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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-02-13-TCC-min Town Celebrations Committee Minutes of Meeting February 13, 2019 Lexington Community Center Members Present Lorain Marquis, Chair; June Baer, Suzanne Caton, Wei Ding, Linda Dixon, Carol Flynn, Karen Gaughan, Cerise Jalelian, Paul Jenkins, Gresh Lattimore, Julie Miller, Bill Mix, Geetha Padaki, Sandy Podgorski, Sue Stering, Members Not Present Glen Bassett, Kim Coburn, Mary Hutton, Sondra Lucente, Wayne Miller, Rita Pandey, Dave Taylor, Bob Tracey, Sam Zales Business: • The chair reported that a quorum was present and the meeting was called to order at 7:05 pm. • Minutes from the meeting of January 30, 2019 were approved. • Lorain reminded the committee that the Heritage of America band concert will be on Monday, 2/25 and encouraged members to attend the concert. • Lorain requested that Geetha send PR information about the 2/25 concert to the IAL mailing list. • Lorain noted that the TCC jackets for new members will be ready soon. • The next TCC meeting will be on February 27, 2019. Patriots' Day, April 15, 2019: • Sandy Podgorski showed the committee the poster from last year and asked if any changes needed to made for this year. The committee agreed that only the dates on the poster needed to be changed. The rest of the content was still fine. • Sue Stering and June Baer volunteered to research possible parade units and bands being offered by Golden Bough Productions. • Lorain noted that the Shriners want to do their own announcing at the Parade. • Linda Dixon reported that a meeting with Dawn McKenna about increasing Parade attendance, the following recommendations were made: • The TCC should send out information on the various email lists kept by the Visitors' Center of people who want contact about Lexington events • Linda and Lorain should attend the next Tourism Committee meeting to learn more about the AAA conference occurring soon • Linda noted that she will set up a meeting with the new Superintendent of Lexington schools to discuss how the committee can disseminate information about Patriots' Day activities and the Parade to Lexington school children and their parents. • Sandy noted that some of the large military bands that we would like to invite to participate in the Parade want information on the size of the crowds that attend the Parade, in order to justify their participation. After discussion, the committee recommended that Sandy estimate the crowd size in recent years to be about 6000. • Sandy noted that she had been told to remove information about the Lexington Minute Men's re-enactment rehearsal date from the schedule. Bill Mix questioned that request and said he would resolve the issue with the appropriate Minute Men. • Cerise reported that she has had the re-enactment tickets printed. She also noted that the Parade participant vehicle tags that are checked by the Police will be 8x11 sheets instead of hanging tags. • Suzanne noted that the sponsorship request letters and application forms are ready to be sent to local businesses and asked for volunteers to help prepare the mailing. Paul Jenkins, Sue Stering, Karen Gaughan, and Sandy Podgorski volunteered to help. Patriots' Day 2020: The committee discussed the issue of shortening the route of the parade starting in 2020. • Lorain and Linda noted that although the responses to the stakeholders survey were not strongly one way or the other, at the stakeholders meeting on 1/31/19, several participants, including the Police, indicated that shortening the route would be well worth considering. In particular, Police Chief Corr said that shortening the route would save his department a lot of money because fewer officers would be needed for managing the Parade. • Many committee members noted that there are very few observers of the Parade between Maple St. and Woburn St. Most of the Parade crowd is located only in Lexington Center, and therefore, shortening the Parade route would not impact most of the viewers. • The Committee voted to develop a proposal to submit to the Board of Selectmen. Lorain asked for volunteers to work on the proposal. Approval of Parade Applications The Committee approved the applications of the following units involving no fees: • The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts • CAAL • DB Studios (float) • Lexington Girl Scouts • Lexington Goes Purple • Lexington HS Best Buddies • Lexington Youth Commission (one float, one car) • Fitter Female (car) • LexFUN • Michelson's Shoes (vehicle) • Middlesex Sheriff's Office Honor Guard • Dance Inn • US Submarine Veterans • Wagon Wheel Nursery (float) The Committee approved the applications of the following units involving fees: • 13'h Massachusetts Infantry • Boston Windjammers • His Majesty's 101h Regiment of Foot • Lexington Minute Men • Middlesex County Volunteers • Roma Band • Suburbanettes • New Liberty Jazz Band (trolley) • Reminisants Band (flatbed) • William Diamond Jr. Fife and Drum Corp The meeting adjourned at 8:30 pm. Respectfully submitted, Suzanne Caton Co-Secretary