Well, here we are again, at the start of another snowmobile season.  Mother Nature has promised to be more kind this winter and give us plenty of snow. 

We are kicking off the season with a couple of events over Labor Day weekend.  On Friday evening, September 1^st, we will have a Casino Night at the Clubhouse Restaurant and a Silent Auction with items donated by local businesses.  If any of you have anything you would like to donate for the auction, we sure would welcome any useful items.  The Casino Night will start at 7 PM.     On Saturday, September 2^nd, we will have an Open House from 11 AM – 3 PM, at the Groomer Barn from  which is located on Loon Lake Road, first driveway on left after the Transfer Station.  We will be serving hamburgers and hot dogs and ask that you bring your own liquid refreshments.  Please stop by and say “hi”.  This is a great opportunity for you to see where your building fund donations were spent.  We have a really nice groomer barn, thanks to all the people who donated toward the cause.   We are still open for donations, there is still work to be done there.  We do have a well for water, donated by a local Well Drilling Contractor,  and one of our members who installed the pump system for the well.  We now need to install a septic system so that we can have running water in the barn and install a bathroom.   If you do donate for this cause, please make it clear that this is what your donation is to be designated to.

The Officers of the Rangeley  Lakes Snowmobile Club for the 2006/07 season are:  President, Clark Allen;  Vice President, Don  Dumont; Secretary, Sandi Dumont, Treasurer, club secretary.  Clark has decided to stay on one more year as President with Chick Hembrow  “learning the ropes” to succeed him next year.  Sandi will be doing some of the Secretary duties and will be working with Gail to learn the organizational duties for Snodeo and other activities we do.  Gail will still be doing the Treasurer duties, working with the grants, and the membership work.  Sandy will be looking for volunteers to do some of the dinners at our membership meetings.  We do potluck dinners for the months of October, May, April and June as the attendance at these meetings is usually very low. 

The Christmas Party will be held on December 9^th this year.  We found that our party conflicted with a lot of other parties our members attend when we scheduled them for the second or third Saturday in December so we decided to have ours early so that anyone who wants to come won’t have the dilemma of choosing between two parties.  The invitation will go out with the November newsletter.

You will find in this envelope, your renewal form and a blank membership form.  We are hoping that some of you will find a new member for our club or sign up another member of your family, thus the reason for enclosing a blank membership form.  You will also find a calendar of events, information on the Arctic Cat snowmobile we will be raffling off in January at Snodeo, insurance information, safety information,  Easy Bucks sign-up form.  

Please especially take notice and read the safety flyer.  In the Rangeley area, it is inevitable that you will eventually be riding on a lake and in severe cold weather.  If there is any doubt that the lake is safe, please do not go on it with your snowmobile.  It’s so easy and much more pleasant to be safe than sorry. 

Tickets are enclosed for the snowmobile raffle.  This is an exceptionally nice sled and has been donated in part by PJ’s Power Sports, our new Arctic Cat dealer, and Arctic Cat Industries.  Just complete the stub end with information so we can contact you when you win, and send them in to the Club’s address along with your check.  If any of you are in a position to sell some tickets for us, let us know and we will send them to you. 

We will have a booth at the Maine Snowmobile Show at the Civic Center in Augusta, Maine during the weekend of October 6, 7, and 8 and at the New  England Snowmobile Show at the Big E Fairgrounds in West Springfield, MA during the weekend of October 14 and 15.  Stop by and say hi.  We look forward to seeing you.

We are hoping to set up a table somewhere in the Rangeley area, probably at the IGA, on Saturday, October 14^th (Columbus Day weekend) to sell snowmobile raffle tickets.  Hopefully, we will be able to have the sled there to display.  Since that is the weekend of one of the shows we attend, and some of our key people will be at our booths, we need people to take a shift selling tickets.  If you are interested in volunteering to do a shift, please let us know either by e-mail at info@rangeleysnowmobile.com, or you can call Gail at 207- 864-9047 or Sandi at 207-864-2775.

We are getting close to the time of year when we start going out on the trails to prepare them for snow and grooming.  Some of the work involved is cutting brush, clearing rocks and debris, signing, repairing bridges, etc.  We are always looking for help.  Clark and Matt will be organizing crews to go to specific areas and do this work.  If you are interested, let us know either by e-mail or letter.  The guys will get in touch with you when they schedule the work. 

This is the time of year when some of the envelopes we send out get returned due to address changes.  Please make sure you let us know if your address has changed since last season.  We will also let the MSA know so you will get your MSA Newspaper. 

Remember, your present membership expires on September 30^th.  If you get your renewal forms in early, you won’t have an interruption in delivery of this newsletter and the MSA newspaper. 

We can’t emphasize enough how important your support is.  Without it, we couldn’t  keep those trails groomed nightly for your riding enjoyment.  We are able to boast that we have the “best riding in the State of Maine” thanks to the support of our members and the local businesses and we thank you all for that!!!

Until next month………  club secretary, Treasurer

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!