7397-R4_MSA_Dec2020_MaineSnowmobiler

MSA Club News

ing for the 2020-21 season, Heading into the season, we have purchased a drag upgrade to help with trail quality, as well as doing large amounts of brushing and exca- vating on rough trails. Our Bennett Pond trail has been rerouted around rough, wet areas, which has taken an immense amount of man power. Our little club has been putting in the hours to help make trails the best possible, and cannot wait to see snowmobilers come through our lit- tle town. See everyone soon, and happy trails Steve Marden SVSC has resumed its regular meet- ings for the 2020/21 season. Our meet- ings are the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month at the Big A Clubhouse in Newport. We held our election of officers on September 23 with our slate of officers and directors mostly staying the same, but we are happy to welcome Kasey Fair as our new Vice President and Devon Brooks as Trea- surer. Gail Ryan graciously took over as membership chair in addition to her MSA director duties. She has big shoes to fill. Her sister, Elaine Brown, filled the position for 40 plus years, so hopefully she will step in with advice and wisdom if needed. Trail work, including clearing, brush cutting and bridge building/repair has been in full swing, with Scott and Tyler Jakins and Kelly Merrill leading the charge. There is, as always, much work to do and help is always needed! With some areas of the state seeing the first snowfall on October 17, we are looking forward to a great season of riding and providing some great trails. Due to COVID concerns, we decided to hold a raffle for our Landowners rather than a public supper. The drawing was held on November 11 and each winner will receive a $50 Walmart gift card. The winners were: Newport: Hydro- grass Holdings (Tom Gordon), Gou- dreau and Christine Carlson, Alternate: Darrell King Stetson: Clayton Bragdon, Barbara Call, Alternate: Kelly Merrill Etna: Leonard Martin, Steve Mitchell, Alternate: Walter Oxley. Hopefully the warm weather we are experiencing now will soon be over and sledding season can get off to an early and great start! Lisa Sawyer, SVSC Secretary MOOSEHEAD RIDERS sc PO Box 1145 Greenville, ME 04441 Find us on Facebook SEBASTICOOK VALLEY sc Newport, Etna, Stetson, ME

Last winter we started a regular program of posting, on our Facebook page, a nightly trail report with video while grooming. This gave the riding public accurate information on where grooming had taken place the night before, the snow conditions and the grooming results. More than half of our trails are on mountainous terrain with endless twists and turns and there is a lot of variation in snow accumu- lation. Grooming is always difficult and the results are not always perfect. But it seems the riding public is more accepting when they see and hear actual timely information. Most of our riders come a distance and many make route plans days and weeks in advance. Social media is becoming an increas- ingly important means of providing the information they need so they can adjust their expectations accordingly. Our plan is to provide great trails, now all we need is lots of snow. Bob Ludwig, Secretary raludwig184@gmail.com SHIRLEY BOG TRAIL BUSTERS Shirley, ME Check out our website https://sites.google.com/site/ shirleybogtrailbusters Like us on Facebook: Shirley Bog Trail Busters Get in touch with us at ShirleyBogTrailBusters@gmail.com We finally got our new groomer moved to Shirley! Thanks to Hutch and Charlie for spending so much time on this project. Our trails are assured to be great this season with this 8-foot-wide machine! Now for the anticipation of snow and snow! So, in the meantime we will have to be working on our trails, widening them and getting them in good shape for all the snow. We had our election of officers at our November meeting. Our new slate of officers for 2020-2021 is: Presi- dent: Charlie Baker, Vice President: Roger Labonte, Trail Master: Hutch Gagne, Secretary and Membership: Debi Baker, Treasurer: Pegeen Ran- housky, Director: Chris Later and Danny Ranhousky. Congratulations to all of our new officers! We hope your sleds are ready for the upcoming season and are planning for some great rides. See you on the trails!

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Picture attached: New to Shirley Bog Trail Busters, 1995 John Deere Tractor-Groomer with Drag Debi Lynne Baker, Secretary BLUE RIDGE RIDERS Rockwood, ME Hello from Blue Ridge in Rockwood! Trail work continues, but as everyone knows: There’s ALWAYS trail work! Please reach out to our club if you see spots where signage needs improve- ment or something looks amiss. In anticipation of more riding due to COVID-19 and people being able to work remotely, BRR is gearing up for more nightly grooming. A meet- ing was held to make a schedule as well as train the new groomers. We continue working toward the pur- chase of an additional groomer. A way to support our Club is by purchasing a raffle calendar. Each day during the month of February a name will be drawn. All prizes are cash. Another way to support BRR is to join our club! It’s vital that local clubs are supported with member- ships. Join where you ride and see how you can get involved. Happy Holidays from Blue Ridge Riders! Ride safe! Respectfully submitted, Emily Bodemer, Secretary EASTERN MAINE SNOWMOBILERS 263 Levenseller Road Holden ME 04429 Find us on Facebook Our 50th year!! Wow 50 years. A lot of things have changed in the past 50 years but yet a lot of things stayed exactly the same. We still walk every mile of our trails in the fall to brush, trim and clear them. We still groom all of our trails with snowmobiles and a drag. Yes, we still use a pipe drag with a pan on the back for packing down but we do use Mogul Masters also with the electric servo motor. 2020 has brought changes but they are nothing that we can’t deal with and we are doing fairly well as a club. The newest change in COVID-19 restric- tions meant we just lost what was left of our remaining hall rentals at the clubhouse. We are still able to have our regular monthly club meetings and dinners (all while following social distancing and CDC recommendations and guidelines) With that said fundraising is pretty much at a standstill. So, this year more urgently than any other year it is important for you to please join a club or join several clubs as an associate

member if you can. Also, we know that times are tough and money is tight but it cost $0 to come volunteer at a club! And I believe the unlimited fresh air, sunshine and exercise that we get is far better than any gym membership! We just had a successful Hunter’s Breakfast at the club! Even with the COVID-19 restrictions we were able to sell 74 adult meals and five child meals and also had a small raffle and made money for the club all while having fun and supporting the local community! Trails We meet at the clubhouse every Sun- day morning; the coffee will be on and more often than not we have some fresh homemade baked goods available. Please be there before 7:30 so we can make a plan, divide into work teams and hit the woods before 8:00 a.m. So far this year we have completed the two major reroutes and are currently finishing up a bridge repositioning. That is really good progress but that means there is probably 50 more miles of trail that has yet to be walked through. We thank all those that can help! Upcoming events Sunday December 13th - Board of Directors 5:00 PM Club dinner 6:00 PM Club meeting 7:00 PM immedi- ately followed by Christmas party with gift exchange! Saturday January 2nd - Clubhouse and kitchen opens for the season! (Currently praying for snow) Sunday January 17th - Board of directors 5:00 PM Club dinner 6:00 Thank you to B&B Paving for donating some asphalt which was laid in front of our building for the handi- cap access. They are also now a sup- porting business member. Thanks to Don M and Brent for getting our gen- erator electrical hookup connected and tested so that we never have to have another Hunter’s Breakfast by candle- light and extension cords. We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving with friends and fam- ily if you could! We hope you’ve had some time to go out and do a little pre- season prep on your snowmobiles and trailers because Winter is coming! See you at the clubhouse and soon out on the trails! Troy G. Trail Grunt EXETER CROSS COUNTRY CRUISERS Exeter, ME The time of year has arrived to make sure the trails are ready to go for the upcoming snowmobile sea- son. The year of 2020 is a year most of us would like to forget. Let’s hope PM Club meeting 7:00 PM Buildings and Grounds

PLEASANT RIDGE RIDERS sc Caswell, ME

The Pleasant Ridge Riders Snow- mobile Club was awarded the 2020 Town of Caswell Spirit of America Award by the Aroostook Board of County Commissioners. Pictured in the attached photo from left to right are; Frank LaFave-Club VP, Rodney Parent-Club President, Town of Caswell Selectmen Scott St.Pierre, Clayton Roy, Paul St. Pierre.

The award was presented based on the following information; Founded in 1997, the Pleasant Ridge Rid- ers obtained land access, designed snowmobile trails, cleared brush and cut down trees necessary to make the trail system operational. The Club currently maintains 60 miles of trails. Over its 23-year history the Pleasant Ridge Riders have raised funds to benefit the Pine Tree Camp and the Maine Snowmobile Associ- ation. The club has also held land- owner appreciation dinners. In 2018 the club applied for and received a $100,000 grant through the Rural Business Development Grant pro- gram toward the purchase of snow- mobile trail grooming equipment. The club has also organized golf tournaments, breakfasts, and suppers to raise funds for snowmobile trail maintenance expenses. Thank you, Francis G. LaFave, VP, Pleasant Ridge Riders SC EASTERN REGION

PARKMAN TRAILBLAZERS Parkman, ME

This offseason has been tough for our little club, with the loss of our long time trailmaster and workhorse Jay Marden after his battle with can- cer. We have been working extra hard to fill in his shoes to ensure great rid-

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