Winterfest ’00 is upon us. Hopefully this newsletter gets out early enough to remind those who signed up to work, to remember to come on out. Check in underneath the Grand Stand with Bob Murphy for your instructions. If you haven’t volunteered yet, we need tons of live bodies to accomplish what we plan. Don’t forget, this is where our club treasury is replenished each year. Besides, I look forward to seeing some of you again. Well maybe not Teeter. Alright, I’m kidding. Really I am. Even if you have not signed up to work, come on out and enjoy the show. One note to all who are coming, whether you have signed up to work or not, everyone has to pay the $2 to get in the gate. Looks like we might finally have our first Winterfest with snow. WOWEEEEE!!!!!!!

Before we leave the Winterfest, we need to talk about the Arctic Cat Raffle tickets. Being as the sled is drawn at the Winterfest (2:30 pm Sunday afternoon), we can turn our tickets in at the Winterfest. Turn them in at our club booth underneath the Grand Stand and we will handle them from there. I am talking about sold and unsold tickets. We need the unsold tickets for the week end sales we expect to take place at the Winterfest. We need more tickets as we sell upwards of 2,000 of them during the weekend. Please turn them in on Saturday. DO NOT wait till 2:00 pm Sunday to do this. Patty will ring your neck. Want to see the sled? Stop over at Rolling Acres as it sets on the show room floor.

A couple of other events that will take place during the Winterfest that you should know about are the Safety Course and the Miss Avalanche Contest. The Safety Course is required for youngsters between the ages of 10 and 16 to be able to drive a snowmobile on land other than owned or leased by their parents. The Safety Course is administered by the DCNR, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, through trained Pennsylvania Snowmobile Safety Instructors, in our case Harrison Langely. Contact Dennis Smouse at (570) 265-8073 to sign up. The course starts promptly at 8:00 am with lunch being provided. The other event, the Miss Avalanche Contest is open to all women, married or single, over the age of 18 by next year’s Winterfest. To enter, grab a pencil and write an essay, approximately 150 words is a guideline, entitled My Favorite Winter Pastimes. One entry per person please. The only other rule is you have to attend the dinner/dance at the Troy Fire Hall on Saturday night Feb 5^th, for which we will give you some tickets. The winner receives two nights lodging at the Holcombe House Bed and Breakfast at next year’s Winterfest. What are you waiting for? Send the completed essay to Dennis Smouse. Decision of the judges is final.

For those of you who have been following the saga of the vandalism of my truck (turning my license plate over) I really thought the saga had ended after warning everyone about the ‘Anti-Theft License Plate Fasteners’ I had been told about. Even though I did not install any on my truck, I was kinda hoping everyone thought I did there by ending the subject. Well, one person must know how cheap I am for there was another case of vandalism. Found the license plate turned up side down this time. Doing some quick detecting work (and the fellow confessing), the license plate is back to normal again. It will probably fall off as the threads have to be near wore out. For this miscreant (look it up in the dictionary; I had to), I am pushing the DA for a trillion hours of community service. For those who sent cards and letters, your heart felt sympathy was very reassuring. Not too sure about the one fellow who sent flowers though.

A lot of members made it north for the Millenium Ride this year. Roger did not double dare it to snow this year so there was not as much of the white stuff on the ground as last year. Your reporter was not able to attend as he was under the weather with the flu, so my details are sketchy. Did hear that there was a couple hundred miles of riding put on most sleds that went up. Riding was marginal most of the week end. Some minor mishaps that will cost some fellows money and bruised egos, but nothing serious. Everyone walked away and made it home. We’ll let one guy remain nameless that asked where everybody was that weekend. Seems he went to and stayed at the wrong motel, even though he made reservations at Steelhead Lodge. I’ll make sure we baby set him closer next year.

No other club events to report on. The Go West Trip never materialized. Writing this newsletter before the Fun Run on Jan 30^th so not sure if it will take place or not. Have a chair person but need more snow to be able to make it happen. If you need information on what is happening, check in with the Club Voicemail Box. That is why we pay money for the thing, to try and have better communication with all club members as quickly as possible. Now that there is snow on the ground, I will try and keep it updated at least once a week.

Check out the balance of the scheduled club events:

Jan 30^th Fun Run. Bob Murphy to chair. See above for more details.