Present: Dottie Richardson, BJ Estey, Candy Fuller, Maureen Bogosian, Betty Brooks, Ginger Wimberg, Deb Gibbs, Willis Wood, Ernie Shand, Sally Harris, Chip Cobb, Laurie Cobb, Karen McGee, Pat Daniels, Dennis Eagles, Eric Taylor, Becky Tucker, Carl Wyman, John Arrison, Edith Stillson, Cookie Shand, Gail Woodbury, Ellen Clattenburg

The meeting was convened at 7 pm at the Weathersfield Center Meetinghouse.

Publicity: Sally Harris passed around copies of the sponsor page and the map of the Center (which will be the centerfold of the 8 page program). Additions were made by committee members. Sally will check on the printing costs for 500 programs, a number the committee came up with.

Signage has been put up around town - in front of the town office, both fire stations, the elementary school, and both sides of Weathersfield Center Road by the meetinghouse. Ernie Shand has lent signage from political campaigns that can be easily transformed into signage - Ellen has these signs if anyone needs/ wants them.

Publicity in newspapers: Laurie Cobb has submitted information to the Shopper and the Valley News. She has also submitted the article on the cake quilt. The Valley News supplement on 250 celebrations needs information by August 9 and the supplement will come out on August 19. A suggestion was made to ask papers to cover the day's events. (No one committed to doing this.) The committee did not agree to a suggestion to purchase ads in papers, but Laurie will submit information to the Message as well. BJ will send information to WNNE. Sally has been sending information and updates to SAPA and the papers.

Posters: Sally brought more tonight and various committee members committed to putting them up in locations not yet covered. Sally cautioned that we should keep an eye on the posters as some may need to be replaced.

Commemoratives: Bob Holtorf has delivered the wood from the memorial grove maple, cut by Tony Daniels and planed by Bob, to the laser engraver in Island Pond. The image has been clarified and the design refined. It will cost $25 to ship them back to Weathersfield, a price the committee was happy to pay. They should be done soon. John Arrison has ordered stickers to be put on the back of the disks and these will identify the wood.

T-shirts and other ordered items are in the works, will be done soon.

Posters are for sale in the town office and like all commemoratives, will be on sale at the celebration.

Parade: The parade committee will come up with a description of the participants for Ernie. Edith Hunter will prepare something on the seniors in the antique cars and Pat Daniels will provide a description of the cars. Cookie made sure that the oldest citizens have been asked.

Food: Alison Roth is away and submitted a report summarizing food vendors. Ellen will let Bev Howe know that the Grange does not need to sell food and can just do their raffles.

Cake Contest: Deb, Betty, and Ginger are working on the cake decorating contest and have sent out the rules. They have a judge, Ed Gibbs, and will decide on the day what classes the cakes will be judged in. Medallions and ribbons will be the prizes. Ginger will email Alison to see if she has had any success getting paper goods contributions from Hannafords or Market Basket. Maureen offered to donate the paper goods if no success at either of these markets. John Arrison reminded Ginger to remind Alison to get paper goods for the pie contest as well. Ginger will bring knives to cut the cake. We will need ice cream scoops and volunteer scoopers for the ice cream.

Horseshoe tournament: Dennis Eagles passed around a sign up sheet and noted that the tournament will start at 12 noon, break for the parade, then reconvene. He will have a radio so he can let the announcer know when to call for the next contestants. Equipment: The Recreation Committee will pay for 2 sets of horseshoes and stakes - Dennis will need to buy them and submit his receipts. In addition, the following people offered to lend their horseshoe sets:

Willis Wood, Chip Cobb, Eric Taylor, John Arrison, and Carl Wyman.

Prizes will be medallions - save 4.

Pie Contest: The posters have been put up, but so far there is only one pie judge. John and Patti and Cecilia will work on 2 more judges.

Crossword Puzzle: Dottie Richardson's puzzle will be duplicated by BJ. It will be distributed on the commemorative table under the big tent and in the Dan Foster House.

Weathersfield History Contest: Edith Hunter sent a message to the committee saying that anyone who would be too busy to take the quiz on the day of the event should feel free to come by The Dan Foster House any Sunday afternoon to try their luck - provided they promise not to reveal any of the questions. Edith is supplying her own prizes (maple syrup).

Expo: Ginger and Karen have been working on this, discovering that things are changing all the time. They read the list of exhibitors out loud and noted there was room for additional exhibitors if needed. They will continue to check in with participants and update their list as they get more information. Most exhibitors will be under the big tent in the Coakley lot. The Springfield Garden Club and Edith Hunter will be in or on the grounds of the Dan Foster House. Willis added the Weathersfield Conservation Commission to the list of exhibitors.

The tents will be erected on Friday. The tables will be set up on Friday. Exhibitors have been told to have their tables set up by noon; parking for exhibitors will be on the Coakley Lot or John Arrison's road.

Tents: After discussion and vote, the committee decided to rent the second, smaller tent, for additional cover in case of rain.

Art pageant: All questions should be directed to Rob O'Brien.

Pageant: A workshop for the participants will be held in the Center for the Monday - Friday prior to the 250th, run by Erica and Mark Yeungling. It is anticipated that participants will be K-8th grade.

Karate demonstration: Ellen will be in touch with Maryellen Applequist to verify that they will not march in the parade, that they can perform (5 to 10 minutes) either before the parade (12:45) or 4:30 p.m.

Announcers/ Emcee/ Info Booth: Ellen will ask Peter Cole, the Town Moderator, to be the emcee for the VIPs. Chip Cobb said that there will be rotations of announcers in the Info booth throughout the day with Chip and John the primary announcers. They will take care of getting in announcers if they need help or a break. Announcers will be people from the committee - too hard to bring in someone from the outside.

BJ will provide a large, two sided white board on an easel for the day. The side facing out can be used to post the day's schedule.

Police: Dick Brown confirmed that the police will take care of closing and opening the road, advising visitors of the drop off, identifying VIPs and directing them to parking (back of Coakley lot - will need cones to identify), keep traffic slow, and manage the intersection of Yewell Lane and Center Road when the fireworks let out. He suggested that a volunteer from each of the fire departments slow down traffic 100 yards north and south of the intersection using reflective vests and flashlights.

Parking: The Bow Baptist Church is providing a 12 passenger van for transporting people to and from overflow parking (Hunter and Arrison fields). Chet Stone will be the CDL driver.

Finances: Gail Woodbury reviewed recent donations and asked for some clarification; she will need to check with the town office on some confusing entries. She noted that there is some money left which will be used to pay for the program. She reminded people to hang onto receipts and get reimbursed or, better, submit the invoice directly to the Town Office. Sensible Shoes, fireworks checks have been cut. No response from Grafton Band. Willis will take care of submitting the tent bill. Bob will take care of the wood disk bill (submitting or paying it and getting reimbursed).

No Smoking: Check with Wes who has no smoking signs. A couple should be placed in the Center for the event.

Mount Ascutney Prevention Partnership: Melanie Sheehan had sent an invitation to a training on Asset Development which will be forwarded to all committee members.

No meetings before the event, however, there will be work events during the week prior (making signage, etc.)

Respectfully submitted,
Ellen Clattenburg