White Mountain Chapter BMW CCA

 Social Events Committee Meeting

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

 

The meeting was called to order @ 6:40 by the chairperson, Cassandra Vorisek-Creto. In attendance were Cassandra, Tom Blinn, Dana Sion, Michael Morin, Walter Wolf, Tracy Wolf, David Harrison, Rachelle Harrison, and new member Roland Fisher aka Roly.  Welcome Roly!

 

The meeting venue was The Common Man in Windham, NH.  The normally scheduled meeting is on the last Monday of the month.  Check the chapter web site to verify the date and location (Merrimack, Concord, or Windham) for the April meeting.

 

SEC business:  A number of topics were discussed.

 

The group breakfast at Parkers Maple Barn in Mason NH on Sunday March 29 drew 12 members for a very nice meal on a very rainy day.  By arriving early we had no real problems with parking and were seated promptly.  By the time we had all eaten, there was a 30 to 40 minute wait to be seated, and the parking lots were full to overflowing.  There were tours of the sugar house available, but with the rainy weather, not everyone stayed to see the show.  Shopping was done by those who were interested, with plenty of maple syrup finding a new home.

 

David Harrison investigated the New Hampshire “Adopt a Highway” program which we had thought might be a good way to be more publicly visible and socially aware.  It turns out that the program is administered by a national company who, for a fee, install the signage and organize the cleanup activities.  Given the cost involved and the fact we would be actively participating in any cleanups, it was the consensus of those present that this would not be productive or worth the cost.

 

The “annual reunion” aka “holiday party” went well, in spite of the challenges that Cassandra experienced working with the venue and some things that didn’t go as she had expected that didn’t seem to bother participants.  We raised over $1000 for the designated charity, the New Hampshire chapter of “Make A Wish”.  While the venue seemed to work well and the entertainment was well received, and we have heard positive feedback from most attendees, it was the consensus that we should consider both a different venue and different entertainment for next year.  A hotel venue seems desirable, especially as some members travel from a long distance to attend.  Unless we had a much larger room and more attendees, it would make sense to have a somewhat smaller group provide entertainment; we all thought that Manchuka did a great job although they overpowered the space.  The silent auction was very successful, although Cassandra would prefer to have it managed by an external company (cMarket) who would support internet bids as well as tie us into BiddingForGood to get a wider audience and also access to some higher value items that may interest our membership but would be beyond the means of most of our contributors.  There is a modest fee for this support and Cassandra plans to seek sponsorship to pay that fee, so that it would come out of the chapter’s general funds.  We will also need to identify a recipient charity for the coming event, the BMW CCA Foundation was suggested as a possibility.

 

At the present time, we are NOT planning to run the “Hot Laps” go karting event this year, due to the financial exposure involved.

 

There was some brainstorming about other possible events, with a number of good ideas being discussed (I may have missed capturing some of them).  The general idea is to have self-funded events, that is, recover 100% of the cost, in most cases by having members pay their own admissions and meals, but to take advantage where possible of group rates.

 

A Canterbury Shaker Village group visit (perhaps the weekend of the Antique Car Show if that gets scheduled for this year), with a group lunch seating.

 

Fisher Cats (or Nashua Pride) baseball game.

 

An amusement park day (perhaps Old Orchard Beach in Maine, or Canobie Lake Park in Salem NH).

 

A wine and cheese drive (touring rally but without a special contest, perhaps) to visit some of the wineries on the New Hampshire Wine and Cheese Trail which is described in http://www.nh.gov/agric/documents/WineandCheeseTrail.pdf and in http://www.visitnh.gov/uploads/wine-cheese-itinerary-f2.pdf .  There would be very little cost for such an event.

 

A Haunted New Hampshire touring rally (and perhaps brunch) at Halloween time.  There are many sources for information that could lead to an interesting route, such as http://www.hollowhill.com/nh/nh.htm which describes places in and around Nashua and the seacoast, a statewide list organized by town found at http://www.newhampshire.com/about-nh/nh-haunted-places.aspx and a whole website at http://www.hauntednewhampshire.com/ .

 

We might recycle some of the past rally routes as group drives, which are a lot easier to produce than a full blown rally with puzzlers or photos.

 

A group lunch at Pickity Place in Mason NH http://www.pickityplace.com/ with organized area tours to follow, perhaps a visit to Frye’s Measure Mill in Wilton http://www.fryesmeasuremill.com/ or even just a stop at the House by the Side of the Road in Wilton http://www.housebythesideoftheroad.com/ to see the amazing display of plants in their greenhouses.  There are many other places in the area that are of interest.

 

An “Antiques Roadshow” type of event.  Tracy Wolf reports she has contacts who might help make this happen.

 

The Northeast Exotic Car Show is scheduled for Saturday, August 22, with a rain date for Sunday, August 23, at the Budweiser brewery in Merrimack, NH. 

 

Michael Morin reminded us of the possibility of doing a group outing at Alpine Adventures in Lincoln (http://www.alpinesnowmobiling.com/ ) who offer off-road tours in their Pinzgauer trucks as well as snowmobile tours and zip line adventures.  Members who think they would be interested (check out their videos on their web site to get a flavor) should let Cassandra or Michael know they would like to participate.

 

Dana is working to get a BMW diesel product launch event organized but at this point has no specific details to share.  We would hope to model this on what is being done by some of the Massachusetts dealers with the Boston chapter.

 

Michael reported that the driving events committee would like us to host another reception after the end of season driving school at NHMS.  This would be done on Saturday, October 24, after the conclusion of the day’s driving activities, and would parallel the event of two years ago, which was very well received.  Tracy Wolf commented that they have a cargo van and would help deliver supplies to the event from local suppliers in the Concord area.

 

Dana investigated the possibility of joining the “Made in New Hampshire” trade organization (www.nhmade.com) which would cost $50 a year (nonprofit rate) and provide a number of benefits, including joint marketing and participation at events such as the annual “Made in NH” expo.  There was consensus that this sounded like a good idea and should be considered further.

 

Since no further business was identified, the meeting was adjourned at 8:10 PM.