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Home My WebLink About2021-02-24-TCC-min Town Celebrations Committee Meeting Minutes February 24, 2021 Virtual Meeting Members Present June Baer, Chair; Glen Bassett, Suzanne Caton, Wei Ding, Linda Dixon, Mary Hutton, Cerise Jalelian, Gresh Lattimore, Sondra Lucente, Samita Mandelia, Lorain Marquis, Julie Miller, Bill Mix, Geetha Padaki, Rita Pandey, Sandy Podgorski, Ashley Rooney, Sue Stering, Members Not Present Steve Cole, Karen Gaughan, Wayne Miller, Sam Zales Guests Jerry Michelson, Business:  June convened the meeting at 7:05 pm and read the Town notice regarding the conduct of public virtual meetings.  The committee tabled approval of the February 10 minutes until the next meeting. Patriots Day Working Groups  June noted that there will be no virtual concert planned for this year and that TCC working group has disbanded.  June also noted that the online scrapbook will not be available for this year. Front Door Decorating: Door to Patriotic Spirit * Sondra Lucente, Steve Cole, Sue Stering, Geetha Padaki, Julie Miller  There was a discussion about judging the winners of the door decorating program. Sondra noted that the working group has decided that residents will be grouped by precinct for determining residential winners and the Girl Scouts will vote on business decorations. Ashley Rooney suggested that the Garden Club and the Lexington Arts Council be asked to judge residential winners. The committee agreed that that was a good idea and will be discussed further.  Sondra reported that the working group has dropped the idea of creating a map of decorated doors and will instead just provide a list of decorated doors with addresses.  Registration for participating will be via a Google form accessed by a link provided on the Patriots Day web site. Registration will be held from March 15 to 27.  Decorations must be completed by April 5, 8 pm, and photos of the decorations must be posted by April 5.  June proposed the following gift structure for the winners: o There will be 9 prizes, one for each precinct, plus one grand prize. o Precinct winners will receive $75 worth of local gift cards. Grand prize winner will receive $200 worth of local gift cards. Grand prize winner will be chosen by the TCC. o Jerry Michelson offered to work with the TCC to get names and locations of businesses to be considered for gift cards.  The committee voted to approve the proposed gift structure and noted that gift cards should be acquired from businesses from all parts of Town, not just the Center.  Businesses will be asked to decorate their front windows, not their doors. Patriots Point Walk: Miles & Smiles: * Wei Ding, Geetha Padaki, Mary Hutton, Sandy Podgorski  Wei reported that the working group has identified 4 objectives for the program: • To familiarize our residents with the historical monuments and memorials associated with Patriots’ Day • To integrate outdoor activities with our celebration of Patriots’ Day • To encourage active engagement in appreciating the core values of Patriots’ Day • To identify the “hot spots” or most visited Patriots Points in town.  Registration for program will start March 22 and end on April 19.  Prizes for the Miles part of the program will be given for the longest miles and also for the most creative routes.  The group plans to provide an interactive map of the historical monuments, plus a list of historical monuments by address, plus a map of their locations.  As part of the Smiles part of the program, the working group proposed offering a “flat patriot” image or images that can be colored in and optionally included in the photos residents take of themselves at the historical monument sites. The committee was very much in favor of this idea and discussed possibilities for the working group to consider. It was noted that residents who cannot travel to the sites can also participate by submitting a photo of themselves with a “flat patriot” image taken anywhere, not necessarily at one of the historical sites.  A CAAL Youth Computer Science Team is working on implementing an online registration and voting system to be available by 03/22. If the new system is not ready in time, a Google form on the Patriots Day web site will be used instead.  The working group is planning to ask participants to upload their GPS locations when they visit the historical locations as a way to prove that they have gone to the locations.  Participants may use the locations provided by the TCC or use their own choice of locations with a justification of why they chose that location.  Wei described the gift structure proposed by the working group: o A total of 55 prizes will be given, using local gift cards. o $500 budgeted for 5 prizes for the Miles part of the program. o $500 budgeted for 50 prizes for the Smiles part of the program. Mary Hutton asked if the working group considered having prizes for all of the Smiles participants.  The committee voted to approve $1000 for prizes for Miles & Smiles, details to be determined later. Winners will be announced on April 26. Virtual Parade: * Lorain Marquis, Wei Ding, Mary Hutton, Rita Pandey, Sue Stering  Lorain reported that responses from local organizations have started to come in.  Mary will review the script for the video of Lexington’s Patriots Day on Parade.  The following sections will be included in the video: o An introduction to Patriots Day, noting the history of the memorial celebrations from shortly after the actual day (4/19/1775) to the current day. o Parade units including videos of marching bands and civic groups, clips of past pancake breakfasts, etc. o Clips of decorated doors o Pictures of past parades o Clips about Miles & Smiles o Recorded messages about what Patriots Day means to me, from children in our schools, residents, especially long-time residents.  All video clips should be sent to the Minuteman High School students who are helping to put together the parade. June will send out the link to the students. Library Programs: *Mary Hutton, Linda Dixon, Sue Stering, Suzanne Caton  Mary reported that Jim Hollister has filmed about 10 readings and will provide them to the working group soon.  Linda reported that she has recently spoken with John Rees about his presentation and it is on track. Publicity: * Linda Dixon, Sandy Podgorski, June Baer  June noted that the working group needs more members to help reach out and find new ways to publicize our events other than print media.  Glen and Samita volunteered to join the working group.  Geetha asked if the committee is still interested in creating a promotional video about Patriots Day this year. She noted that Lex Media is happy to help and that the previous video can be added to for this year. The committee asked Geetha to move forward with creating a video for this year. Scouts: Cerise Jalelian  Cerise reported that Troop 160 is still not ready to present the details of their virtual Pancake Breakfast yet. General Comments:  June reported that links to the DAR program and the Scottish Rite display are posted on the Patriots Day web site.  June noted that TCC members are needed to sit on the Council for the Arts and other Town committees that are currently seeking new members.  Mary Hutton reported that the Middlesex County Volunteers are interested in performing in Lexington and she asked if the TCC would be interested in sponsoring a performance. During discussion, it was suggested that the committee consider sponsoring a “Weekend in Lexington” in conjunction with the Garden Club, the Middlesex Co. Volunteers, and other local groups in September/October. The meeting adjourned at 8:57 p.m. Next meeting: 3/3/21 Respectfully submitted, Suzanne Caton, Secretary