8711-R2_MSA_May2024_Newsletter

From The Executive Board

start with Super Raffle Sales! Forty-two clubs in this region sold tickets, sending $11,673 to MSA making the region the second high est selling in the state. Four clubs sold over $1000 in sales: Glenburn Lakeside Riders, Moosehead Riders, Wassookeag and Quad County. Three more clubs sold over $700 in tickets: Bowlin/Matagamon, Eastern Maine SC, and Pine Tree SC. So combined these seven clubs sold $7,275 in tickets! Now let’s talk memberships! There were five clubs in the top 15 in the state: North ern Timber Cruisers, Moosehead Riders, Blue Ridge Riders, East Branch Sno-Rovers and Penobscot SC with three more in the 16 through 30 clubs: Piscataquis Valley, Pine Tree, and Wassookeag. The combined mem berships from these eight clubs was 1,115! Great job for a low to no snow year! I want to thank the five regional directors that have been in touch with clubs in the region this year. Barry Ryan, Craig Lemieux, Gary Dowling, Paul Bolstridge and Larry Lafland. With 74 clubs in Piscataquis, Penob not have the most clubs, but we have heart & passion. Enjoy your off season, even though there will likely be snowmobile related thoughts and projects that occupy some of your time. I know each club has struggles and successes. I would love to hear about them both, help collect concerns to determine how the MSA & I can help or connect new or struggling clubs with ideas or people who can help them move forward. There are SO MANY new people in club positions and it can be overwhelming to determine how to best spend your volunteer hours. I am again challenging all clubs for the 2024-2025 season to join forces with their local warden to set up a trail side safety check and learning session. Madawaska was the only one to take me up on this last season. I envision a club setting up trailside, maybe doing a hot dog roast/membership drive, having club members and a warden (or two) there to interact with sledders. Talk with them about the importance of riding right, in control & sober. Inform them about the awesome privilege we have due to the generous PRIVATE landowners. Talk to them about how much time/effort & money the clubs and their volunteers spend all year long to make sure they can enjoy the trails. We (MSA, clubs, individuals & the Maine Warden Service) need to do more to make sure the riders understand our system, think about themselves and the others on the trails and all return home to their friends and families in the same condition they left. Please reach out to me, I want to make this happen and can help

scot, Hancock and Washington counties, this is the largest region geographically in the state and not one you can cover in a day. These regional directors fill in those areas and have a good relationship with the clubs near them. Thank you again to them. I also want to thank the MSA officers and regional VP’s that have been in place for the past two years or more. Regional VP’s David Watson and Jack Lord have stepped down. Also stepping down is Brad Barker who has been MSA secretary. Al Swett’s presidency comes to an end as well with Mark Chinnock moving up and Matt Stedman moving into Executive VP. There are many changes in place for the next season and beyond! With the summer break coming; enjoy the few months you may have off before we start this all over again everyone. Come August we are back at it and heading into another season. Thanks to EVERYONE STATEWIDE FOR MAKING THIS STATE A GREAT DESTI NATION POINT! Until the fall, Eileen your club get it setup. Check out the summer calendar of events in the County, there are some great club & motorsports events to attend. Check out our region in the spring/summer/fall season and support the organizations hosting the events as well as local businesses. Events such as Golf Tournaments, Mud Bowl, Spud Speedway auto racing & Grass Drags, Square Body rally, Big Woods Grass Drags are just a few of the events between now and snowfall to take part in. One last thing, Capitol Equipment grant deadline is June 15th. There is some homework to be done before submitting so print it off and ask questions to give your club the best chance. Northern Region MSA E-Board members for the 2024-2025 season will be: Nick Morrill – Caribou Snowmobile Club – Regional VP Jeff Brooks – Big Valley Sno Club (Island Falls) – Regional Director Denise Duperre – Madawaska Snowmobile Club – Regional Director Please reach out with questions and concerns so we can all help and work together. If you have interest in being an MSA director, contact one of us to ask what it entails. Enjoy your summer, if you have a question, problem, concern, or idea on snowmobiling in “The County” or Maine, get in touch with me. You can contact me at the phone # or email above. Matt Stedman Northern Region VP

tremendous storms we had with rain, rain and more rain along with high winds that caused so much destruction. Many clubs cleared the same trails four times this year and then didn’t get enough snow to groom. If all that wasn’t bad enough, April brought two heavy snowstorms with inches and some places feet of snow that clubs couldn’t do anything with because the ground was too wet and soft and grooming was not an option! Whatever we all did to make Mother Nature and Ole Man Win ter so upset with us, let’s try and get back on their good sides for next season!! I have been the Eastern Region VP for over 20 years, (I know a long, long time) and every year I say the same thing at this time but it is completely true: Eastern region clubs I am soooooo proud to represent you and see EVERYTHING you do each season to support MSA and promote snowmobiling in this state! April is when we as an organization rec ognize what has been done the past season. I want to do that in print for this region, so let’s snowmobile season and the remainder of the year. It was nice to see some folks still took their time off and came to their destination even if they couldn’t snowmobile as much as they normally do. It’s great to see that sort of community support from the snowmobilers who enjoy our state. The annual banquet was great, clubs and snowmobilers from all reaches of the State came out to recognize many award-winning individuals and groups who make up the awe inspiring Maine Snowmobile Association membership. Individuals and clubs that go all out to ensure snowmobiling in Maine continues to move forward. Aroostook County folks brought home some great awards: Groomer of the Year went to Gary Marquis, Landowner of the Year over 100 acres went to Irving Farms in Caribou, MSA membership awards for the year - 2nd place statewide Washburn Trail Runners, 6th place Portage Lakers, 8th place Madawaska SC, 10th place Caribou Snowmobile Club, 11th place Ft Kent Snow Riders SC, 12th place Red Arrow SC. Our (Northern Region) clubs average over 70 MSA primary members each, top in the State. Limestone Sno-Hawks were awarded club of the year. Last, but certainly not least, Dwight Flewelling from Easton was inducted into the MSA Hall of Fame. All the awards were well deserved and represent hours & years of dedication to the sport. Thank you to all Northern Region clubs for all that you do. Without each & every volunteer hour we could not accomplish the tasks at hand to enable the season to happen. We may W here to begin with a wrap up, I wish we could take the whole winter WRAP IT UP and send it back and start over. No snow, FLOODS, AND MORE FLOODS, we all know the story, millions of damages to property, trails etc. Never mind the damages to our local supporting business partners. Words cannot spell out the problems for our 23/24 season, so I won’t rant anymore. I hope that the annual meeting, Banquet and auction went well, due to recent surgery I was not able to attend, and I enjoy being there. So let’s look forward to a great summer, FEMA stepping up with $$$$$$$$$ to repair trails and a great 24/25 season. Wishing you all the best, GOD BLESS. Jerry Jack Lord Home: (207) 672-3915 / Cell: 207-717-7131 17 Dinsmore St. Bingham, ME. 04920 Email: jacklord5256@gmail.com H i Everyone, This will be the last letter from me in this position. It has been an honor to serve you. I will still be around just not in this office. I’m looking forward to retirement for a long time coming and I know I`m leaving things in great and capable hands. Going forward just be safe and keep smiling and I`ll see you on the trails. Jack Lord

Eastern Region VP

Eileen Lafland, 207-843-7813 PO Box 733, Holden ME 04429 L.andE.lafland525476@gmail.com W ell, this sure wasn’t the season any of us hoped for! Snow conditions were not anywhere near what we normally have, state wide, but clubs did the best they could with what they did have. Throw into that all the

Northern Region VP

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

T he winter of 2023 to 2024 never really got going. Here in the County we didn’t start grooming until after the new year came and most projects were wrapped up somewhere around school vacation. Even though the snow may not have met our expectations I’m sure most people were able to make some sort of special winter memory be it on a trail day or time spent with family and friends. Not every winter can be snow filled and riding every weekend. We know winters like this impact not only the ability to ride, but also income streams for state programs where we get our funding as well as income for local small businesses which we all enjoy throughout the

Western Region VP

ATTENTION CLUBS

• Capital Equipment Grants must be submitted to DACF by June 15, 2024. Please contact Joe Higgins with any questions. • If your club would like to enter the drawing to sell Super Raffle tickets at the Maine Snow mobile Show please visit mainesnowmobile association.com/msa-forms • Please submit your officer update forms for the 2024/2025 season as soon as possible. This will help ensure communication with the correct club officers. • If you have a Park and Ride please visit maines nowmobileassociation.com/msa-forms and fill out a quick form. This will allow us to list your area in the Maine Guide. • Please feel free to reach out to anyone on the EBoard or the MSA Office if we can assist you in any way. We are here for you!

Jerry Major, Cell: 207-838-0892 137 Morrill Rd, Norway ME 04268 mrfun101jem@gmail.com

Central Region VP

6

2 0 2 4

y

M a

l M a i n e S n o w m o b

i l e

r