2011 PLANNING
SESSION
We
agreed to continue our regular annual events: the picnic in
August, Canonsburg’s Oktoberfest in September, Greenberg Train
Show in November at Monroeville and the anniversary dinner in
December. (Note: we usually also did the Greenberg Train Show in
February but it had been moved to January for 2011.)
There
was a lot of lively discussion and brainstorming suggested for
the year’s activities. Below is a summary of the tentative
consensus of ideas, details, locations, contact people,
etc. We hope to meet at different geographical areas as much as
possible. Finalized details will be posted on the website
calendar and via e-mail. If you have any suggestions, please
contact any officer. This is your club and we welcome lots of
input and assistance now and throughout the year.
FEBRUARY:
It was
decided we would try to schedule this meeting as late in the
month as possible to allow time to schedule the details and
avoid severe weather? Everyone really enjoyed visiting and
getting acquainted at this meeting, it was suggested we use
February to continue socializing and hearing about other
members’ individual layouts, along with sharing a meal.
Ann Celento volunteered checking with Paneras
Restaurant beside Sam’s Club / Wal-Mart near Mt Lebanon. We also
thought we could discuss possible layout themes for Oktoberfest
and Greenberg club set-ups.
MARCH:
Gene & Caryll
Linck
offered to check on a location in the Mc Donald area for craft /
learn sessions. We still need to come up with specific
activities so share your interest and talent ideas with any
officer. We will limit it to 2 activities so each can be better
accessed.
APRIL:
It was
suggested we have a speaker on horticulture to assist us in our
tree, plant, and flower layouts for our trains. Jan &
John Vogt will check with a person they know for one
half of the meeting. Our past Plant Swaps have been enjoyed so
much it was thought we could maybe try that this month even
though it’s the beginning of the spring season.
MAY:
One of
PGRS’s functions is to help members develop their own garden
train layouts. Al Hartman has asked for
assistance in re-doing his; he lives in the Baden area.
JUNE:
We
would like to visit member home train layouts again. Due to the
vast area covered by our club members live, we were unable last
year to schedule several visits in one day as in the past. It
was decided to just visit one home layout at a time.
Bert Mangold from Venetia, PA offered to host his
layout this year.
JULY:
Many
were interested in taking a train trip somewhere again this
year. Keith Baggus volunteered to check into
pulling a package together; he has done a great job organizing
past trips. Several ideas were thrown out – Sugar Creek, OH,
Lancaster, PA area, Steam Town in Scranton, Akron, OH area,
Baltimore, MD. Most liked 1-2 day trip. Some mentioned about
trying to keep costs reasonable. But we were reminded that
prices everywhere are rising; it won’t be cheap to take a trip.
But if we can get enough people interested, Keith will be able
to get us a better price than anything we could do by ourselves.
AUGUST:
It was
suggested that we try to make this year’s picnic a family
(adults & kids) oriented activity holding it at a park where we
can also set up our trains along with our great food. (Our
Chili Cook-Off went over so well tonight that we may consider
having a Rib Grill-Off at the picnic; watch for more details).
Ann Celento and Jim Schwarz
are checking for dates and locations. The club officers
will coordinate this event; contact any of them with any ideas
you may have.
SEPTEMBER:
Canonsburg Oktoberfest will be held September 14, 15, 16 this
year on the usual 3rd weekend of the month. We need
a better turn out this time on setup, manning and take down of
the layout. Plan ahead to be able to participate and join in
the fun. What theme should we have? Ann Celento
will be the contact.
OCTOBER:
We
discussed trying to take a train ride or tour while nature
begins its color transformation. We realized that is the prime
time for those kinds of activities. Altoona and Titusville areas
were mentioned. Sondra Wiggins offered to try
and find an interesting activity.
NOVEMBER:
We want
to do the Greenberg Train Show again with our club layout. We
will check with Jackie Magri to file the paperwork for us to
finalize. Dave Bodnar informed us that the show is not using
the back room of the Monroeville Conference Center this year so
our space would be much smaller. He had a diagram showing a 20’
x 40’ space that we would probably be able to use. We also
discussed the low participation of club members at the 2010
show; if we are to continue these types of activities to promote
the club, we need have a better turn out. Again, we need a new
theme for this year.
DECEMBER:
Our
annual Christmas / anniversary dinner, where we hand out member
5-year recognition pins, elect new officers, have member door
prizes, is usually held on the first Saturday of the month. The
officers will work out the details. This year we will draw the
winners of our new Attendance and Participation Awards.
(2012
IDEAS - JANUARY: Consider having another Chili Cook-Off where we
are able to lay out track and run trains as well as planning the
upcoming year’s events; and / or consider setting up our display
at the Greenberg Train Show if they go back to January.)
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