Did you ever see a Summer go by so fast?  Hope everyone had a safe and fun summer.  Can’t say that we had much nice weather, so we may as well get ready for winter and snowmobiling.

Enclosed with this newsletter you will find your renewal form for this year’s membership, Easy Bucks forms, Super Raffle Tickets, Raffle Tickets for the snowmobile the Club will be giving away to a lucky winner during Snodeo 2005, a calendar of events, safety information and insurance information, a volunteer sign up sheet and information regarding the building of our groomer barn.

Our meetings will be held at the Rangeley Guides and Sportsman’s Club House in Oquossoc again this year.  The first meeting is on September 11^th.  As in the past, social hour is at 5:30, dinner at 6:30 with the meeting following dinner.

As explained in the enclosed letter, we are hoping to get a groomer barn built before snow flies and we have to start grooming.  We need lots of help with this project in the form of donations, labor and materials.  The land has already been cleared and hopefully, construction can begin in the very near future.   The estimated cost for constructing the groomer bar is $30,000.  Should we end up with excess funds from our fundraising efforts, it will go toward construction of the clubhouse.  Both buildings will be located on the Loon Lake Road in Rangeley and will be accessible by vehicle and snowmobile.  This will be such a huge asset for our club!!  

The Club has purchased another Piston Bully groomer and it’s important that we have the barn to house these expensive tractors and all the equipment and parts we have to stock to take care of them.  Also, it would be a huge benefit to have the garage when the guys work on  the groomers.    In the past, they have had to be outside doing maintenance work when it was needed and we all know how cold and miserable that kind of work can be outside, especially up here in the mountains.

After the groomer barn is completed, we will begin fundraising for a clubhouse.  We already have approximately $6,000 in a clubhouse account that we raised a couple of years ago.  It’s a start. 

We have ordered fleece vests with the RLSC logo on them.  They will sell for $20.   Also, we will be selling pins with our logo (moose on snowmobile) and the animal’s eye will flash and the snowmobile headlight will flash.  The pins will sell for $5.00. Both of these fundraisers are for the building fund.

Again this year, we are raffling off a 2005 Polaris Trail Deluxe 550 Classic snowmobile, thanks to donations in part by Oquossoc Marine and Polaris Industries.  Profit from this raffle and from the MSA Super Raffle Tickets will be spent on maintaining and grooming the trail system.   Remember, $1 from each Super Raffle Ticket stays with the club.   Please send your ticket stubs with your check to the Club address.  Good luck with both of these raffles and thank you for your support.

The Rangeley Lakes Snowmobile Club will have booths at the Maine Snowmobile Show held at the Augusta Civic Center on October 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd and also at the New England Snowmobile Expo at the “Big E” Fairgrounds in Springfield, Mass on October 16^th and 17^th.  Stop by and see us!!!

Your present membership expires on  September 30^th.  It’s important to get your membership renewals in to keep your insurance intact.  Also, by renewing your membership, you will stay on the mailing list for the MSA Newsletter and the RLSC newsletter.  Remember, the profits we receive from membership fees are one of our biggest fundraisers that is used directly on maintenance and grooming of our trail system.  Your support in the way of your membership is very important. 

Do you know anyone who rides the Rangeley Trail system  and doesn’t belong to our club?  We do have a membership form on our web page that can be downloaded, printed and sent in.  Please try to encourage others to join the club.  Membership forms are also available by writing to the club. 

It appears that this is going to be an exciting year for the club.  We own a second groomer now, we are building a home for the groomers and eventually will be working towards a “home” for the club.  This will be your  clubhouse. 

More fundraising activities will be coming up and will be detailed in the October newsletter. 

Hope to see you all at the September meeting. 

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!