Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout1990-04-10 Celebration Trust Committee MinutesMinutes of the Tenth Meeting of Reading's 350th Anniversary Celebration Steering Committee April 10, 1990, Tuesday Conference Room Reading Town Hall Committee Members Attending: Alan Foulds, Everett Blodgett, Shirley Buzderewicz, Alan Foulds, Susan Horn, Ed Palmer, Paul Sweeney, Susan Theophanis (Susan Flannery and Susan Wheltle were not present.) Also Attending: Ray Couture (legal counsel), Ken Latham, Doris Fantasia I. CALL TO ORDER Alan Foulds called the meeting to order at 7:40 PM. II. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETINGS The Minutes of the March 15, 1990 meeting were accepted with the following corrections: p. 1 Mrs. Rose Hines [not Hinds] p. 2 Mr. A.A. Paradis [not Paradise; Lex is a nickname] p. 3 John McCauley is curator [not custodian] A vote was taken regarding the Control of the 350th Logo and, on the advice of counsel, the following revision should be made: p. 7 Control of 350th Logo All uses of the 350th Logo will be under the control of the Steering Committee. At this [March 15, 19901 meeting the Steering Committee voted that the Reading's 350th Inc. be granted the exclusive right to use the logo for fund raising purposes to benefit Reading's 350th Anniversary Celebration. However, all uses of the Logo are subject to the approval of the Steering Committee. The Steering Committee also reserves the right to revoke the grant to the Reading's 350th Inc. BREAK FROM AGENDA Page 2 ° _.Steering Committee April 10, 1990 Report from Doris Fantasia RE: Her Visit to Redding, England Doris spoke with the current Mayor, Maureen Mocky. The Mayor is elected for a one-year term on the 1st of May and is strictly a ceremonial head. She is only available on Wednesday afternoons, but her secretary, Helen Kirk, is there throughout and she remains from mayor to mayor. Redding is a "Town of Three B's: Bulbs, Beer and Biscuits". They had once been leaders in the tulip and daffodil bulb industry, but that is no longer; the beer industry is also gone and Huntley-Palmer Biscuits just went out of business. Doris reported that they had several suggestions as to how they could participate in our 350th. Their elected officials and professionals are poorly paid and a trip over here would be prohibitively costly. However, if we extend an invitation early on and direct it to the Chief Executive (a combined position of Town Clerk and Administrator). If he/she agrees and brings it to Council and they agree, they could set aside a little bit of money each year until 1994 for their plane fare. We would then extend an open house to however many officials we want to invite. In other words, individuals homes in our community would be hosts to the officials. President Carter had encouraged an exchange program of complete families (house swapping). The idea was met with great enthusiasm on their part. The Mayor and the Chief Executive would be the logical people to invite. We will have to talk about this and have a firmer idea of what we are inviting them to. Secondly, Doris's daughter, Jody, will be visiting Redding and they will be taking her to a list of places so she can take photos for us. Interestingly enough, Redding has its own prison, its own ruins and a Civic Center in the middle of which there is a courtyard where the mayor's office sits on stilts in the midst of a flowering garden. Jody will be back in about two months. Doris explained that the conversations she had were strictly informal, and that she was not an official representative of our Steering Committee. They understood her position and were very receptive to her. RESUME AGENDA Page 3 Steering Committee April 10, 1990 III. COMMUNICATIONS A. Braintree's 350th Anniversary Celebration: Heritage Week Events (to be held in May, 1990) B. Jack Cairl, writer Ev Blodgett reported that Jack plans to write an historical play. Ev will put him in touch with the Quannapowitt Players who produced a similar production involving 75 participants in 1944. The script is available, and there may be a print of it as well. C. William Thomas McKinley, composer He has sent us his resume, but we are having difficulty pinning down how he expects to be paid. If we commission him does he then go to the Arts Lottery for funds? This is important to know as printing a score for an entire orchestra might run $10,000. We had also heard that he may want a name soloist in conjunction with his composition. We need to know these things. Susan Theophanis will try to get some input directly from him. D. Don Stratton, composer We should contact him about a Dixieland jazz piece he wrote years ago entitled "RMS". He is now at the University of Maine teaching. The piece is on a record album. Id. COMMITTEE REPORTS A. 350th, Inc. (Paul Sweeney) Contributions are slow. We are going to find out about the feasibility of having a booth at the Y's Men's Carnival in July to sell fund raising items and postcards. B. Writers Committee (Everett Blodgett) There has been no meeting since our last Steering Committee meeting. A meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, April 17. Ev is keeping notes and rough minutes of these meetings for the Steering Committee. C. Logo Ceremony (Susan Wheltle via Ed Palmer) Susan Wheltle couldn't attend but called Ed. She has not yet set up the ceremony to present Judith Hunt Gabriel and Matt Fleming with their checks, although, according to-Shirley, the checks have been cut and Susan W. has them. As was expressed at our last meeting, Susan W. will arrange an award ceremony to be held at either the Library or at the Coolidge Middle School (where Matt Fleming, Youth Division honorable mention, is a student). Members of the Steering Committee, the judges, Matt Fleming's teacher (Bill Endslow), Miriam Page 4 Steering Committee April 10, 1990 Barclay, Eleanor Bishop and Arnold Berger will be invited to be present with Don Young to take pictures for the paper. Matt Fleming will be given a $35 award. Judith Hunt Gabriel will receive $100. The Library display comes down April 20. D. Quilt/Parker Tavern Model Ed Palmer talked with Nancy Smithers of the Reading Craftsman's Association and the quilt was going to be discussed at their next meeting. There is no word on how they are going to move on this, but there is no doubt that it will be done. Barbara Dancey is the President. We have no word on what Beth Anderson is doing on the Parker Tavern scale model or what time frame she envisions for it.' Susan Theophanis will call both Beth and Barbara for status reports. E. Parade 1. Parade Feasibility Committee (Alan Foulds) John Shaw, Lions Club, is heading up this Committee and they met last week. Attending were: Alan Foulds, Frank Perry (American Legion), John McCauley, Roland Blanchard, Russ Graham, Dominic Rotondi (Lion's Club), Arnold Berger and Ray Couture. They invited Ruth Cogan of the Stoneham Parade Committee and the President of the Woburn Lions (neither could make it). Some statistics that were passed along to the Committee were that Reading High School Band was paid $1,200 for Lawrence's St. Patrick's Day parade. Stoneham's 250th Parade cost $25,000. And Woburn's cheapest band last year was $2,000. Frank Perry says that as far as the American Legion and VFW are concerned they don't see any problem with having a parade on Memorial Day weekend (Saturday or Sunday) as long as the actual Memorial Day Parade on Monday is left alone. They would be happy to participate. The.feeling of the Parade Feasibility Committee is that the parade should be held on a Sunday afternoon, probably May 29th, which is Charter Day. They further felt that it would be the Steering Committee's job to pacify everybody who would be upset by it. The Parade Feasibility Committee felt that the parade should be much more of a home town event involving Reading, Page 5 Steering Committee April 10, 1990 Wakefield, and North Reading. They understand that they are to set up a suggestion as to how they would run a parade and present their idea back to the Steering Committee at which time we could accept or reject it. They further understand that we are looking at other possibilities and that a parade might be in competition with something else. They also realize that we are not going to spend a fortune on a parade. They have not yet set another meeting date. 3. Braintree's 350th (Ed Palmer) Ed Palmer presented the Braintree 350th Anniversary Celebration: Heritage,Week Events (May 6-13, 1990). Each member of the Steering Committee was given a copy of the Braintree calendar. Nancy Nicosia of Braintree has been very helpful. They are planning their 350th Parade on a Sunday. Perhaps we should see how they worked around Sunday. 44. Suggestion for Alternative to Parade (Alan Foulds) Alan Foulds feels that we have to wait until the Parade Feasibility Committee comes back to us with a proposal, but, as an alternative Alan has developed a three-day suggested calendar of events to take place May 27-29, 1994 concluding with a Grand Exposition. Each member of the Steering Committee was given a copy of his suggestion which could be implemented in whole or in part. F. Historic Photographic Committee (Ed Palmer) Under the auspices of the Historic Commission, we have located 353 old glass slide negatives. Ed continues to make negatives of these glass slides. There are pictures of North Reading and Wakefield mixed in but they have to be identified. We will benefit from the quality of these when it comes to the next set of postcards. There is a Bearly Collection at Fanuiel Hall Marketplace and he lives in Reading. He may be able to help us preserve these properly. Contact prints from the glass negatives can be printed by the Graphic Accents group for $3 each (they usually get $6). Judy Smith has sent a list of what she has. Everett Blodgett says there is a closet in Wakefield approximately 6 feet tall, 4 feet deep and 8 feet long packed with glass negative slides. Some of those maybe of Reading, just as a lot of what we have already found are of Wakefield and North Reading. This collection will be substantial. Page 6 Steering Committee April 10, 1990 IV. OLD BUSINESS A. Planning Coming Year We should spend the next meeting on a skeleton schedule. Alan feels we should concentrate on a major event on the actual weekend of Charter Day, but that does not preclude other activities spread throughout the year (eq. New Years Ball, Winter Carnival, etc.) Reading Art Association is talking about a 1994 calendar with all the events throughout the year. Perhaps we could do it as a joint effort with the Boy Scouts using their avenues of distribution. All organizations in town should be contacted for all their dates. This might even make the Boy Scout calendar a bigger and more desirable fund raiser for years following 1994. We had it all together at one time, but we need to re- structure and get a plan in order. B. Steering Committee One Year Review As indicated at our last meeting, Susan Flannery will put together a summary of our 1989-90 activities and accomplishments for release to the press. This has yet to be done. C. 1944 Celebration Ed Palmer has copies of what was done in 1944 at the 300th. Ed wants to send copies of the sermons to the clergy committee. Ken Latham said to hold back on that until we know what our schedule will be. D. Clergy Association This might be a time to send an emissary to the Clergy Association made up of Ken Latham who could explain what had been done in 1944 when he was Chairman of the Board of Selectmen (there was no parade then, but there was a celebration in Memorial Park, and the churches were very involved with special services and sermons), Alan Foulds, as Chairman of the Steering ..Committee, and Paul Sweeney, as liaison to the Parade Feasibility Committee. We do not want to overwhelm them with any more than these three. E. How Will We Involve North Reading and Wakefield? Lynn? Ev Blodgett said Wakefield is beginning to think about it but we know nothing about what North Reading might be planning. Page 7 Steering Committee April 10, 1990 VII. NEXT MEETING We have found Tuesday evenings may be a better time for most people. The next meeting will be: Tuesday, May 15, 1990 7:30 PM Berger Room Reading Town Hall Prior to the Corporation meeting that evening there will be an informal, optional time to brainstorm from 6:30 to 7:00. VIII. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 8:51 PM. Respectfully Submitted, Susan Horn, Secretary [Copies of the Braintree 350th Schedule of Events and the suggested Grand Exposition which Alan Foulds created are being sent to Susan Flannery, Susan Wheltle and Arnold Berger. Everyone else should have copies.)