Present: Karen Buswell, Gerry Vangen, Bill Fuhrmann, Gina Hammes, Janet Kopp, and Todd Murray
The main focus of this month's meeting was to decide what do we need to do soon to get ready for this year's scheduled events. The Monday Recreational Skates have been planned already, using a plan that Bill, Gerry, and Gina drew up. We plan to skate the Samuel Morgan Trail, Northern Corridor, and Snail Lake trails, as well as the Midtown Greenway starting from the Metrodome. We will be skating the Cedar Lake Trail fewer times, including a couple scheduled skate dates starting in Hopkins. The newsletter will include the schedule, and it should be sent out in late February or early March. The other scheduling note is that our Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day skates will start at 3 PM, not at 1 or the normal time of 6:30.
We discussed T-shirts. The major decision is to pick a color and when to order them. They don't take long to print, since the company has the artwork already. We discussed putting the Rollerdome logo on the shirts, and decided we would ask Mike if he could pay the charge to change the screens to include the Dome logo. (This is about a $50 charge.) Lighter colored shirts, such as gray, are cheaper. We liked last year's ink colors and felt that the T-shirt vendor may be able to suggest good colors that would work. Gerry will take the lead in calling the vendor about the shirts. Red and bright colors have been popular, although we aren't sure about yellow. Orange is also a possible T-shirt color. We plan to have the T-shirts ready by the spring picnic, which will be scheduled on May 14. Our budget is OK for more expensive shirts. We could also order some long sleeve shirts, like we did last year. We need more extra-large shirts, since they're a popular size.
We talked about upcoming articles for the newsletter following the February/March issue. We want an article about different clothing types, as well as fashions and the wicking properties of different fabrics. Janet will research this. Gina will write an article about energy bars and supplements. Todd is looking into writing an article about gadgets and accessories, such as GPS receivers, heart rate monitors, MP3 players, Camelbaks, and so on. We also want an article about large wheels (80, 90, or 100 millimeters), but we might need to tap into Rollerbob or Adam's knowledge for this. Another useful article would be about trail etiquette.
The trail descriptions on the Web site still need updating. Chris Poferl and Paul Vanderwaal were mentioned as possible people to help with this. Some of the lesser known trails don't receive a lot of coverage. For instance, Chris could review the trail that goes from Fish Lake to Elm Creek Park Reserve. (This would be a good trail for a Saturday skate sometime.) This trail will eventually connect to French Regional Park.
Can we talk people into doing day trips? Karl and Gina are looking into hosting a camping trip in conjunction with the Brainerd Dispatch Online Inline Half Marathon. Janet might organize a Cannon River day trip. We discussed the possibility of a progressive dinner (skating from restaurant to restaurant downtown), and also skating from Minnehaha Park to downtown and returning via the LRT.
We talked about marketing and sponsorship, as well as the need to get people to help out in general. Publicity needs someone who's a club member and is interested in doing it. Rollerbob knows about publicity, but we think he's busy. Mike Cofrin could help us teach someone how to do it.
We talked about having a club table at the Rollerdome some week in March if there's a week with skating on Monday, Wednesday, and Sunday. Gerry would put up a display of club T-shirts. Someone floated the idea of doing a club table during the Rollerdome inline marathon, but the bottom floor might not have space to do it. Also, Mike Cofrin might be giving us a check in exchange for Bill, Gina, and Gerry volunteering as dome cops. The next wheel rotation date at the dome is February 20.
As far as upcoming events go, we aren't sure if the Great River Roll is still on. It seems to have been losing skaters lately. We aren't sure if Thunder Bay is still on, either. The Saint Paul Inline Marathon is scheduled for a Sunday.
Todd needs to do some research to get the Adopt-A-Trail program set up for the Cedar Lake Trail (on Earth Day) and on the Midtown Greenway.