8257-R1_MSA_February2023_Singles

MSA Club News

On the positive side....we will once again give a scholarship this year to a graduate with ties to Rock-O-Dundee Riders and/or an Oxford resident and has been accepted at an accredited college. This scholarship has been given for several years now in loving mem ory of Judy Major. A motion was made and seconded to do another calendar which will in part fund the scholarship. We are going to see about getting an online account (Venmo) so people can join our club from their home. Several people have asked about it. IT’S TIME. Our president, and our treasurer are ON IT! New trail signs are awesome! Thank you Danny! Our Sunshine Girl, Beverly, brought in some of the best brownies on the planet! Cer tainly helped everyone get over that “Old Man Weather” thing! Until next time..... Ride safe. Terri Major, Secretary ANDOVER SNOW VALLEY SNO-GOERS Andover, ME As January is coming to an end, we have finally opened our trails, they are still less then stella (snowing pretty good as I write this) so please be careful when riding... Ride Safe - Ride Right! We have all our permits for the club house now!! We had a bean supper Jan 21st, it was a great turn out! We want to thank everyone for their donations. We had a lot of fun and a lot of thank you from everyone. From what we heard around everyone is very happy we are starting to use the club house again. We are now having our monthly meeting there. Once we start getting more snow, we will be opened every weekend on Saturdays and Sun days from 10 to 2. We’ll have light lunches, coffee, tea and hot chocolate for the kiddo-s and maybe some snacks(taking donations). We will be opened during the school vacation in February every day from 10 to 2, providing we have snow, and our trails are ridable. Hats T-shirts will be available, hat are $15.00 shirts are $10.00. We’ll have memberships both personal and business available as well. Stop by get warm, have a little lunch and share your thoughts with us. Administrator Sherry Donovan Be careful what you wish for. The Tucker groomer has been out a few times, the new snowmobile groomer is getting some use, and have also seen where groomers with their privately owned sleds have been out, creating the perfect ride throughout town. Snowmobile enthusiasts are thankful and happy. We have a few new members to our club this year. We are always eager to have new members and encourage them to also attend the meetings and get to know the group. With the first major snowmobile accident already on record for the season, I encourage everyone to drive respon sibly and stay safe on the trails. STREAKED MOUNTAINEERS sc Buckfield, ME Aaahhhh. Snow at last. The second major storm within a week and another predicted to arrive in a couple of days. As the saying goes.... We hope you all had wonderful holidays. While the beginning of winter is a busy season for all of us as we prepare for the holidays and such, the Board of Directors have been busy preparing for the snowmobile season. We are looking forward to all getting out there and riding. Get your boots on and get doing your snow dance everyone! Our Board members new and old have hit the trails running this fall and into winter. Our Leah Frechette, Club Reporter RANGELEY LAKE sc Rangeley, ME

much needed snow to allow us to open most of the trails. Thanks to everyone who did their best snow dance! Please use caution as there are still some water holes and hazards here and there until things freeze up solid. Check our Facebook page for the most recent trail updates before you head out. Our new trail maps are out around town in the red donation boxes and can be found at Fryeburg Kitchen & Marketplace, Fryeburg Citgo, the Fryeburg Town Office, Jockey Cap Store, Little Mountain Store, Oxford House Inn, 302 West Smokehouse & Tavern, Stow Corner Store, Fryeburg Napa, Osgood’s Out door Power & Equipment and on the building at the parking area at 322 McNeil Road. There are 3 parking areas located at 322 McNeil Rd, Rt 302 across from Osgood’s and at Weston’s Beach on River St. Please note that the parking area across from the old Pete’s Garage is now closed. The club has done a ton of much needed maintenance on both groomers while waiting on the snow to arrive this year. These projects are very costly but necessary. This is where your money goes when you join a club and make donations whenever possible. Thank you to the folks that have done either or both of these things for your generosity. Thanks to Gary C. for the donation of the winch for the big Tucker and thank you to Gabe W. for the use of his garage to do work on the machines and to Nate H. for his countless hours over seeing it all. We will be applying for the disaster relief grant the state has offered due to the extreme storm damage back in December. If anyone has before and after pictures of the work they’ve done that would be very helpful. I hope by the time you’re reading this that you’ve all been able to get out and enjoy the trails! Be safe and right smart, Mother Nature watched all your snow dances and delivered lots of snow for us to enjoy! Our dinner club meetings continue to help with turnout I think, thanks to everyone who has brought dinner to a meeting. We’d love to have you join us, and we always need more workers! At our Jan. 10th meeting, we had lots of discussion on trails and our World’s Greatest Sleigh Ride fundraiser on Feb. 19th. There is a trail access change due to a landowner’s request, and work on trails would continue as long as weather permitted. This is our 30th Annual Sleigh Ride, and most likely our final one, and I’ll have all the excitement to report in the next newsletter! I would like to add, our club records show we are at least 50 years strong, and I’m curi ous to learn how many other clubs have been active for 50 years or more? This would be fun to know! I should have more to report next month. Our next meeting is Feb. 14th, 6pm, at the clubhouse, maybe some of you can ride your sleds over! Pizza is planned for dinner. Until next month, enjoy the snow, ride safe, hope to see you at our World’s Greatest Sleigh Ride! Respectfully submitted, Libby Nilsen, Club Reporter Hi There! At our monthly club meeting we discussed the trail work still to be done...The weather has NOT cooperated at all. The standing water in the trails has been bad enough, but the wind took care of the trees NEAR the trails before “OLD MAN WEATHER” was done with us! ROCK-O-DUNDEE RIDERS Oxford, ME Bridget Gorton Club Secretary PEJEPSCOT SNO-CHIEFS Lisbon Falls, ME Find us on Facebook Hello from Pejepscot Sno-Chiefs!

President Lee Libby was busy working with State Agencies, landowners big and small, other area Snowmobile Clubs to ensure we have the most trails as possible for the season. As you know we constantly face trail closures for one reason or another, and without the advocacy of our President and cooperation with the land owners we are able to do the best we can, thanks Lee. Mike Koob, Vice President, worked on a new trail route for ITS 84 towards NH. He routed, mapped and cleared this route out. The Groomer Barn workers and volunteers have busted hump and have all five tractors with drags ready to go. Thank you Matt and Chad for your dedication to that equipment and the groomer barn. Jon Lewis and Chris Wargo, Co-Trailmas ters, have been busy overseeing the repairs, trail work and trail access. Before the year ended we had a devastating storm which brought many trees down and damaged the trail system. With the help of groomer oper ators, volunteers and board members the trails were cleaned up in no time. Thank you everyone as we were able to open the trails on December 29th even if the conditions only allowed for just a day of riding before a warm up. Some riders were lucky and got some throttle time in. Brian Clarke, Director has been busy build ing and installing 8 new trail kiosks, These kiosks will feature the trail map and all of our business sponsors. Without volunteers and donations none of this could be possible. These kiosks are a work in progress and more signage will be added as we go. Wait till you see them thumbs up to Brian, Reid and the Rhode Island crew. Jake Beaiulieu and John aka Gramps Merri man have been attending the past couple MSA meetings and keeping us updated on the busi ness of the MSA. These two have also been out with volunteers adding signs, snow fence and roping to be sure that our landowners properties are respected. The Board held a Christmas Party at the beginning of December and had a great turn out. The owners of the Loon Lodge along with management Sue and Brian graciously donated the venue and the food for the party. Thank you! We held a small auction with donated items, heard great music and had an overall great time. Thank you all for attending. Faye has been working the bugs out of the new membership portal and website seems to be running smoothly with a few hiccups. We decided this year we were going to try to save on postage and not mail out the renewals and also only mail out renewed memberships with stickers upon request. We have almost 500 memberships processed and decided to give away swag to the 500th membership. Visit rangeleysnowmobile.com to get your mem berships in. Our new maps are in and available at area locations. Thank you Mickey Clarke for the donation of the map cost this year! Brian Clarke and Reid Wischnowsky built new counter top boxes for cash donations and map sales. Check the website news for locations to purchase maps. This year’s fundraiser is 500 Club, we will sell 500 tickets at $100 each and draw once a month January to September; three prizes drawn each month will be $750, $500, and $250. We will have 3 super draws of $1,000 each if all tickets are sold. The first drawing is January 6th at our Board meeting. Get your name on the list, buy at an event or send a check to RLSC PO Box 950 Rangeley, Maine 04970. The first drawing was held on January 6 with winners being $700 Paul Perla, $500 Jon Leahy (thank you for donating back) and $250 Kevin Dunne (thank you for donating $100 back). The Board has been working on the plan ning of events. This year’s Snodeo is the 40th anniversary of Snodeo. Future events: • February 18th Mardi Gras “Let the Good Times Roll” a shared event with Rangeley

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cancel/postpone our sliding party because of all the predicted rain and warm weather. Just like every other club in the state, we are out grooming, clearing, fixing, negotiating, and hoping. Hoping for more snow and cooler temperatures. There are issues with mats that CMP is taking up, exhaustion from still clearing from the windstorm, frustration from broken equipment, and joy. Joy at the sound of the snowmobiles running up and down the trails. Joy at a job well done. Joy in our own little snowmobiling family. Joy in the freedom of opening her up and flying. This is why we do it. It is sometimes hard to put so much work and love into the trails and then feel like it has gone unnoticed or even disregarded. However, when we are often working in solitude and are depending on landowners’ graces to use their land it is to be expected. I want to encourage you all to continue. Just keep doing it. I teach middle school and the day after every snow event I hear tales of adven ture that happened throughout the local towns. I hear students talking of meeting friends on the trails, working together with family doing trail work themselves, stories of sled troubles and triumphs. It is its own community. A place where some that may not fit in find a home. A place that isn’t in front of a screen, isn’t cooped up in a dark bedroom where so many young people hide, a place that makes us all feel better and somehow connected. So when you are feeling disheartened, dis couraged, or exhausted, please, remember, the work that you are doing IS noticed. It is appre ciated. And it IS supporting and lifting up so many more people than you realize. Thank you. Respectfully submitted, Marie Doucette, Secretary norwaytrackerssnowmobileclub@gmail.com As I write this, we just got hit with snow storm #2 of 3 and for once we received more than was predicted. If all goes well with storm #3, our trails should be fully groomed and open for this next weekend. We obvi ously would have liked to have been groom ing by the first of the year. Last year we first groomed on January 19 th and the year before that it wasn’t until February 4th. This week end will be the 28 th , so right in the middle. Hopefully things will freeze up and hang on for an extended season. Our ’76 Tucker went into the garage for a new clutch and starter gear. Because of all the hard work and support of our members, they are all now ready to roll. We would like to thank our business mem bers for their support. It takes a community. Please support them and tell them the Nor way Trackers sent you. Pine Tree Paving, Norway Brewing Co, Western Hills Property Group, Walter Curtis Logging, Wiles Garage and Body Shop, E.A. Smith Plumbing and Heating, Morse Logging, Norway Pawn and Gun, 290 Main St, Hillside Cottages, Lake side Norway, Pleasant Hill Property Services, The Lake Store, MW Trucking and Logging, MW and Sons Excavation, Eco Heat Maine, Snow’s Marine Service and Storage, and Wil liams Broadcasting. We are hosting our open house on February 18th on ITS 89 at Sodom Rd. We hope to see you there and look forward to seeing you on our trails. It’s time to reap the benefits of all our time and hard work. Enjoy the ride. Dan Trouant, Club Reporter NORWAY TRACKERS Norway, ME Find us on Facebook

FRYEBURG AREA SNOWMOBILE ASSOCIATION Fryeburg, ME

Welcome to Winter! Mother Nature has finally given us some

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