8528-R2_MSA_October2023

From The Executive Board

Often it is someone with a child approaching college age or someone that understands the value of getting a college education and how they can help in some small way. We have even had past scholarship recipients and their families come by and tell us how impactful it was for them to receive of one our $1,000 scholarships. Spending the weekend at this great event is always uplifting, our sport is full of generous, caring and supportive people and it can really be witnessed at The Show. By now, you have probably seen advertising for the fundraising event taking place at the Red Barn in Augusta. The owner of the Red Barn is donating all the proceeds from the ice cream sales on October 12th between 4-7 pm, special thanks to Laura and her crew, hope to see you there. The committee is always look ing for new and creative ways to raise money, the more money we have the more scholar ships we can provide. We would also like to appeal to clubs to think about making a dona tion to the scholarship. As clubs start to plan for the coming season maybe there is a way to think of the scholarship fund while you have some sort of special event or even during bud get season if the clubs has had a good year. I speak for all the scholarship committee members when I offer our willingness to help support any event or idea you might have and we are always looking for volunteers to help us. there building and fixing things. Ear protec tion a good pair of gloves and boots along with safety glasses will help keep you safe. I’m still waiting on word from a vendor to help pay for safety signs. Matt Stedman and I will be meeting with the IF&W folks soon to talk about snowmo bile safety and having a joint promotions and safety campaigns aimed at riders for all ages. This month will be a good month to have your sled looked over getting ready for the new season. It’s always good to have these preventative maintenance issues checked over before a problem happens on your trip. Have a look at your trailer also. Check the tires, axles, hubs (grease) any cracks in the aluminum. Make sure all your lights work. We would like to see a mandatory safety class for 16 year olds and younger. This has to go the State Legislative folks for a vote. Be safe on the trail and at home! AL F all is here!!! Cool temperatures are coming, leaves are changing, and hopefully snow will be falling in the higher elevations. We held the MSA directors meeting in September at Pat’s Pizza with a very good turnout. Thanks to Windham Drifters for hosting and Steve Bennett (Coastal region director) for coordinating it. As our season approaches there is a lot on the minds of MSA Directors, Landowner relations, Registration fees, are a couple of things to be thinking about. Sokis Riders & Gorham Sno Goers will be hosting Grass drags on Oct 14 th in Buxton Me. Check out the Facebook Page. MSA Snowmobile show October 20 th thru October 22nd at the Augusta civic center and of course the Super Raffle is up and running (Incredible prizes) get your tickets soon! If your club has an event coming up please reach out to me, I’ll try to put it in my next article. That’s all for now. Think SNOW!!! Dave Thanks for all you do. Scholarship Co-Chair Harvey Chesley

Scholarship Committee

Northern Region VP

sions. It will take many, many hands to com plete the necessary tasks before riding season can begin. I can not thank enough the volunteer work of Eastern Regional directors Gary Dowling, Craig Lemeiux, Barry Ryan, and Larry Lafland in getting Eastern Region club packets out to the clubs in late August and early September. Larry drove around multiple counties to get the packets where they needed to be. The work of these four along with assistance from John Monk is greatly appreciated by me. October also means the annual MSA Snow mobile Show is once again happening in Augusta. With vendors, workshops, raffle ticket sales, and exhibits from around the state and beyond, this show lets everyone in atten dance know what there is for snowmobilers to enjoy, see, and experience in Maine and beyond. There is a trails workshop on Satur day morning that is usually well attended and gives clubs a chance to hear about grants and other important information. Mark the dates on your calendars and in your phones and plan to attend. As November approaches, clubs are meet ing monthly in most cases and looking for members, renewing and new ones. There is also a snowmobile show in Massachusetts that MSA will have a display at this year. Super raffle tickets are still being sold to help clubs raise much needed funds. It is also time to reg ister those sleds you have so when the ground freezes and snow flies you will be ready to ride. Get your machines pre-season checked and then pray for cold, cold weather to freeze all this year’s rain and then snow, snow and more snow statewide to get the 2023-24 riding season going. Eileen If you have a question, problem, concern, or idea on snowmobiling in “The County”, get in touch with me. You can contact me at the phone # or email below. Matt Stedman maintenance, filling out grant forms and the list goes on, all just so folks can enjoy a great time on a snowmobile. Please reach out to support them with both your hours of volunteerism and memberships. If you are not quite sure how you may fit it in with the club, just be up front & ask. If your club has a need, please reach out to me or one of the Northern Region directors and we will help you in any way we can. We may not have all the answers but will work with you to help resolve your questions/concerns or needs. We are here to support you and your clubs. Our contact information is included in the paper. As a club, share your success and challenges with the surrounding clubs, feed off each other and what we can learn from or leverage from others will make the whole even better. This fall the MSA has a group working on how to get legislation prepared for fall of 2025 to better fund our clubs. We understand the funding gaps experienced by clubs statewide and are interested in your ideas. There is no one single answer and all ideas will be needed to make sure we get the right combination. See the article for more details. Reach out to me or the other members with your ideas and concerns so we can understand them better than we do today.

Matt Stedman 207-557-1921 (call or text) PO Box 621, Ashland ME 04732 Stedman.matt@jdirving.com

Harvey Chesley, 207-314-0637 25 Hillcrest Dr, Clinton ME 04927 harv.chesley@gmail.com

H ello Fellow Snowmobilers, It’s the 2 nd day of fall, and one of the best weeks forecasted coming up, sunny and dry. It seems like we haven’t had much of that over the summer. Here’s to a dry fall so we can all get what we need done before the snow flies. A sure sign that snowmobile season is coming at us at a rapid pace is the MSA snowmobile show on the horizon. A chance get together and visit, check out sleds, groomers, trailers, gear & accessories and attend workshops on grants put on by the MSA & State snowmobile program. I hope to see you there. Clubs have been hard at work all summer behind the scenes raising funds, securing trail permissions from landowners, doing machine

H i fellow snowmobilers, it is beginning to feel more like fall, morning temperatures are crisp and some areas are starting to see some foliage change. For most, fall signals the start of the season we all enjoy so much. Clubs begin to meet, trail work starts and events like the MSA Snowmobile Show are on our calendars. Speaking of The Show hope fully many of you are planning to attend and when you do be sure to stop by the booth where scholarship committee volunteers will be sell ing 50/50 raffle tickets. We have done this for many years and it’s always a pleasure to meet folks interesting in supporting our cause.

Safety Committee

Eastern Region VP

Eileen Lafland, 207-843-7813 PO Box 733, Holden ME 04429 L.andE.lafland525476@gmail.com W elcome to October everyone! We are one month closer to riding sea son with this month’s newspaper. There are many events you can attend to support snow mobile clubs across the state. Landowner sup pers, Open Houses, membership drives, first club meetings of the new season, and Super Raffle sales events to name a few. Clubs really need your support this year as the summer storms has caused much damage in some parts of the state on the snowmobile trails. As trails are being checked they are finding trees and limbs down, washouts, bridges that are no longer in place or are destroyed from high water and flooding, along with other obstacles that need to be fixed, repaired, or replaced. In many cases there are limited funds and man (or woman) power to do what is needed to make the trails safe for this upcoming season. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE if you hear or see of a club that is holding a work day give them a hand so they can get the work down. You can also contact a club or two and ask if they need help and then attend the work ses

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

G reetings!

Safety classes by the State have begun. Wear your safety protection when you’re out

Coastal Region VP

David Watson 207-205-1558 412 Roberts Ridge Rd East Waterboro ME 04030 dwatson6841@gmail.com

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

MSA CLUBS: TO ORDER NEEDED ITS & JCT SIGNS Contact Mike Grass Sr., MSA Trails Committee • 252 Condon Rd • Plymouth, ME 04969 207-368-4914 home • 207-745-2745 cell Grasslands252@gmail.com

TO ORDER CLUB TRAIL SIGNAGE Candice Pinkham, DACF/Snowmobile Program 207-287-4957 Office • 207-878-8111 Fax Candice.M.Pinkham@maine.gov

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