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.