Meeting Minutes: January 24, 2014

• Brant Lake Winter Carnival is set for Saturday February 8^th, starting @ 11am with Fireworks at dusk. Again, a huge Thank You to The Town of Horicon for their generous donation to help with this event! We still need a few volunteers for that day to assist with the Main Desk and sign-ups, parking, bonfire attendants, etc. so if you can help out in any way for an hour time slot, let us know! We still need teams for organized Broom Ball games – if you have a team, we have the Broomball sticks and balls so just let us know! Randy & Patti Berg have collected $845 for cash prizes for the Out House Race that day so if you’re planning on entering a team for either the Broom Ball Tournaments or Out House Races, please contact Cindy Mead at [email protected] to pre-register. The Stony Creek Band will be playing after the firework display.
  Alliance agreed to purchase additional insurance to cover rented or borrowed vehicles for all of the TLBA events (+/- $130 a year). There will be a shuttle service at the Carnival this year because a large crowd is expected, and this coverage will undoubtedly be utilized in the future. Read more →

Meeting Minutes: December 27, 2013

• Placemat Advertising is almost filled up so if you’d like your business advertised, the cost is $75 per ad and your check can be made out and sent to TLBA, 7066 State Route 8 , Brant Lake, NY 12815 – or if you are mailing both artwork and check, you can send directly to PO Box 301, Brant Lake, NY 12815. Artwork can also be emailed to Debra Eves at [email protected] , or give her a call for more information at #538-5605.
• Brant Lake Winter Carnival is set for Saturday February 8^th, starting @ 11am with Fireworks at dusk. Anyone interested in entering a team for the Broom Ball Tournaments or Out House Races should contact Cindy Mead at [email protected] to pre-register. We would also like to have the Snow Shoe Softball Game this year, so anyone who can organize this for us, please let us know. Committee will start meeting soon so if you’d like to join in the event planning, just let us know!
• Kudos and a big Thank You to Thom Randall for the detailed write-up in the Adirondack Journal!!!! Thom has been very influential in getting the word out about our organization and events, and a good portion of our successes have been because of his newspaper coverage!
• The Northern Warren Trailblazers Winter White-Out is planned for Saturday, January 8^th, from 12pm to 5pm at the Club House on Knapp Hill. All are welcome to attend to enjoy Live Music by Finger Diddle, a Barbeque being served from 1pm to 4pm, Bonfires, and the drawing for a 2014 Ski Doo MXZ Sport 600 at 4:30. Second prize is a 2013 Triton Trailer. Cost for the Barbeque is $15 at the gate, with children under 10 Free. Raffle tickets for the snowmobile can be purchased at local businesses or by calling Mike Hill at #796-1603.
• It was brought up at the meeting that we needed a Master Plan for the Town of Chester, but the fact that we all ready have a Master Plan that was developed by the LA Group years ago was noted, as well as the fact that although it looks great on paper, it is not really ‘workable’ and has not been implemented. Substantial Grant Monies were provided to develop this plan (all which were spent on the design?) but when the State re-paved Rte 9 this summer, none of the suggested improvements were taken into consideration and it seems this ‘plan’ is just sitting on a shelf.
• On a similar note, Don Butler has contacted the North Creek & Warrensburg Business Alliances and Chambers of Commerce, as well as supervisors from Chestertown, Brant Lake, North Creek and Warrensburg to form a committee to meet with Betty Little, APA and DOT representatives to see if something can be done to improve the signage off from our I87 exit ramps to direct people to services such as gas, lodging, etc. Clarke Dunham has submitted designs for these signs, and hopefully there will be power in numbers in moving forward with this concern, as this much needed signage is necessary for safety issues as well as making people aware of what our small towns have to offer.
• The great improvements to Dynamite Hill were noted, and this free attraction in our area is also something that more people should made be aware of. The snowmaking machine is a great help in providing a winter atmosphere when Mother Nature doesn’t, and the Northern Warren Trailblazers put in countless hours, free of charge, using their machinery to groom the hill and move the snow, making the hill great for skiing, sledding and the newly lighted cross country trails. Thank you to the members of the snowmobile club who donate their time!

Next meeting is Friday, January 10, 2014 at 9am @ the Panther Mountain Inn.

Meeting Minutes: November 1, 2013

• Wine and Beer Tasting: Wednesday November 6^th at the Bull House in Chestertown, 5:30pm- 7:30pm. Sample wine and beer from area vendors, including the new Paradox Brewery from Schroon Lake, free appetizers, lots of great raffles & Chinese auction, and Jazz music by Ray Alexander. Jacob & Toney, Tops, the Bull House and the Panther Mt. Inn have donated food for the event, and many local businesses have donated raffle & auction items. This is one of the few fund raisers the Alliance has over the course of a year so pass the word and come out for a great weeknight evening! A $20 donation at the door will benefit the Tri-Lakes Business Alliance.
• Taste of the Tri-Lakes & Memory Tree Lighting: December 3^rd to coincide with the Chestertown Rotary’s Memory Tree Lighting at the main intersection of Chestertown. $1 tickets can be purchased to buy ‘samples’ of restaurant specialties throughout the evening, bonfires, free smore making and hot chocolate for the youngsters, Christmas carols and a wonderful community get together to start off the holiday season. Food will be served from 5:30 – 7:30 with the tree lighting around dusk.
  • We will be distributing the necessary Health Dept. permits to the restaurants and Donnie will pick them up and deliver them to Glens Falls.
  • Helena will organize music from NW Central School
  • Cindy will organize the Boy Scouts for the bonfires & smore supervision. Stone Bridge & Caves will be donating smore fixings.
  • Don and John MacMillan will organize bonfires, firewood, and lighting/electricity for the restaurant tents.
  • Each restaurant is responsible for supplying and setting up their own tent… let us know if you need to borrow one for the evening as the Farmer’s Market has 2 that can be used.

• Brant Lake Winter Carnival: February 8, 2014. Committee will start meeting mid-December. Anyone interested in helping with this event, please reply to this email and we’ll add you to the list. If you can just help out that day, we’ll need volunteers for parking, manning the information booth, and wearing the snowman costume. More information to follow over the next few months.
• It was suggested the TLBA develop a webpage and Mark Sissons will have Pam Sissons contact us regarding this. Newspaper & Radio ads, Face Book and our email chain get the word out for our events, but the more internet recognition we have the better.
• Placemats: We need to design and order more of the placemats we distributed last year with our event calendar and local businesses advertising. There will be a meeting at the Panther Mountain Inn at 6pm on Thursday November 7^th for anyone interested in helping. Many local restaurants used these placemats last summer and it was decided this was a project we should continue.
• Carol Theatre: General consensus was to try and revive the Carol Theatre as a historic landmark and gathering place for the town. We will be meeting with the owners to discuss this further.
• A discussion of how to bring more businesses to town was held, possibly having the towns offer a tax break to new establishments. A certified Grant Writer would be helpful as there are monies out there for both new and existing businesses, and the idea of the Town of Chester and the Town of Horicon sharing the employ of such a person would be beneficial to our communities. The TLBA could use assistance in applying for Warren County Bed Tax monies, and we currently keep a sign-in sheet for all of our meetings as we were told we could get monies for each signature each week, but no one knows how to go about doing this. Anyone with information or knowledge of Grant Writing please let us know!
• Holiday Craft Fair: December 6, 2013 sponsored by the North Creek Business Alliance
• Santa’s Train: December 7, 2013 leaving North Creek and traveling north to save Santa Claus.

Next meeting is Friday, November 15^th at 9am @ the Panther Mountain Inn. You do not have to be a business owner to attend! We only have two rules: