North Country ATV Association Inc.

Welcome!
Welcome to our newest landowner in the Swanton area, Mr. James (Pete) Paquette. He has recently purchased the Carroll Concrete sand pit and will continue to allow us to ride the trails in that area. On behalf of our members, thank you!

No December Monthly Meeting
The NCAA December monthly meeting is cancelled due to the busy holiday season.
We will hold the next meeting on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at the American Legion Hall in St. Albans.

Until then, everyone have a fun, safe holiday season!!

NCAA Trails Re-Open in December
Starting December 15th select NCAA trails will once again open for winter riding. Please stay tuned to the NCAA website for updates on trail status. Thank you.

2009 Memberships Available by January
Hopefully by the first of January (if not before) we will have new memberships out to our points of sale for those who want to get their membership early. We will have memberships available at the January monthly meeting as well.

VASA Annual Meeting
The VASA Annual Meeting is scheduled for Saturday, January 10, 2009 from 12-3pm at the Barre Elks Club.

All members are encouraged to attend and join in the decision making. There will be munchies, speakers, a picture presentation and more.

We encourage carpooling to the annual meeting as the parking is limited. Keep an eye on the NCAA website for more information or feel free to contact one of the Board members for updates.

NCAA Appreciation Dinner Scheduled
On Saturday, February 21, 2009 we will be holding our annual Appreciation Dinner at the American Legion Hall on Parah Drive in St. Albans (same place as last time).

Theresa Getty our Event Coordinator will be setting up donations from local businesses, etc. to have as our raffle items, silent auction items and the other great stuff she pulls together shortly.

The cost of the dinner is going to be $10/person with children under 16 free.

We will have more information in our January newsletter so please mark your calendars now and join us for a fun filled evening.

Rotary Home and Recreation Show
March 13-15, 2009 at the Collins Perley Sports Complex the Rotary Home Show will take place. They are still in planning stages right now but I wanted to pass along the date as we will have a booth at this event.

A Great Big THANK YOU!
I would like to thank a few people that have done so much for the club over the past year.

First of all, thank you to Joe Larose, Adam and Hildy Jamka, Steve and Marika Ballard for setting up and leading some awesome rides in 2008.

Second, thank you to Dan Boulet and ALL of our volunteer Trail Patrollers for putting in the time to keep our trails safe this riding season.

Third, thank you to Theresa Getty for putting together some great events and ride activities this year.

Fourth, thank you to Brian Willette and all of our great trail work volunteers who step up each time there is a trail work date to clean/clear trails.

Last but not least, thank you to each of our members who helped out with anything to do with the club be it trail work, working with the coordinators on an event or ride, getting landowner permission, etc. Also, thank you to our ATV Dealers who so graciously help us with obtaining memberships locally. Without you all we could not have had such a wonderful riding season. So again a great big THANK YOU!!
-Claire Willette

Thank You Landowners for the generous use of your land to offer a fun, family sport!!

From The Events Coordinator
As 2008 comes to a close, I want to thank all of you who helped with the two main events this year. First, Family Day was a great time! I need to thank Hildy & Adam Jamka for the wonderful help and input. The next one was a suggestion from John Shover, so thanks John for the idea of a Halloween ride. We had over 20 machines for this ride and the little ghost and goblins received some treats along the route.

With a new year in the plans, it is ideas like these that we need. So as always give your input.

We will have the Appreciation Dinner on Feb 21, 2009, several parades that I will be working on this year and a few rides with cookouts.

This club is about you, so please feel free to send ideas my way.
-Theresa Getty

Weekend Warrior Fundraiser
We have found a company in the central part of the states who is willing to give the club a 5% kick back of orders from NCAA members. For example: If you purchase a $400 plow and you order via the link provided below or over the phone letting them know you are with the North Country ATV Association, the club will receive $20 back from Weekend Warrior.

This company carries ATV 3-point implements, tow behind implements, ATV/UTV accessories like snow plows, sprayers, spreaders, racks, pull behind mowers, hunting gear and more.

The link that directly connects you to our account is: http://weekend-warrior.com/?TabId=36&affiliateid=10054 or you can call them directly at 1-866-539-8944.

Aluminum Can Tabs
NCAA has been collecting aluminum can tabs for the Ronald McDonald House for sometime now. We will be turning in what we have collected to the Ronald McDonald House at the end of the year.

For those of you who are new to our “family” or just as a reminder please continue to save your can tabs and turn them in to us at a club meeting or event. We will continue to collect the tabs for 2009. Thanks!

From the President
Seems just yesterday I was writing how the VASA annual meeting and the Yankee Sportsman’s Classic were both behind us and now here we are with them just ahead of us. Where did 2008 go? VASA’s annual meeting will begin at 12:00 noon on January 10, 2009 at the Barre Elk’s Club with registration starting a 11:00. Same place as last year and if you need directions, contact one of us.

Once again the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Jct., VT will host the 2009 Yankee Sportsman’s Classic January 16-18. Check out their website for more details. VASA will be partnering with Can Am for the demo rides, so stop by and try them out.

Don’t forget the NCAA’s Appreciation Dinner coming up on February 21, 2009 at the American Legion on Parah Drive in St. Albans. Same place we hold the monthly meetings and have had the past dinners. This is always a great time with tons of things to win. Mark your calendars for these upcoming events.

We have been working with the Green Mountain ATV Club in Lamoille County on linking trails together. We are looking for a safe place to cross Rt. 109 in the Belvidere area between the Waterville border and Belvidere Center. If anyone knows of an area, please let us know. This is one of the only hang-ups we have left. Ideally if we could cross close to Laraway Mountain Road, that would save a lot of headaches. Once we get that crossing, we will be good through to Lowell where the next challenge will be crossing Rt. 58 east of Hazen’s Notch. This project has been going on behind the scenes for most of this season. Several of us went and rode the proposed route earlier this fall and had an easy time getting from Bakersfield to Johnson.

There are many people inside VASA that have been working towards linking club’s trails in the northern part of the state. The feeling is that within the next couple years, we may be able to leave our trailhead in Montgomery and ride to the trails at Top of the World in Concord. The Tri County Club and the Borderline Ridge Riders are close to linking up. Green Mountain ATV has shown me that they can get very close to Borderline’s trails and with the new Radar Ridge Runner’s club there is the hope that Tri County will be linking with them to get to Top of the World.

In our own backyard, we have recently surveyed over twenty miles of the LVRT heading east from Swanton. Hopes were that there would be many miles of right of way next to the trail that might be usable. This was not the case. Many areas of right of way next to the LVRT are designated as wetlands. We have made some headway in our venture east from Swanton by gaining at least one more piece of property that we will hopefully be using in 2009. The goal up there is to get from the pit riding area to our Montgomery trails. This is not impossible, but it will be a lot of work.

We will be working on expansion for 2009 throughout the winter and into next riding season. If you’re interested in helping, please let us know and attend the monthly meetings beginning again in January.

I wish all of you the best for the upcoming holiday season and New Year. As always, we welcome your input so contact us anytime.
-See ya in ’09,
Steve

Lamoille Valley Rail Trail
Please be aware that we as ATV riders are not allowed to ride on the LVRT. There is law enforcement on this trail looking for illegal trespass via ATV. We are in hopes that in the future we will be able to use portions/sections of the rail trail but right now we need to stay off.

NCAA Merchandise
For those of you who may not know, we have NCAA hats, t-shirts, sweatshirts and fleece pullovers available in different styles. If you would like an item you can go through Pay Pal on the NCAA website to order and pay or you can contact Claire and she can give you prices and availability. These items make nice holiday gifts.

2009 ATV Challenge?
We are in the beginning stages of deciding if we are to hold this event in 2009. We will need a lot of volunteers to help out and this is our biggest hurdle.

We would like you to decide if you think we should hold this event. If you would like to see this event run, please send an email to Claire letting us know of your interest.

We will be holding a special planning meeting sometime early in 2009 so we would like to compile a list of potential volunteers. So again if you are interested in helping with this possible event, let us know. Thanks!

Bylaw Change
At our January 2009 meeting we will decide whether or not to adopt a bylaw change. We are proposing a membership discount on the club level as well as a couple of minor wording changes.

Attached to the newsletter is a draft copy of our bylaws with the changes. See Article IV-VI, the changes are noted in italic.

If you have comments regarding these changes please plan on attending our meeting on January 6th, 7:00pm at the American Legion Hall in St. Albans for discussion.

Calendar of Events
December 2, 2008-NO NCAA monthly meeting due to the holidays.

December 15, 2008-Select NCAA trails reopen for winter riding.

January 6, 2009-NCAA monthly meeting, 7:00pm at the American Legion Hall in St. Albans.

January 10, 2009-VASA Annual Meeting at the Barre Elks Club, 12:00 noon.

February 21, 2008-NCAA Appreciation Dinner at the American Legion Hall in St. Albans.

We Hope Everyone Has A Wonderful Holiday Season!!
Thank you for a great year!