Meeting Minutes: June 14, 2013

• Benefit Golf Tournament was held June 14^th, there were 13 teams signed up. Thanks to Willie Parker and Jack Toney Wholesale for donating the hamburgers & hotdogs, and McCluskey’s for the buns! Thanks to Bill Brannigan for printing the tee signs, and MacMillan Construction, Adirondack Moonshine, Gallo Realty, Green Mansions Golf Course, Panther Mountain Inn and Fish Construction for sponsoring teams and 6 other teams sponsored by local residents. Raffle items were donated by Rocky Ridge Boat Storage & Firewood, Glens Falls National Bank, Brant Lake Taxi, Main Street Ice Cream Parlor, Hemlock Ledge, Penni Cargioli and Green Mansions. Congratulations to Penni Cargioli for winning the 50/50 raffle and the Adirondack Moonshine Team for winning first place and the Green Mansions Team for second place. Tee sponsors were Upstate Agency, McDermott Funeral Home, Edward Jones/ Mark Sissons, Adirondack Regional Insurance/Kathy Hill, and Hemlock Ledge. Over $1,300 was raised for the Alliance and again, the community participation was greatly appreciated and we look forward to doing this again next year!
• Rum Runner Weekend Committee reported on what is planned so far for the September 13-15 town wide celebration. All local restaurants are being asked to have a $19.25 special of some sort that weekend, Babe Ruth baseball at Dynamite on Saturday mid-day, a Vaudeville and Burlesque Show is planned for Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening Speak Easy at the Panther Mt. Inn w/costumes, drink specials, (knock on the door and know the password to get let in), Sunday Car Show and Police race over Landon Hill, Moonshine specials at Adirondack Moonshine and lots more! We’d like to get every business in town to have their staff dress to the period (1920’s) that weekend so if people go into a store or restaurant, they feel like they’ve dropped back 90 years! The committee really needs more people to help with this event so if you want to get involved, call Don at #573-4386 or come to the next planning meeting (very short – they last about ½ hour) on June 6^th at the Panther Mt. Inn @6pm.
• Tri-Lakes Music on Main Street will be held July 10^th on the front lawn of the town hall. Enjoy a night out with the family at a free summer concert! Bring your coolers and lawn chairs to hear music by Flip Side 4:00pm – 5:30pm and Master Cylinders 6:00pm – 8pm and then enjoy some dinner in town!
• Next Car Hop is scheduled for June 21^st and there will be a new Coral for Motorcycles! Trophy Sponsors are needed for the July 21^st show ($40 for 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rdplace trophies) so let us know if you’d like to donate.
• The newly formed Greater Warrensburg Business Alliance is having a Tasting of Warrensburg on June 19^th from 5pm-7pm with a $10 donation getting you (10) $1 tickets to try local food samples. Flyer is attached.
• Adirondack Water Fest is scheduled for July 12^th on the back lawn of the Chester Town Hall. Fun day for families with lots of information on our local waterways.
• Chestertown Farmers Market opens Wednesday, June 19^th with 28 vendors including last year’s favorites plus some new ones: Fish Vendor, Knife Sharpener, Living Lights and MORE! Please pass the word and help support the Market this summer! A few volunteers are still needed to fill in a few shifts for set-up and tear-down each Wednesday so if you can donate ½ of your time some Wednesday morning or afternoon, please let the girls at the Market know!
• Placemats are due in any day. Some businesses still owe monies so please send you $50, check made out to Tri-Lakes Business Alliance, to John MacMillan – PO Box 462 – Chestertown, NY 12817.

Next Meeting: Friday, June 28^th, 9am at the Panther Mt. Inn

Meeting Minutes: May 17, 2013

• The Tri-Lakes Business Alliance’s ATV Ride for a Cure had 86 riders and made $2,460 for Linda Wells, age 26, eleven year Mesothelioma survivor to help defray ongoing medical costs. Many thanks to the Community, the Chestertown Fire Department, McCluskey’s Hardware, Jacobs & Toney for their help and donations, and thanks to Mike Lewis and Don Butler for organizing the event. Winners were 1^st Place – $300 Randy Woodward (donated back to the TLBA), 2^nd Place – $200 Dan Hunston (donated back to the TLBA), 3^rd Place – $100 Ed Rodgers. It was a great event and we hope to have more fundraisers such as this in the future.
• We’re working on placemats for local restaurants to use this summer. Business ads for the placements cost $50 and logos and design should be emailed to Debra Eves [[email protected]]. We currently have 5 ads and we ask you have your designs in by May 24^th so we can get them printed.
• The May Car Hop had 10 participants and $28 was raised on the 50/50 raffle for the TLBA. Trophies were donated by Gallo Realty. It was suggested they do a double loop through town in the future so more people can see the cars. Next Car Hop is scheduled for June 7^th with more running throughout the summer on the 1^st Friday of every month.
• The Golf Outing scheduled for June 14^th has a Face Book page up and all are invited to “Share” it and get the word out. There are currently 7 businesses sponsoring teams and more are needed – Give your staff ½ day off and support this local cause! Sponsorships are available for $50 for the tee sponsor and $230 for a team and tee sponsor. Flyer is attached. Event is scheduled for Friday, June 14^th, starting at 1pm with barbeque to follow around 5:30. Non-players can just come and enjoy the barbeque for $10 (donated to the TLBA). Gift certificates and prizes are also needed so contact Ron Walker if you can help out or to sign up your team!
• Black Fly Barbecue – Sunday May 19^th, starting at 4pm at the Chestertown Conservation Club.All proceeds will go toward North Warren’s Bicentennial Extravaganza in August. $10 donation – BYOB with music until 9pm.
• Old Time Auction – to benefit the Bicentennial will be on June 29^th by Café Adirondack at the old Pottersville Fairgrounds (Glendale). Anyone wishing to donate goods (except electronics and clothing) can contact Janet Smith at #494-3301.
• Alive @ 5 Concert was approved by the Town of Chester to be held Wednesday, July 10^th in front of the Town Municipal Center. Flip Side will be followed by Master Cylinders for music venue and event will run from 4pm until 8pm. Thanks to the Town of Chester for a $1,000 donation to defer band & advertising costs for this event.
• Chris Ryan presented ideas on how our local businesses can work together to split costs of ads, etc. EZMarine will be hosting an Open House with boat demonstrations both at his shop and on Brant Lake the weekend of June 18^th & 19^th.
• Anyone who would like a Town Banner but missed out last year can get their design to Garnet Signs (by the end of May please) and then contact the respective towns to get them hung up – there is room for many more so let’s get as many as possible out there for this summer! Total cost is $125…. Very reasonable local advertising!!!!!
• Brandon will develop a Community Calendar to consolidate local events throughout the North Warren Area.
• Chestertown Rotary now has a Face Book page – find it and “LIKE” it!!!!
• The Farmer’s Market Committee announced they will have a fresh fish vendor at the Market this summer!
• The Chester Town Board approved our request to replace the current Christmas Tree signs at the entrances of Chestertown and Pottersville.
• The TLBA voted not to exceed $500 on proposed town beautification project this spring.
• Many thanks to all the community and TLBA members who attended the joint Chamber of Commerce mixer at Railroads on Parade – anyone who has not visited this display should definitely check it out this summer!
• A suggestion of charging dues for the TLBA members was discussed, but because we’re still working on getting bed tax monies from the towns and taking into account our successful fund raisers, this will not go into effect at this time.

Next meeting: Friday, May 31, 2013 ~ 9am ~ at the Panther Mountain Inn.

Meeting Minutes: April 19, 2013

The Wine Tasting fundraiser was a huge success netting $1,489 for the Alliance.

• 50/50 Raffle: $205 – thank you Wayne Thomas for donating your winnings back to the Alliance.

Raffle Items: $379 (It was suggested we have a silent auction for some of the more expensive items in the future).
Admissions: $1,105 Total $1,689 minus music allotment.
Thank you to all who donated items for the raffles and attended the event, and a special thanks to Bill Brannigan from Adirondack Moonshine for organizing the event and to Loni at The Bullhouse for allowing the use of her facilities. Monies will be used to help with advertising, signage, music for events, and possible firework displays in the future. It was decided we will hold this fund raiser during the autumn months in the future so not to conflict with other local community oriented Wine Tastings.

• Brandon Himoff will be giving a presentation to the Adirondack Park Agency at the Local Government Conference next week. The APA asked to hear about our organization and Brandon will be doing a slide presentation of our events and explaining our goals and achievements. +/- 160 people read our meeting minutes and over 200 people see our postings on FaceBook so it’s great to know our group is being recognized.
• Upcoming Events:

ATV Ride for a Cure: Tin TeePee Campground: May 4^th.
Library Wine Tasting: May 5^th at the Friends Lake Inn from 1 – 4pm.

Joint Mixer: North Warren and Gore Mt. Chamber of Commerce being held at Railroads on Parade 5:30-7pm

June Golf Tournament: Green Mansions – June 14^th.

Car Show: May 3^rd – Panther Mt. Inn

• Chestertown Summerfest will be held July 16^th and Linda Muench volunteered to head the committee to represent the Alliance. Event runs from noon to the fireworks in the evening.
• An anonymous letter was sent to the Alliance regarding some of our venues and events. The Tri-Lake Business Alliance aims for a welcome environment, and all community members are welcome to attend meetings and voice their opinions, as it’s much easier to discuss ideas in an open forum. Our goal is to support each other, and “To improve the quality of life and promote economic prosperity in Northern Warren County through enhanced infrastructure, expanded tourism and beautification of our economic centers”.
• Chestertown Farmer’s Market is gearing up for the season. We currently have +/- 25 vendors ( space is limited to 30), and music is booked for 16 out of the 17 weeks the market will run, including local artists Stephen Smith and Lindsey Meade. Help is need for set-up and tear-down each week, and anyone interested in volunteering 30-45 minutes for a shift or two this summer should contact Mary Jane Dower at #494-3666 or Cindy Mead #494-3016. Opening day is June 19^th.
• The Adirondack Journal’s new policy of NOT distributing the paper to stores and ONLY delivering to PO Boxes and/or local mailing addresses was discussed. We need our advertising dollars to target the visitors to our area as well as ‘locals’, and without distribution in the local stores, Chamber of Commerce, etc. this vital audience will not be reached. Business owners should contact Daniel Alexander at 518-873-6368 Ext: 206 – [email protected] and Scarlette Merfeld at 518-585-9173 Ext: 117 to express their opinion.
• A Street Night with bands and entertainment on the front lawn of the Municipal Center was discussed, and Keith Wilkinson will be contacting Fred Monroe to discuss the feasibility of an event such as this. The new lawn was designed with events such as these in mind, and it would be another draw to get people into town for the evening.

Meeting was adjourned at 10:10 am.
Next meeting: Friday, May 3, 2013 ~ 9am ~ at the Panther Mountain Inn.