The first membership meeting of the season was held on September 10^th.  Easy Bucks winners were David Wile and Ralph Cresta.  The October meeting will be held on October 15^th at the Episcopal Church on Main Street in Rangeley in the Undercroft.  Dinner will be pot luck.  Please bring a dish to share with other members.  As usual, social hour will start at 5:30, dinner at 6:30, with the meeting to follow.

The RLSC will have a booth at the Augusta Civic Center for the annual snowmobile show on October 7^th, 8^th and 9^th.  We still have not found any volunteers to take a shift at the show.  Clark is going down on Friday to set up and will stay until the show closes at 9:00 PM.  Gail will be there at 9:00 AM on Saturday and as it stands right now will have to stay there until 9:00 PM.  We still have no volunteer for Sunday.  This is not good and if someone doesn’t help us out, this will be the last year we can attend the show.   The following weekend we will be at the New England Snowmobile Expo in Springfield, Mass.  We are all set for volunteers to help us out there. 

The RLSC held its first annual Labor Day weekend Summer Snodeo.  All in all, it was a success.  Casino Night on Friday night was the highlight of the weekend and many of the people who attended have mentioned that they had a great time.  Music was played by the “Clubhouse Trio” and they were great!  So great that we have asked them to play at the Christmas party this year. 

Hanson Well Drilling has drilled a well for us at the groomer barn – all donated!!!!  David Lucas, a RLSC member from Middleboro, Mass. came up and installed the pump and water line from the pump to the barn – all donated!!!!  Thanks so much!!!  All we have to do now is get the septic system installed and we will be able to have a restroom with running water.  Again, the funds have to be raised before this can be done.

Enclosed with this newsletter you will find three tickets for the snowmobile raffle.  The sled has been donated in part by Larry Koob of Oquossoc Marine and Polaris Industries.  Please either buy or sell these tickets.  We can’t emphasize enough the importance of fundraising this year due to the great increase in the price of fuel to operate the groomers.  The sled will be given away during Snodeo and remember, you can’t win if you don’t buy a ticket.  Please return the stubs with your check to the club address.

We recently lost a good friend to many and a long-time member of the RLSC, Paul Leblanc.  He will be missed by many people.  His family is holding a service at the Catholic Church in Rangeley on October 8^th at 10:30 AM, followed by a reception at the Clubhouse Restaurant to “celebrate Paul’s life”.  I’m sure many of you will want to attend. 

Remember to mail in your membership renewal.  As of September 30^th, your membership from last season expired which means you are not a member of the Maine Snowmobile Association until you renew.  It’s important to keep your membership and the free insurance that comes with it.

Back to fundraising  (it seems like it never ends);  The RLSC has total of 435 members.  We seem to have a problem finding people to volunteer to work at fundraisers.  An alternative to events, bake sales, etc. would be to request a $15 to $25 donation from each member.  Of course, this would be totally voluntary.  We have 435 members and if each member would participate in this, it would cover the extra money we need to pay for the groomer fuel.  We really don’t want to cut back on grooming – you would not want that either.  We  take a lot of pride in keeping our trails in the best condition possible for your riding enjoyment. 

A suggestion was received by one of our members to place our lunch trailer out on the trails and serve hot dogs, hamburgers, French fries, etc.   We would need volunteers to man the trailer  on Saturdays – that is to do the cooking and serving the food.  If you are interested, please let us know – if we can’t find enough volunteers to do this, we will just drop the idea entirely.   The operations of the snowmobile club keep the officers very busy during the winter so we would be looking for volunteers other than officers to keep this going.

The foliage should be peak in the Rangeley area during the next couple weeks – always a welcome site because we know that winter is not far behind.

THINK SNOW!!! 

Until next month……………..

 Please visit our Sponsors page to check out businesses who have donated or pledged to donate to our grooming and trail maintenance program for this season. Be sure to patronize these businesses when in the area. It is due to their donations that we have the great riding conditions we all enjoy!