HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-03-11-TCC-min.pdfTOWN CELEBRATIONS COMMITTEE
Minutes of Meeting
March 11, 2026 via Zoom Teleconference
Full Committee Members Present (quorum = 7): David Grabel and Sudha Balasuryan, Co-Chairs;Linda Dixon, Sondra Lucente, Lorain Marquis, Mary Hutton, Ashley Rooney, Sue Stering
Absent: Cerise Jalelian, Sandy Podgorski, Geetha Padaki
Subcommittee Members Present: Jamie Lee, Simon Rubenstein, Pam Winters, Hong Xie
Absent: Elsie Xu, Sharon Spaulding, Brianna Bennett-Karshbaum, Bonnie Karshbaum, Bill Keim,Seema Badaya
Guests: Sam Ang, prospective member (joined mid-meeting and was introduced by DaveGrabel)
Meeting Opened
Co-Chair Dave Grabel started the Zoom meeting, and declared a quorum to be present.
Co-Chair Sudha Balasuryan officially opened the meeting at 7:00 PM, and recited the Zoomintroduction and instructions.
Housekeeping
Jamie Lee will take minutes until Cerise Jalelian resumes that responsibility after Patriots’ Day.Jamie noted that he will not be at the 03/25/2026 meeting and that someone else will need totake the minutes.
Pam Winters has been appointed as a full committee member by the Select Board, filling thecurrent vacancy. Congratulations, Pam!
The Town Celebration Committee (TCC) 03/04/2026 meeting minutes prepared by Linda Dixonwere approved.
Patriots’ Day Parade
Stakeholders Meeting:Stakeholders meeting was held on 3/10/26. Patriots’ Day parking will beat local lots; no satellite lots will be used and therefore no additional transportation will berequired.
The first meeting with event planners, Conventures was held; they will assist with thereenactment and the parade. Monday 3/16/26 call with Conventures for parade planning.
Parade Lineup:The Philadelphia Mummers dropped out leaving $7,000 available for othergroups to join the parade. The proposed applicants are: First Regiment of Foot (lateapplication); Extraordinary Arts LLC; The Musick of Prescott’s Battalion; The Parade Man; Trevorthe Juggler; and Jonoah the Jester. The total expense for the additional groups is $6,625. Amotion was made to approve the groups and seconded; the additional groups wereunanimously approved.
Parade Sponsors:Lorain will match her list of sponsors and the funds received with Sudha’s list.Sudha noted that $20,240 was committed and $16,490 has been received. The EconomicDevelopment Office is reaching out to local businesses for sponsorships. TCC is waiting on agrant from the Community Foundation for Lexington. Hopefully the TCC will raise over the$35,000 target.
Publicity:Jim Shaw is planning to publish several articles in the Lexington Times and is lookingfor some narrative to tie it all together. Ashley Rooney will help with this.
Parade Vehicles:Sue will follow up with groups that have not registered their vehicles. Sueclarified that the Wagon Wheel float will be in the judging, but Mahoney’s will not.
Awards Ceremony:Simon spoke with Jeff Leonard and reached out to Justin Armani. He willfollow up with Justin. Things are falling into place. Lexington High School (LHS) flash mob willprecede the event. LHS band will perform the National Anthem. MCs are Jim Shaw, PaulO’Shaunacy and Justine.
The activities outside will start at 6:30 PM and the ceremony will run from 7:00 – 8:00 PM. TheLex250.org website has a different time for the pre-ceremony activities. This needs to becorrected.
Confirm early access to the building and check with Sean regarding AV requirements.
Ambassador Program:Linda is implementing. There are 31 sign ups: 12 adults; 14 students; 5children under 11 with a parent. Linda will follow up with those to make sure there is morethan one guardian for the younger children. Elise made a recruiting chart. Mary Huttonsuggested contacting the Bedford Girl Scouts for volunteers.
3/14/26 is a working group meeting.
Sandy and Sue will ask merchants to place posters to recruit Ambassadors. Pam has created achart with assignments.
Sudha will monitor the sign-up sheet and problem solve where necessary.
David still needs adult volunteers for Division Leaders.
Other Business:The group discussed parade lineup considerations for sponsored units, withLinda suggesting sensitivity to units that are both marching and sponsoring. Sudha mentionedthat MassHealth Connector is a gold sponsor and should get a better position in the parade.There was general agreement with that.
The Lexington Youth Commission hands out flags and will step off at 1:15 PM. They arefollowed by the Dance Inn at 1:25 PM. Pam will adjust the parade lineup.
Meeting Adjourned, 7:45 PM
Next full TCC Meeting, 03/18/2026 starting at 7:00 PM via Zoom.