Meeting Minutes: May 31, 2013

• Placemats are ready to print and all spaces have been sold. They will be distributed to any restaurants who wish to use them this summer.
• Golf Tournament to benefit the Tri-Lakes Business Alliance is set for June 14^th, start time 1pm. Please support the TLBA and come out to enjoy a great day of golf. Proceeds will go toward events the TLBA will be organizing in the future (Rum Runner Weekend, Taste of the Tri-Lakes, Town Wide Garage Sale, Brant Lake Winter Carnival, Town Concerts, Parades, Car Hops, etc). 18 holes w/cart plus a light lunch before your round, a BBQ after your round, several chances to win some great prizes and a $5000 hole in one contest. ALL FOR JUST $48 PER PLAYER, with $28 going to the Alliance. Businesses can sponsor a team for $250 which gets them a foursome in the tournament plus an advertising sign (tee sponsor) on the course. A business can also pay $50 for a tee sponsor if they don’t wish to sponsor a team. We are a not for profit group and these fund raisers help with advertising (signage, radio and print ads), bands, firework displays, and the general items needed to make these events a success. Gift certificates and raffle items would also be appreciated. Please contact Ron or Martha at Green Mansions #494-7222 to donate items or sign up your team (individual players can sign up as well as we have other ‘singles’ to make up teams). Checks can be made payable to Tri-Lakes Business Alliance.
• Car Hop – June 7^th at the Panther Mt. Inn. Kathy Hill of Adirondack Regional Insurance has donated the trophies for this month’s event, so stop by and check out the great vintage cars! Drive thru town will start around dusk. No entrance fees, just a great opportunity to get out for an early evening with the family!
• A North Warren group calendar has been set up on the web so all the area groups can post their events to avoid overlapping venues. This calendar will be made public in the future so anyone can go to it to see all the upcoming events in the area.
• Free Entrance Passes: Any business owners who haven’t had an opportunity to visit Rail Road’s on Parade should contact Clark or Barb Dunham @ #494-3930 and they’ll get you a few free passes to stop by and check it out. Stone Bridge and Caves is also having Community Days June 8^th and 9^th where there will be free admission for residents of Warren, Essex & Washington counties (just show ID). These are both amazing exhibits right in our own back yard and it’s important for us to be able to tell others (vacationers, tourists, and friends) that you’ve been there and they’re definitely worth a visit!
• Anthony Ruiz of Samurai Virtual Tours at www.360dack.com gave a presentation of their 360 tours and how they can capture venues with high quality images and videos for Adirondack events, the hospitality industry, museums, etc.
• Town Signs: we’re still working on getting new entrance signs to Chester and Pottersville. The committee has been working on this for over a year but keeps getting held up with bureaucratic red tape (State, County and Local levels). The sign by Stewarts in Chestertown is in total disrepair and an embarrassment to our community, so hopefully progress will be made in the near future.
• It was discussed that future events should be kept as local as possible (ATV ride benefit, bands for the concerts, etc.) and the Alliance will keep this suggestion in mind for the future, as our goal is to promote local businesses and our area.

Next meeting: Friday, June 14^th, 2013 ~ 9am ~ at the Panther Mountain Inn.

Meeting Minutes: May 3, 2013

• First Car Hop May 3^rd with more to follow the last Friday of every month through the Fall at the Panther Mt. Inn. This month’s trophies were donated by Gallo Realty and anyone wishing to donate the 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place trophies for upcoming meets should contact Don Butler. Cost is $40 and the 50/50 raffle held each night benefits the Tri-Lakes Alliance.
• ATV Ride to be held May 4^th at the Tin Tee Pee. Hopefully there will be plans to make these ATV rides even larger in the future.
• May 15^th – Joint Mixer w/ local Chamber of Commerce’s (North Warren, Gore Mt. & Schroon Lake) at Railroads on Parade from 5pm-7pm.
• June 14^th – Golf Tournament to benefit the Alliance is progressing.
• June 19^th – Chestertown Farmers Market opens for the season. 28 out of 30 available spaces are reserved and every week is booked with great music guests such as Steve Smith, Rich Ortiz and Lindsey Mead.
• Town of Chester has apparently received from Home Depot +/-60 shrubs, benches and other donations and plans are to install an irrigation system on the front lawn (which was just installed last summer) and plant the trees/shrubs. The effect this will have on the Farmer’s Market is unsure, as that many shrubs/trees would not leave much room for the vendors, and the Market Committee is worried about how extensive this renovation will be. The next town board meeting is Tuesday, May 14^th at 7pm and we urge anyone interested in finding out more about this should try to attend the meeting. The TLBA will also be presenting/asking for permission to hold concerts on the lawn this summer, as it is our understanding that is what this area was originally designed for.
• A Committee was formed to look into applying for Bed Tax monies from the Town of Chester and the Town of Horicon. Both towns get $30,000 a year from Warren County, and we believe it is possible to get even more funding for local events. Applications for this money are due by September. Fred Holman, Brandon Himoff, Barb Thomas, Ron Walker and Cindy Mead have volunteered to work on this committee. Any money the Tri-Lakes Alliance receives will go toward advertising and organizing events such as the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Brant Lake Winter Carnival, Taste of the Tri-Lakes, Summer Concerts, Town Wide Garage Sale and possible fireworks displays.
• Brandon Himoff attended the APA’s Local Government Day in Lake Placid. At the “Making it Happen” session, Brandon presented a slide show on what the TLBA has done in the past 16 months, and committees listened to local business owners concerns. One of the highest growth areas in the Adirondack Park is Chestertown, with Horicon being one of the towns with a high rate of declining population.
• Placemats with the TLBA events and advertising for local businesses is still in the works. Any business interested in having their business advertised on the placemats should contact Don Butler. Ad costs will be $50 and 5000 of the placemats will be printed to be used in local restaurants. Business designs, logos, etc. should be emailed to Debra Eves at [email protected] .
• Warrensburg has started a Business Alliance such as ours and we wish them the best of luck!
• ADVERTISING: It was suggested any businesses who have a ‘rack card’ bring them to a TLBA meeting or to an Alliance member and everyone can distribute each others in their respective businesses.
  **** Mike Morgan who represents 5 local radio stations, including 100.3 The Point, gave a presentation and they have an advertising promotion where two businesses can split a 60 second spot (so two 30 second ads, at different times)for $330.00 ( $27.50 a week). See attached. Each business ad will air 5 times a day. Green Mansions and the Chestertown Farmers Market are going to take advantage of this, and Mark Sissons of Edward Jones will be sponsoring the market’s ad. Public Service announcements are free and we’ll keep this in mind to advertise our upcoming events. We will also start contacting TV8 for our events to help get the word out.
• Student Art Exhibit will be held from May 10^th to June 1^st at The Art Gallery in Chestertown. Students from 8 different schools will be on display.
• Milfoil Treatment will begin in Loon Lake on May 13^th.
  Meeting was adjourned at 10:10 am.

Next meeting: Friday, May 3, 2013 ~ 9am ~ at the Panther Mountain Inn.