8944-R1_MSA_January2025_Newsletter

MSA Club News

sledders. Well that is about it for now - Happy Trails Everyone Carilynn Hanson

Allagash Village to a destination decided upon at the previous club meeting, which is posted on our facebook page. The RIDEORAMA is open to anyone, just show up at the departure site with your snowmobile and proper attire. A few members/volunteers are also taking out sledders, whom cannot make that monthly ride or perhaps prefer to do a little backcountry riding on unplowed logging roads, etc. These particular rides are by request only and can be made through private message on our Face book page or by emailing: moosetownrider sallagash@gmail.com. Also, new for this year is the Moosetown Riders Allagash MASCOT, whose name had not been decided at time of writing. Our groomer operator and mascot will be updating Trail reports on Facebook. Be sure to follow us on and enjoy the ride! The 2024 summer was very busy for the club. Some of these projects were left from last summer due to the amount of rain in 2023. We ditched and replaced culverts on trail #74 as well as resurfacing the trail near Boucher’s Saw Mill. The millpond crossing on #81, has been relocated and “Gary’s Trail” was resurfaced, trees removed and culverts replaced. Trail #105 has been widened and brushed near Condon Hill and behind the clubhouse. Replanking was done on several bridges: Alder Brook, Buck’s Bridge, Dennis’s Bridge and Grendell Brook Bridge. A gate was added on trail #105 N near the Sewer Plant, since this trail is not an ATV trail. The entire system was mowed and all blowdowns removed. Many hours were also put in signing trails and working with our gen erous landowners. Chapman Ridge Runners’ directors and the grooming crew continue to meet regularly. We are enjoying our new groomer and have several new crew members/groomers. Snow seems a little later coming, but this is becoming a trend and we must learn to deal with it. The directors and groomers meet most Wednesday nights at 6:00. Members and others have been posting photos and comments on our Facebook Page. Please visit our site and like our information. It is also a way to keep updated on trail conditions and what is going on in the club. If you have any questions about our Facebook site, please contact Christina at207- 551-8255. We are hav ing a few public events so watch the Star-Her ald and our Facebook page. Please watch for our mini groomers placed in the community for donations. All trails are groomed regularly, so we must still buy diesel fuel for the machine, heating fuel for the clubhouse and pellets for the groomer barn. Private events are still being held there. Please contact Bob at 207-554-8080 if you have questions about rentals. If you have questions about memberships or trails, please contact Mickey or myself at 207- 764-1236. Snowmobile applications should be available at the Mapleton Town Office, Maple ton One Stop or on Facebook and the 2025 ATV memberships will go out in May. See you on the trails! Sue Maynard Secretary Hope everyone had a great holiday season! Big Valley has several events scheduled this season. Snowmobile Race dates: Jan. 18, Feb.15. The trailside BBQ will be Feb. 16. Same location as normal! Spaghetti Supper Feb 14 The KAST Poker Run for Shriners is Feb. 22. We have a few park and rides in Island Falls as well as rentals for overnight stays. We are looking forward to an excellent rid ing season! Follow us on Facebook for all the updates. CENTRAL REGION ROME RUFF RIDERS Rome, ME CHAPMAN RIDGE RUNNERS SNOWMOBILE AND ATV CLUB Chapman, ME BIG VALLEY SNO CLUB Island Falls, ME

ST. FRANCIS SNO ANGELS St. Francis, ME

We here in Northern Maine know it’s com ing. The temperatures are getting colder, the daylight is shorter and the feel is in the air. Snow is here, made us a base, melted some, snowed again and boy are we ready. The groomer is ready to go, Thank you Vic and Jeff. Some nights I think it starts itself because it is so anxious to get out there. Mostly though as you may have seen on our facebook posts, we have been hard at work since mid-summer to put a new facade and interior on our lodge. Our new kitchen not only is expansive but we have almost enough space to run a few laps. Wait until you see it. Our restroom is warm and now has space to turn round several times and ADA compliant. Our dining room has a brand-new facelift, wait until you see it. We’ve brought the beauty of the Northern woods to our lodge. You’ve never seen pine used in such imaginative ways. We are almost ready to go. By the time you read this we should be fully open and ready to welcome you with open arms. Our exterior may not be complete but the interior will be warm and ready for you. Check our website, St. Francis Sno Angels and we’ll keep you posted on what we’re serving each week. We serve a hot meal every Saturday, starting at 11 till sold out. Enjoy the fresh northern Maine air, meet new peo ple, see landscapes that will take your breath away, have a hot meal with a great group of people and then hit the trails again. When you return to work the next week, your mind will return again and again to our area, and you’ll be planning your next trip north. Come north! You know you want to. Kim O. Happy Holidays— The ground in the region is white once again. Although the rain washed out the first snowfall, this snow looks like it might be here for the duration. Due to this water, trails were washed out. Please be mindful of 112E - the route has been shifted 5 miles before it meets the Ackley Pond Road. Watch for the DETOUR signs and turn right. December’s Potluck meeting held some tasty dishes. Most importantly, the pot luck I prepared didn’t make anybody sick. LOL. I am not a chef by any stretch of the word and if the fire alarm doesn’t go off, my feeling is it can’t be ready. There were lots of great treats and plenty for everybody. Our second club raf fle went off without a hitch – the biggest pay out went to one of our own - Dennis Brackett. Membership is almost at 93. The goal is to have 100 members by the New Year. I know we can reach that goal, but it takes our mem bers sharing what we do to get more commu nity and outsiders on board. Again - if you use our trails - think about becoming a member. It benefits all of us. Our next club meeting will entail a “white elephant” gift swap. Bring the worst gift you got for the holidays and don’t plan on keeping it to the next meeting. Make sure you wrap it!!! This should be a lot of fun!!! Important updates for the club - The bridge work that needed to be completed has been done. They are looking great. If you look at our club page on the web, you will see some great photos of the new bridges and the work it entailed. A major discussion for us this week was the money still needed to pay for the bridges. We are still waiting for the mon ies granted by the state to come in, but as you know businesses need their money too. This led to our club taking out a loan - we have to pay that back and the monies granted by the state do not cover that cost. We are looking at fundraisers to help with the cost, so watch for fundraisers sponsored by the club. We are also looking for any donations. The SPONSOR A MILE on our trails is up and running. Please contact me, Carilynn Hanson - 203-687-6403 - to sponsor a mile for either the season or for the year. When you sponsor for the year, your advertisement will remain through the ATV summer season as well. These funds will also help to offset the monies that are needed to maintain safe trails for our ROCKABEMA SNOW RANGERS Patten, ME

MOLUNKUS VALLEY SNO-DRIFTERS Sherman, ME

Sign Making and Painting “Party”

checks with pictures of kittens on them that I have had since 2001. As mentioned in our previous Report we have plenty of events scheduled this Winter. Our Santa Workshop for area children went quite well with a visit from the jolly old elf himself. In January we’ll be hosting another one of our famous breakfasts and when Feb ruary vacation rolls around we’ll be doing a couple of Family Fun Nights, including giv ing children and those young at heart alike a ride in the groomer. On February 8th we’ll be hosting the KAST Groomer Ride Day at our Clubhouse and on February 22nd we’ll be a stop for the Second Annual KAST Poker Run. As is the case last year, we plan to have the Clubhouse open for lunch on most weekends once we start grooming and we sincerely appreciate your patronage . . . even if you don’t feel hungry or thirsty . . . come by, warm up, say hi and see if any of our new Smoki Hauler apparel strikes your fancy. Speaking of our Clubhouse . . . our Club house is a Park and Ride. We’re right off Exit 286. If you’re heading North take Exit 286 and take a right off the ramp. We’re the first driveway on the right – you should see our big sign board out front. The driveway snakes between two homes – our log cabin Clubhouse is located in the back. Unload and you’re off and running on ITS 83! As always anyone is welcome to join the Club. We meet on the first Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m. . . . and if you come there is a pretty good chance it will be on a night we’re doing a potluck dinner . . . so come hungry! To keep current with the latest-and-great est news and events be sure to check out our Facebook page -- it’s the page with the Bom bardier groomer at the top (versus some other sites out there which are older and no longer maintained.) Irreverently Submitted: Jason Johnson, Club Secretary The Caribbean Cruise raffle has come and gone, and this year’s winner is Earl Bates from Conn. Earl has bought one or two tickets every year for a long time. Congrats. to you sir, and thank you for playing. Also, a big THANK YOU to all who bought tickets and made this year another sellout events. To all the club members who sold tickets WELL DONE!! Just a reminder that the Snowgang has another BIGGER raffle in place with top prizes of $3000, $2000, $1500, and $1000 available. Only 150 tickets being sold @$100 each. The prizes mentioned here will be drawn on Feb.16th at the annual Snowgang Fishing Derby on Plunkett Pond. If you are interested in purchasing a ticket you can go to the Snow gang website www.benedictasnowgang.com or call me at 207.365.7276. For more info. on the upcoming fishing derby, please refer to our website also. Well, got to wrap some presents and maybe ever have an eggnog ~~~ Happy New Year!! Jim Splan, Reporter@Large P.S~Going to hit 100 members by Jan1!! P.SS~Snowdance Please!! P.SSS~ Anybody seen Tom Qualey!! P.SSSS~&)_)(*^%$$ ~~I mean it!! BENEDICTA SNOW GANG Benedicta, ME Hi Gang, Typing on December 23rd, zero degrees outside ~ making ice ~ waiting for St. Nick!! Currently we only have a couple inches of snow, hoping for a lot more.

Greetings from MVSD ! Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Pray for lots of snow in 25! We at MVSD have been very busy we had 2 more get their groomer certs. Congratulations Rusty Springer and Jeremy Landry. November we held our Christmas Parade and it went very well Children saw Santa and got cookies and milk. It was well attended! Santa tells me lots of letters were left in his mail box :) and he has answered them all back~ kids coloring contest was another awe some hit! Plan to see you all next year! We had a tree at KES for Festival of Trees. Thanks so much to the members who donated and made this happen also to Linda Willett, Sam Landry and Deb Long for decorating it! Congratulations to our own Cheryl Lane who won tree and all the goodies! Enjoy and Merry Christmas from your friends @MVSD! Dec.7 th was our Club Christmas Party and instead of a Yankee Swap we donate $$$ to a bucket and was able to help 2 members with upcoming surgeries :) our hearts are full! The meal was delicious as always and dessert was out of this world, games and visits was just a great evening @ MVSD! The club where there are no strangers only friends you haven’t met! New members always welcome! We started a project in October for a groomer storage garage and that is now com plete! Thanks to Deb and Rick Long and Heather Willett for doing a grant to help this dream be fulfilled! Until next time, keep on keeping on! Happy New Year! Deb Long, Club President Hi Folks, As I sit and write this article on Dec. 16, 2024 it is 31 degrees up in Allagash, Maine. Weather forecast for tomorrow is 45 degrees with 100% chance of rain:(. We do have some snow on the ground but not nearly enough to ride and or groom our trails. Here’s hoping that by the time of this publication that we will have been treated with lots and lots of snow that will last very long! The slow start, how ever, has given our club the much-needed time to prepare our membership/sponsor list, our trails and signage as well as our thoughts and plans for this season. The members have been gathering with several ideas on how to make this a memorable fun filled snowmobiling win ter. We are so excited to announce the Moose town Riders Allagash, RIDEORAMA. We are offering a monthly group day ride, leaving MOOSETOWN RIDERS Allagash, ME

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