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Events Committee Meeting
Minutes
February 6, 2013
Present: Tony Simotes, Bob Romeo, Carl Pratt, Lauryn Franzoni
Absent: Kim Reopell Flynn
Also Present: Channing Gibson, Greg Federspiel
Meeting called to order at 4:05 p.m.
~~ ~ Minutes from November 21, 2012 not approved due to attendance
Minutes from December 19, 2012 not approved due to attendance.
- Reviewed request of funding for the Tub Parade for September 2013 for police detail and marketing/advertising of the Tub Parade event. General discussion took place regarding the benefit of the Tub Parade to the Town of Lenox the merchants in town and the connection to the Gilded Age designation by the State of Massachusetts. Current funding is provided by participant entries and lunch but leave the event funds $1,500 short of the expenses. This increase is in part due to the increase in police detail needs and the interest in additional marketing efforts for the 2013 event.
- Bob Romeo motioned to recommend funding of $1,500 for the Tub Parade to the Select Board. 2nd by Tony Simotes and the motion passed with a unanimous vote.
- The Scheduled Events Calendar – 2013 was reviewed and one item was added for April, 2014 Shakespeare’s Birthday. Tony Simotes is working on this event now and will bring more details to the committee as they come together. With the international recognition Lenox has a good opportunity to capture much of the attention due to Shakespeare presence and work that will be done in preparation for this date. This will require a great deal of advanced planning and funding for the town and businesses to benefit from this event.
- Discussion took place regarding the British Car Show and the reasoning behind this event not taking place in 2013. Major sponsors from last year could not be secured, ticket sales did not support cover the expenses along with other factors out of the control of the town and/or the Events Committee.
- Further discussion regarding the need to engage merchants to promote the events that are taking place and although the Lenox Chamber has helped with this in the past it is clear more needs to be done for these events to increase the participation and success of these events.
- Bob Romeo made a suggestion that the town give consideration of significant funding for particular event(s) to focus our efforts and financial support to ensure success vs. funding multiple events with minimal impact. No further discussion of this suggestion.
- Channing Gibson made a suggestion due to the delay in the approval of the Events Coordinator that a recommendation be made to the Selectmen that a temporary position be considered to support the needs of the upcoming Berkshire Cycling Classic. Carl Pratt suggested that it would be helpful to have the person available for 10 hours/week starting March 1st and 20 hours/week starting April 15th. This would allow for additional support to plan, organize and execute this event due to the significant degree of work that was required last year. Both Greg Federspiel and Channing Gibson agreed to raise this to the Selectman in an upcoming meeting.
- Carl Pratt suggested to expand programs in the month of May to include additional health related topics and make May, Spring to Health month. This would include greater participation with local merchants throughout Lenox that have health related businesses to highlight their offerings through special offers and programs. This is something that had been successful in past years and could help both the two current events in May and get the merchants more directly involved into these programs. The general idea was well received and more will be discussed to determine when this could be implemented but it would most likely need to be planned for 2014.
Meeting adjourned at 5.45 p.m.
Next meeting February 20, 2013 at 4:00 pm..
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