8555-R2_MSA_November2023_Newsletter

MSA Club News

Bill Preis reported that the map preparation work is coming along and the maps should be printed in December. Thanks to Jimmie Barber and Duane Hendrix for soliciting The Bridgton Ads. The next meeting of Bridgton Easy Riders is scheduled for Friday, November 10 th , fol lowed by the December 8 th Christmas Party, at The Bridgton Community Center on Depot Street. The Fabulous Pot Luck Supper begins at 6PM, followed by the business meeting at 6:45. Come learn about our upcoming Club events: the Christmas Holiday Party, Club Rally, and Club Trips. All are welcome! Hope to see you there, Hope to see you there, Bill Preis BER Club Correspondent 207-647-2847 To See dozens of photos and videos—go to: https://www.facebook.com/bridgtoneasyridersclub/ Happy Holidays from Pejepscot Sno-Chiefs! Love this time of year, the colors, thoughts of the upcoming season, the Holidays, hunt ing, it’s difficult to pick a favorite. And, have you checked out all the great prizes for this year’s MSA Super Raffle? I snagged my tickets! We held our regular club meeting, October 10th, at the clubhouse, a relatively light turn out this time, which was too bad for those who missed Holly Randall’s superbly delicious corn chowder, one of the best I’ve had! We had lots of trail discussion, as always. Trail work had begun, focus on bridges that needed checking, moving, safety, etc. The guys have been out making sure down trees are cleared, brushing, trimming, all the things. They could sure use help too! Hey- consider it your workout/walk for the day and make your Fitbit happy! We meet Sunday mornings at 8, at the clubhouse, until the snow stops us. If that day doesn’t work for you, get in touch with Steve and he can tell you what and where needs work. We’ve actually been discussing ways to get the community involved with trail work, since the community benefits from our trails. We do need younger people getting involved in our sport, too. Ideas welcomed! Our next meeting is Nov. 14 th , 6pm, at the clubhouse. I’m bringing chili this time. And our Christmas dinner meeting will be Dec.12 th , 6pm, at the clubhouse on Bowdoin ham Road, Lisbon Falls, Yankee Swap after we enjoy lobster stew - always a good time, not to be missed! RSVP me at 207-729-6337. Enjoy your Holidays, stay safe, dream of snow, get your sleds ready! Respectfully submitted, Libby Nilsen, club reporter FRYEBURG AREA SNOWMOBILE Hello all, Trail work has begun and we’ve had a good turn out from our volunteers, thank you all! From the man hours, donated equipment, 4 wheelers, etc. you are the reason we are able to do what we do every single year. Our land owners are appreciated beyond words and we are so grateful for your willingness to share your property with us. Thank you to the Pythagorean Mason’s Lodge in Fryeburg for hosting a benefit supper on November 4th to help the club. You guys are awesome! Just a reminder that our annual poker rally will be held on Saturday, February 24 th , 2024. Poker hands will be sold for $5 each between 9:00 AM-12:00 PM with winners announced and raffle prizes drawn at 3:00 PM. It will be held at the North Fryeburg Community Chapel located at 1225 West Fryeburg Rd (Intersection of Rt 113 And Fish St) so bring all your friends and join us for some good food, friends, and fun! Members, keep an eye out for our annual club Christmas Dinner to be held at the Old Saco Inn. There will be 3 meal choices and ASSOCIATION Fryeburg, ME PEJEPSCOT SNO-CHIEFS Lisbon Falls, ME Find us on Facebook

be finalized soon!! And to say we are excited would be an understatement. Our officers are just overjoyed with how things are going now. With our new president, Tom Child, the sky is the limit!! Tom has the knowledge, expertise, and ambition to make things happen. We could NOT be in better hands. And with our other officers, Mack, Marlene, Rene, and David, the club has never looked better off!! So proud to be a small part of it!! THANK YOU Our next big event is the Blessing of the Sleds. PLEASE mark your calendar so you can remember to come and help support the sport you enjoy. Feb 10 this year at the Moun tain View Campground right off ITS 82. Food will be served from 10:30 AM till the actual Blessing at noon. Our famous sausages and burgers will be available again as well as drinks. The new Blessing sweatshirts will also be on sale that day. PLEASE make every attempt to come by!!! THANK YOU Club reporter, J.H. Hello MSA Members, On October 13th, members of the Bridgton Easy Riders gathered to enjoy the Fabulous Pot Luck Supper at 6PM —and what a deli cious meal it was! President Blaine Chapman called the busi ness meeting to order at 6:50PM with a Pledge of Allegiance. Blaine asked each person to stand up and state their name and town. Blaine reported that the Club currently has 16 Business Memberships. The Bridgton Lil Mart Gas Station in Bridg ton has been razed and new construction of a much larger facility will not be completed until May 2024. This is one of the only local gas stations on the trail. He talked about the new law passed by the legislature that pre vents people from riding off trail. New signs have been ordered that will state that you will be fined if you ride off trail. Club participation at the Lakes Region Brewfest was very profitable for the Club, which sold $981 in Raffle Tickets plus a dona tion for $8. Al Swett, MSA President, created a lot of excitement by bringing 2 sleds and a trailer which were prominently displayed and drew a nice crowd. Thanks to Blaine, Bob and Mary, Denise and Paul, Steve, Sandra, and Janet for helping Thanks also to Sandra LoPrier for opening the Venmo account for the Club. Blaine introduced Heather Harding, who did so much work in getting approval of the 501C3. The Club gave her a gift certificate in appreciation for her hard work. Thanks also to Bob Corthell for all of his hard work. The 501C3 was been approved by the state. Blaine displayed the beautiful plaque that MSA presented to the Club for our 50-year anniversary. Blaine spoke about the hard work our vol unteers have done in past weeks repairing the damages from the summer rains and high water—6 bridges were put back into place or rebuilt in the last 6 weeks. More work is needed on the Monk Rd Bridge, which needs new materials and must be replanked. Many water holes need to be filled, there is a missing culvert by the apple orchard, and more brush ing is needed. Work crew volunteers will continue to meet on Sunday mornings at the Walgreens in Bridgton at 8AM. Membership mailings have been sent, along with a supply of Super Raffle Tickets. If you need more tickets just let us know. Thanks to the membership crew that makes this happen because it is very important to the Club. Bob Pelletier spoke briefly, to invite all Club members to a memorial on 10/29/23 to celebrate the 1-year anniversary of Judy Pel letier’s passing. Steve Emery brought the Club up to date on the trips planned to Millinocket and Caribou. Trip details will be sent to those that have signed up. BRIDGTON EASY RIDERS sc Bridgton, ME Bridgtoneasyriders.com See us on Facebook

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This is an upgrade from our smaller 50” wide drags used for years behind our various snow mobile drag machines. WESTERN REGION

equipment, any amount you can do is a help. Please contact our trail master, Chad Wright, his assistant, John Johnson, or any other offi cer. I have listed the numbers below. Having said that, these repairs will cost money, plus we are getting our addition put on our building soon. We have started sell ing our snowball raffle tickets, and also the MSA Super Raffle tickets. If you would like to purchase any tickets and/or help sell them please contact our fundraising chairperson, Donna Shaw. Grants and membership dues don’t cover everything so we need to have fundraisers such as these, so please buy and/ or sell a ticket or two, or three! We also have t-shirts, long sleeved shirts, sweatshirts and hats for sale. Contact me if you are interested in purchasing any clothing. These would make great gifts. Lastly, with the holidays coming upon us a group of us will be getting together to send out cards to our landowners to thank them for letting us use their land for our trails. We also have started planning our Christmas party. Watch for club emails and our Facebook page for up to date information. Chad Wright, trailmaster 207-446-9685 John Johnson asst. trailmaster 207-740-0722 Hugh LeMaster, president 207-754-2629 Donna Shaw, fundraising 207-333-2746 Roberta Kemp, fundraising 207-212-2022 Greetings Our club wants to say THANK YOU to Polaris T.R.A.I.L.S. grant program, for select ing our club for the 2023-24 grant. Thank you very much. Like most clubs we have been working our trails and bridges waiting for snow. Thank you to the lunch crew for great lunches after trail work. Our club hosted our 2nd annual trunk or treat, lots of great candy and treats for everyone. We will be hosting our 3rd annual Friend and Family Thanksgiving dinner at the club house. Dinner will be served at 2 PM with lots of great food and deserts. The annual Christmas party will be on December 9th at 5 PM. This will be a pot luck with a Yankee swap. A $10.00 dollar gift for either man or women is recommended. Lots of fun and laughs and great food for all. Like us on Facebook Safe Hunting and Think Snow Cathy Horne Lexington Highlanders Snowmobile Club 207-628-4166 Last year the Rome Ruff Riders Snowmo bile Club was awarded a Federal Recreational Trails Program (RTP) grant administered through the Bureau of Parks and Land to install 7 culverts and replace a 52’ bridge on ITS 87. This work was started in June. We were able to get the culverts roughed in but could not complete the work due to muddy conditions. We replaced the bridge in September with a wider bridge with higher weight capacity. We also completed a significant amount of trail rehabilitation on ITS 87 correcting the drain age and drying up the trail. We hope to finish the culverts in November. We have a new Secretary, Barb, and new Treasurer, Cheryl, filling the roles of our long time club member Hal Garnett. Both have come up to speed quickly thanks to our friends at the MSA and Bureau of Parks and Lands. The club has created a PayPal account allow ing us to collect membership dues, accept donations and invoice club sponsors. We are publishing the very popular C4 map for the fourth season. The map covers 28 clubs in the central Maine area centered around Rome and Belgrade. These maps are available at the Rome Town Hall as well as numerous other locations in the area. Contact your local club or the Rome Ruff Riders for information. Map cost is $6. Lastly, we are excited to receive a new drag this year for our bigger side by side groomers. ROME RUFF RIDERS sc Rome, ME Thinking of snow, Roberta Kemp, V.P. LEXINGTON HIGHLANDERS sc Lexington Twp, ME

ROCK-O-DUNDEE RIDERS Oxford, ME

Hi there! We have been getting some of our trails back to “almost” perfect condition.....Our trail workers are amazing. Tyler informed us of the good and the “still to do” work. We have some mats and poles to use. However, getting to the area where they’re needed is another story. We are very hopeful.....the mud will dry up.....and then we can proceed with our work. Once again, we will have a scholarship available this year, in loving memory of Judy Major. Seniors going on to college are urged to fill out the form available at the guidance office. Everyone perked up when our sunshine girl, Beverly, arrived with her (just out of the oven) brownies! Can’t beat that. Thank you very much! Work safe Terri Major, Secretary Greetings all, It will have been a month or so when you read this since the unimaginable news of the shootings in Lewiston. It is very raw and dif ficult to stop thinking about right now as it has only been 3 days. I, as well as probably some of you are connected in some way to one or more of the victims. I would like to send a shout out to one of our club members- Deb Salsbury. She is an OR nurse at CMMC. She was off duty and not on call Oct. 28th when the call came asking her to report to work and help treat the numerous casualties. She went in without hesitation, knowing the active shooter was still at large in the area. She was grateful that the person her team operated on was doing well days later. Thank you, Deb, for your commitment to helping others and saving lives. We complain about not enough snow, too much rain, poor trails, etc. That all seems very unimportant when you think about what the families of all the victims are feeling about the loss of their loved ones. We have work to do so we will push on and get it done. We had a small number of members at the October meeting with not much to discuss. Since then, we have started doing a lot of preparation work to get bridges replaced. Steel beams are in place and ready to be boarded over for one bridge and poles available for another bridge. We are optimistic that by the time winter and snowmobiling is here, the trails/bridges in Buckfield will be ready and better than ever. The December 20th meet ing will be the annual holiday potluck meal at 6 pm followed by a short meeting. That is always a big success with many members attending, bringing their most delicious home cooked and store-bought food. We look for ward to seeing you all in December. STEAKED MOUNTAIN sc Buckfield, ME WOW! is all I can say after attending the MSA show the end of Oct!! What a FANTA SIC way to start your winter. Our “volunteers” once again went above and beyond to provide us with EVERYTHJNG one would need for a successful snowmobile season!!! THANK YOU!! And speaking of “volunteer’s,” one thing comes to mind. At one time or another “more than “one,” usually, will use some of their OWN money for this or that!! So, when I hear that someone “volunteered” I know right away they are giving people that just like to help others!! And where would be without them??? Every organization I know of have these AWESOME people! THANK YOU Our club has had a great start of the season. Lots of things have “come together” that will Leah Frechette, Club Reporter POODUNCK sc Dixfield, ME

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