8595-R1_MSA_January2024_Newsletter

MSA Club News

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 Commu nity Chapel located at 1225 West Fryeburg Rd (Intersection of Rt 113 and Fish Street) so bring all your friends and join us for some good food, friends and fun! Please always remember to respect our landowners, ride safe and stay to the right. Sincerely,

from the float to the kids along the parade route. (See photos to follow) Blaine Chapman closed the business meet ing early so we could begin the very popular Yankee Gift Exchange. Each Club member brought a $20 gift marked “male” “female” or “either”, and then drew a number from a bag, that sets the sequence of the gift selections. When your number is called you select a gift and open it. You have a choice to keep the gift or “Go Shopping” to exchange your gift with one already selected. It is amazing how many times some of the more popular items can change hands in one night! A Great Time was had by all! The next meeting of Bridgton Easy Riders is scheduled for Friday, January 12, 2024, at the Bridgton Community Center, with the Fabu lous Pot Luck Supper at 6:00 PM, followed by a business meeting at 6:45. We hope to see you there. Happy New Year! Bill Preis BER Club Correspondent 207-647-2847 PEJEPSCOT SNO-CHIEFS Lisbon Falls, ME Find us on Facebook Hello From Pejepscot Sno-Chiefs! We might all agree that we had a challeng ing 2023 when it came to the weather. We can hope for a kinder 2024, and more hands to help with the extra trail clean-up that has been a result. The guys have been out checking our trails, and I probably don’t have to say how much damage there actually was from the December storm. Bridges swept away, lots of trees down and lots of extra work if we want to be able to enjoy riding this winter. Unfortunately, it will be a long, slow process even if everyone pitches in to help. I can’t imagine what our northern clubs are facing, hopefully there will be funds available for our industry to get clubs back up to speed. On a lighter note, we held our Christmas Dinner/Yankee Swap on Dec 9th at the club house with a good turnout. We ate very well, and had lots of fun gifts passed around, no one mad at anyone else for gift stealing either! a nice way to close out 2023! The guys will be trying to keep up with trail work until the snow flies at least, if you can spare a morning I’m sure it would be greatly appreciated. Get in touch with Steve or Tim. Sadly, I’m thinking there will be portions of our State’s trail system that won’t be rideable this year. Our next regular club meeting will be Tues, Jan. 9 th , 6pm at the clubhouse. Or join us Feb. 13 th , same time and place! We would love to have more friends active in our club. Until then, stay safe, please get involved with a club, we all need more help. I’ll be training and playing with my new GSP puppy! Respectfully submitted, Libby Nilsen FRYEBURG AREA SNOWMOBILE ASSOCIATION Fryeburg, ME Greetings everyone, Things are certainly off to a slow start this season. Hopefully by the time you’re reading this letter, things will have turned around and winter will have returned. Our dedicated club member Cliff has the new clubhouse all framed. We’re still trying to decide where it will be going on the trail system (as it will be portable) but will keep everyone posted on our Facebook page along with trail conditions. The new trail maps are here and will be going out in the red donation boxes all around town soon. They will be available at the Frye burg Town Office, Stow Corner Store, Little Mountain Store, Jockey Cap Store, Osgood’s Engine & Automotive, Fryeburg Kitchen & Market, Saco River Brewing, D’s Pizza, 302 West Smokehouse & Tavern, Oxford House Inn, Fryeburg Napa and at the parking area at 322 McNeil Road. Another reminder that our annual poker rally will be held on Saturday, February 24th, 2024. Poker hands will be sold for $5 each

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have some “issues” but nothing like what I am seeing from other clubs in the region. Our new bridge installed this summer survived but one of the footings was severely compro mised. The state is looking for impacts so we will be working on that.

Bridget Gorton Club Secretary

NORTH FRANKLIN sc Phillips, ME Find us on Facebook

Hello, Well, I thought we were looking pretty good trail wise, what Trail Master Billy and his volunteers have done the past two months, but that all got erased this past week with the torrential rains we got. We had just got the Duane Lewis bridge (connector trail 115) put on new cement blocks and new approaches graded to it, but now its missing blocks and the approaches are washed out. The bridge we redecked on ITS 84 in Freeman suffered damaged and it will require jacking and some guardrail repairs. On Its 84/89 the bridge that crosses Oberton Stream to Rangeley got com pletely washed out and we haven’t been able to get beyond there to access the other three bridges, Not to mention all the trail washouts as well. We’re not the only club in the area to suffer this damage several other area clubs have issues as well. On a lighter note I have not mentioned that our past President Ralph Luce has decided to step down after many years as a dedicated vol unteer as club President (A big Thank you goes out to Ralph). Our new President is Paul Ken nedy and has already been involved in several projects. We also have new Project Directors in Scott & Jodi Schroder and they have gotten quite involved. We have one volunteer who has helped a lot and was very instrumental in getting contractors involved in the Duane Lewis Bridge on connector 115. He also did a lot of work clearing the new by-pass trail at Allens Pinicle working with the landowner and other bridge projects he’s been involved in, a big huge Thank you goes out to Dana Bowman for all the hours he has put in. Next meeting at Shadagee will be January 7 th @5 pm Potluck supper to start. Thats it for now Think snow David Greely Vice President NFSC ROCK-O-DUNDEE RIDERS Oxford, ME Hi There, I am so happy to report that we had more people at our meeting last night than we’ve had for a long time! Our president has a way of getting new people to join in....we are all so thankful for that. After the big bridge got washed away from its regular spot, it left quite a huge undertaking to get it back where it belongs. Our trail guys were able (with help) to lift it back approx. 2 feet add more beams and cables to secure it back to safety. We are so proud to have these men who go to extremes to make the trails open once again. Thank you! Jerry talked about the need for everyone who works on trails to make sure and write it down on the work slips. We want to close the gap which was over 3 million dollars last season! So even though you think your club has reached the limit of what is available to you,keep writing your work time down on the sheet. Also, state maps are available. Jerry had passed out many to area businesses. We talked about buying a good used work sled. We appropriated some money in case our trail master finds one. Our trails are 99% ready for snow. When you do go out for a ride, PLEASE follow the rules of the trail. Have a safe trip......so you can remember all the good things. Terri Major, Secretary DENMARK DRAGGERS Denmark, ME Since our last newsletter, Christmas has come and gone and New Year’s is right around the corner. Still no snow in our area but we got 4+ inches of rain and high winds. Like many

But as usual, our dedicated members will be out quickly to survey the damage and get them fixed. Think snow, see you on the trails, Dan Trouant, club reporter BRIDGTON EASY RIDERS sc Bridgton, ME Bridgtoneasyriders.com See us on Facebook The December 8 th meeting of the Bridgton Easy Riders, at the Bridgton Community Cen ter, started off at 5:30PM with the serving of Cheese and Crackers, shrimp, canapés and punch. It was followed by the usual Fabulous Pot Luck Supper at 6PM. Blaine Chapman, President, called the abbreviated business meeting to order at 6:45PM with the Pledge of Allegiance. He reported the current membership is 107 Family Members, plus 27 Business Members. Blaine said that most of the trail signs have been put up and a lot of trail work, includ ing new culverts, bridges, brushing of trails has been done. It has been a very wet fall as everyone knows, and since then Bridgton has received more than 5 inches of additional rain. The Club’s annual Rally, originally sched uled for February 17th 2024, has been can celled. We plan to hold our Rally again in another year. MSA has been notified of the change.

Our membership is increasing slowly but steady with 23 members and our efforts to modernize the membership application pro cess is paying off. People can join online and pay using our PayPal account. To become a member visit our Facebook page. KEEP THE FAITH, when the snow arrives it will all be worth it! WESTERN REGION NORWAY TRACKERS Norway, ME Find us on Facebook norwaytrackerssnowmobileclub@gmail.com Happy New Year, We are ready and waiting for a pile of snow. Thank you to everyone who purchased raffle tickets and congratulations to all the winners. Your support is very much appreciated. Late this fall, we were forced into an impromptu bridge rebuild after a large truck broke through one of our bridges. Again, our dedicated crew quickly jumped to the task and got the bridge rebuilt before snow fly.

The Club’s beautiful “Snow Globe” float in Bridgton’s annual Festival of Lights Parade was a standout and won “Best Non-Commer cial Float”! It featured a beautifully restored vintage 1970 Ski Doo Snowmobile visible inside a lighted Snow Globe, and was seen and enjoyed by a large crowd of parade watchers of all ages. Photos of the float appeared in the Bridgton News and Moose Prints newspapers. Kudos to Jan and Blaine Chapman, Kathy and Duane Hendrix, and Jackie and Jimmy Barber for their hard work and skill creating this mag nificent float for the parade. Thanks to Ron Mercer for the use of his beautiful vintage Ski-Doo sled, which was displayed inside the snow globe. Thanks also to Tony Passalaqua and Liam Grant for helping distribute candy

We have put up some more new trail signs as a continuation of last year’s sign improve ment project. One of our big goals this winter will be to get our trails officially GPSed and new maps made. We are hoping to get in more club rides this year. Our members have worked hard to sup port our club; it’s time to play. We will keep you informed via email and Facebook. As I finish this write by candlelight during this Grinch storm, I can’t help but think about how our trails are holding up. Our members did a tremendous job getting them ready for winter; I’d hate to see this be a slap in the face.

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