try to get some of the ethnic groups to participate in the
Patriots' Day Parade.
Veterans Day 2018
• Lorain asked Sue Stering to talk with her teacher contact at the High School to get students
started early on writing essays about WW I.
Approval of Parade Applications
No Fee (8 Units)
The Committee approved the following parade applications with no fee involved:
Lex Farm
Lexington High School Best Buddies/Patriot Pedalers
Lexington Lions Club
Lexington VFW Post 43007
Lexington Youth Commission
The Liberty Ride
Michelson's Shoes
Middlesex Sheriff's Office Honor Guard
Fee Requested (4 Units)
The Committee approved the following applications and fees that represented no change from 2016:
Middlesex County Volunteers Fife & Drum
Roma Band
Waltham American Legion Band
The committee tabled the following application to allow for further discussion re fees:
Hallamore Clydesdales
The list of other future meetings is as follows: 01/24/18, 02/07/18, 02/21/07, 03/07/18, 03/14/18,
03/21/18, 03/28/18, 04/04/18, 04/11/17, 04/25/18, 05/02/18, 05/16/18, 05/23/18, 06/06/18.
All 2018 meetings will be held at the Community Center.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Suzanne Caton, Co-Secretary