7839-R1_MSA_Dec2021_MaineSnowmobiler

From The Executive Board

From the President

since last spring. Remember, that first ride to get familiarized with your new or old sled as it’s been a while and it usually takes a few miles before everything comes back. Make sure lakes have plenty of ice and swamps/bogs are frozen as well as those can have catastrophic results if not. Be safe as we get this party started! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Now we move on to Santa’s time of year and also the MSASuper Raffle. Some lucky people are going to win some super prizes. We’ll have a list of winners on our website, Facebook page and next month’s newspaper. Congrats to all the winners! Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to attend a bridge dedication for Harvey Williams of North Anson. I met Harvey the first year I was MSA Trails Chairman at a restaurant in Skowhegan. Dave Wadsworth, who was the Trails Committee Central Region Vice Chair at the time had set up our mapping dinner. Dave introduced everyone at the table. Francis, Mike, Larry and Harvey. I remember it well as I had asked then MSA President Dave Stevens to attend. We had a great evening as we all got to know one another. One of the subjects of conversation that night was ITS 84, it’s river crossing and the trestle in North Anson. I was brought up to speed on the history of the trestle and Harvey’s work on it to keep it from literally falling in the river. Dave Wadsworth Ski-Doo Renegade 600 EFI from our friends at BRP and Moosehead Motorsports. By the way, Moosehead Motorsports added a higher windshield, heated electric shield jack and tunnel protectors. Arctic Cat and Kramer’s from Sidney gave us a deal on a ZR 200. Can’t wait to get that one! These three sleds are incredible prizes and we cannot thank these Maine dealers enough. More BIG prize’s How about the Nitro Hybrid enclosed 12 foot trailer? Donated fully by Chad Dow and Company in Pittsfield, Maine! WOW! More Wow’s Alcom/Sno Pro in Winslow comes through year after year with another tilt trailer capable of carrying two sleds. These two prizes total nearly $9,500.00. More generosity from two great trailer manufacturers right here in Central Maine. Kittery Trading Post has donated $500.00 again this year, this is one great gift card to be used at one of Maine’s best sporting goods store. The gift certificates from the vendor’s are worth a lot too, the kindness from these folks is second to none and again we could not do it without them. Thank you all. This raffle is all about the club’s and helping them. Some clubs sold record amounts, some sold average but at the end of the day, it’s their raffle and they get some much needed funds. The area VP’s have been hard at work single hour, minute and second invested in a club, landowner, business, rider or safety related topic will pay dividends in the future. For example, have you ever set down at your desk and planned an all weekend show and intertwine extensive costs with the outcome of being in the Black 3 days later? Have you ever tried to convince a club to give selling raffle tickets a try and they liked the thought but had their own very successful fundrais- ing methods? To appease they agreed to take 100 and see where it ended up. I am guessing it went well as after 2000+; they called and asked for some more tickets. Our staple clubs pushed their marks to new levels. Everyone loves surfing web pages right? Can’t be that tough right? Well flap that keyboard just a few times and “Boom”; Outcomes 28 pages of a 53-year history. Oh and by the way, run around the state and help educate the clubs on related issues and best practices to con- tinue in the future. While you’re at it, throw together the most up to date as possible and print 25,000 maps for every rider to have and get those in people’s hands. It can’t be very hard to transfer your books from an outdated accounting program to Quick Books while you’re doing this, right? Right? After finally throwing my hat into the trail work ring this weekend, I can’t begin to tell you how enjoyable this game is. Leaning

and Harvey did a lot together. Dave told me a lot about Harvey and his dedication to the NASC. Dave ended up being a great friend and I’m thankful that I got to know him and especially his crew. Harvey ended up retiring from the trails committee during my tenure as Trails Chairman, and I was sad to see him go. He had spent many years inspecting trails for the committee on top of all his local club “duties”. The Trestle Bridge in North Anson will forever be the Williams Bridge and a well deserved honor. Thank You Harvey! The MSA Showcase rides are back again this season. Eastern Region VP, Eileen Lafland, will be hosting a ride in her region on Feb. 12th. This year’s ride and meeting will be hosted by the Northern Timber Cruisers in Millinocket. Great views of Mt. Katahdin are usually a staple of the rides in this area. Northern Region VP, Matt Stedman has his ride planned in the Island Falls area on March 12 th . Some “hidden gems” in this area so make plans now to attend one or better yet both! These rides always feature great trails, scenery, food and conversation. The weather forecast looks like a roller coaster this week with a couple chances for snow so put on those snow dancing shoes and get dancing. It’s time and we are ready to ride. See you all next year (LOL). Think snow, Mike meeting club members and attending meetings. I would like to thank them all including the area VP’s and each club. Your passion and determination pays off and makes us a Northeast snowmobile destination. Everybody wants to come to Maine, we have it all and it’s made on your hard work and love for the sport. I’ve been getting call’s at the MSA office this fall from people from the south who want to come to our state to ride. A gentleman called from Mississippi while cutting his corn field! He said it is on his bucket list to come here to ride! Another called from Tennessee. Lots of New Yorkers too. It’s great to get a chance to talk to them. Hope you all have a great holiday season! Al H ere we go, take it slow. We’ve already had a serious accident involving a sled and pick up truck. While road riding a young man came over a hill on his sled and was involved in an accident while the truck driver was deer hunting. It’s too early folks for reporting like this. We should be talking about getting ready for a new season. By now, your sleds and trailer’s on your snowmobiling primates is one of a kind. The people that drive snowmobiling are the most dedicated, flexible, loyal, resil- ient, appreciative, and humble human beings on earth and don’t change a thing. Thanks to ALL of you. Our goals for the steering committee in 2022 will evolve into doing what we started in the first place. We will be looking extensively hard at finding the best Executive Director an organization could have. We hope to have this accomplished by the annual meeting but surely before the entry into 2023. Liz at the office has been nothing short of a miracle and digging in to no end. Other goals are to get more involved with our partner associa- tions around the state and country to further solidify snowmobiling into the future. Our bond with the state program has never been Safety Committee Chair Report

Lori Hemmerdinger (207) 890-5455 544 Plains Road • Poland, ME 04274 Treasurer@mesnow.com Treasurer’s Report Respectfully Submitted, Lori Hemmerdinger, Treasurer

Mike Grass, Jr., 207-368-2316 249 Condon Rd, Plymouth ME 04969 mgrassjr@gmail.com

Monthly Income Monthly Expense

$ 62,778.88 $ 43,613.15 $ 19,165.73

Net Revenue

stronger and one we continue to foster. Along those lines, Congrats to all the folks, clubs, riders and business’s from Oakland to Emb- den that have a new breath of fresh air in that neck of the woods. Finally, we hope to let our officers get back to doing what they signed up to do and enjoy leading Snowmobiling. I hope to see attendance at the Super Raf- fle drawing that we have never seen. Don’t forget, if you’re director is there, you’re club could snatch 400 bucks just for being there. The MSA has truly had a year to be proud of. Come join in the fun. A final shout out to the clubs as I am now seeing posts from clubs that trails are ready for the white stuff. Take the start of the season slow, safe and be supportive of the people who prepared it! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Folks! John Monk So, get ready, it’s going to be a great year! Take it slow, enjoy what the trials have to offer! Ride Right Ride Safe! Call for anything Thanks AL Checking (11/30/21) $163,544.94 DedicatedAccount (11/30/21) $ 81,609.27 Pay Pal (11/30/21) $ - Special EventsAccount (11/30/21) $ 6,050.04 Credit Line (11/30/21) $ - Building Fund (11/30/21) $ 53,794.15 BrianWass Safety Fund (11/30/21) $ 1,285.05 should be checked over and tuned up waiting for ridable snow. So, in the meantime how’s you’re clothing fitting? Did you buy a new jacket, pants, helmet or other goodies at the MSA show? Now’s a good time to try on your clothing to see if it still fits? Maybe you lost weight or like me gained weight! Check out your stuff before your first ride. We will be ordering more laminated safety posters soon and they will be ready by the end of December. Just give a call or email to place an order, yes, they are free. Have been work- ing with Brookfield Hydro. To promote safety on lake’s and river’s. Always check with the local’s before going on any frozen lakes. I recommend staying on the trail. It may be longer through the woods but it’s much safer than taking a chance with thin ice and pressure ridges. We are planning snowmobile safety checks at various major trials on our system. Stayed tuned we’ll be coming on a trial near you! Also, we have planned a few classroom safety courses with the IF&W folks. These classes are about 4-5 hours long and very well worth sitting in on.

W elcome to the 2021 riding season everyone. Seeing lots of trailwork and groomer preparation pictures on Facebook. The excitement is real now as we will ring in the new year and the 2021 season. Clubs and groomers are ready for the cold and snow and so are the riders who have been waiting oh so impatiently From the Executive VP & Safety Committee Chair

Alan Swett, 207-872-7282 234 County Rd, Waterville ME 04901 snowtraveler@roadrunner.com Executive VP Report

H appy Holiday’s! Well here we are in December. The success of the MSA show is behind us and now it’s off to the biggest super raffle ever! What a great feeling to be part of! Some awesome prizes a new 850 Matrix 137 Polaris from Polaris and Woody’s in Topsham, a 2022

Steering Committee

John Monk Chairman of Steering Committee W ow, it’s hard to believe that the last lap of 2021 is about ready to be finished. To say it was an easy run would be an under- statement, but it is times such as this that helped shape and build the story and gener- ate the great volunteers the MSA has built its reputation on. We are proud to say, that our organization has now completed a full cycle of yearly events with a pretty proud outcome on each one we have undertaken. Was it easy? NO WAY! Was it worth it? Hell Yeah! Every

CLUB MEMBERS Once grooming begins Submit your trail reports to: MSA@MESNOW.COM Please include your name and club affiliation

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