Present: Karen Buswell, Gerry Vangen, Bill Fuhrmann, Gina Hammes, Janet Kopp, and Todd Murray
We started the meeting by discussing T-shirts and colors. We decided on
a sort of reddish-orange color named "Texas Orange" for the color.
The T-shirt printer came up with a couple suggested ink color combinations
that would go well with the shirt color. After discussing the combinations,
we picked a dark green color for the lettering and outline and a lighter
yellow/orange color for the highlight and the "Skate The State"
wording. We would like to place the order and have shirts ready by the
time we do our table at the Rollerdome.
Gerry proposed ordering 120 shirts: 110 orange and 10 white. We discussed
quantities and decided to order 35 XL, 35 L, 30 M, 6 S, and 3 XXL. The
printer will charge us $4 each for the orange shirts (although XXL is slightly
more). The total cost should be $443 for the orange shirts and $31.25 for
the white shirts. There is a $10 charge to change from orange to white
shirts during the printing process. Printing is $1.38 per shirt per side,
for $331. The setup charge is $20 to change the artwork. In turn, our sponsors
who are putting their logos on the shirts will pay a $20 flat cost plus
50 cents per shirt for the sponsorship. Our sponsors for the shirts are
the Rollerdome, Adam's Inline, and the St. Paul Inline Marathon. The total
printing cost is projected to be $585.
If we have extra shirts to sell, we think we sold them at $10 for short
sleeves, or $20 for long sleeves. This applies to shirts in the current
year and the immediate past year. Gerry has two red and three yellow shirts
that she would like to get rid of, possibly selling for $5.
Our membership included 78 paid members at the end of 2004. 25 people are paid for 2005 (mostly those who signed up at the St. Paul Inline Marathon expo). 23 of those members are new. Gerry will print up the 2005 membership cards.
The newsletter discussion centered on what we wanted to include in the newsletter. Noelle is putting a flyer in the newsletter for $30. We also proposed selling 1/6 page ads for $30. At this price, three ads will pay for printing. The newsletter will have flyers for the St. Paul Inline Marathon, Noelle, and others. We can get a few of these into the newsletter and keep the weight under 2 ounces. The newsletter is being put together the week after this meeting, and has a spotlight on Chris.
We are considering helping Rollerbob rotate and change wheels in conjunction with his sales at the Rollerdome Inline Marathon, if he's going to be selling there. We helped out on an informal basis at the St. Paul Inline Marathon and are planning to do so again this year. We are planning to ask for a $5 donation for rotating wheels, although this will be waived for nonmembers who join at the table.
We will be having an expo table in the Rollerdome the week of March 13. This is during spring break, but the Dome is operating on the upper level only. I (Todd) will try to have a trail map ready for this table. Gerry is making a picture board, and I (Todd) offered to bring in my laptop with a picture display. The Northern Inline Skaters are coming down on March 20.
Janet talked to Jerry Zgoda from the Star Tribune about putting our events in the paper. They run an event calendar on Frindays and Sundays.
The member picnic is scheduled for Saturday, May 14 at 1 PM. Gina is going to update the description for the newsletter. The rental fee for Oak Grove Park is $50, and we will need to pick up the key for the bathroom. Noelle Robichon is interested in setting up free skating lessons at various places and sporting goods stores, and she thinks this would be a good event for this. Bill will talk to Brooklyn Park Parks about this.
Karl is still working on a skate tour, but it depends on his (and Gina's) schedule, which is becoming hectic.
Janet is planning to host an event on the Cannon Valley Trail. This would probably be a Saturday day trip and is scheduled for July 9.
Upcoming events: The Disney marathon is coming up, along with another event in Orlando. The Great River Roll may happen, but it will be organized by Minneapolis Parks instead of MRPA. Thunder Bay doesn't look like it will happen.
The web site needs directions for the Samuel Morgan, Snail Lake, Elm Greek, and Greenway skates.