Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 6848 | Snowmobile VERMONT Club News When he started this, we had great snow so he set a date. Then the warm temperatures and rain took the snow away. So we moved the location from the Stone House to the groomer shed parking lot so people could drive their vehicles to it. Then the temperatures dropped like a rock, but we had it anyway. It was 7 degrees with a stiff wind, making it feel like 15 to 20 below zero. If you were dressed for it, it was not bad. We had a fire and good food and we fed eight people. Not many, but the ones that were there said they had a good time and wanted to support Scott’s efforts. Back when I was a Scout Master, we always told the Scouts that you do your events despite the weather, not because of the weather. Scott is going to plan a summer cookout for this year as well. I hope that things come together and we replace the Gagnon Bridge this summer. This has been in the works for a couple of years. We may also have to redeck the bridge on the Jeffords State Forest. We also hope to reroute the trail out of the Notch Road parking lot to make it so we can climb the hill. We cannot climb it now and there are no good trees to winch, so we have to go around and down it. With our normal summer trail debrushing and trail work, I think we will be busy this summer. Let’s hope there is going to be some riding left this year. I have seen a lot of snow in March and the first part of April in years past. Ride Safely and Ride Right! Roy Arthur, Vice President/Trailmaster shrewsburysnobirds.org Like us on Facebook WASHINGTON COUNTY Barre Town Thunder Chickens On Feb. 4, we hosted the 17th Annual Travis Mercy Skate Park fundraiser. At that point, Mother Nature was just starting to cooperate with us again, and did allow us to groom the trails and facilitate the snowmobile poker run part of the event. With thin conditions around the region, we had a smaller pack of sleds, but still found some good riding conditions, especially when we opted away from our poker route to make a quick jaunt into Washington Snow Flyer Territory to explore the Notch Trail. We found a whole different winter out there and returned to the poker run with a smile on our faces to arrive at Barre Town School for the silent auction and meal provided by Randy Henry and the Racing Chefs. In addition to the pack of sleds, we were joined by members of the Mercy Family and folks that rode or drove directly to the event. We served just under 100 meals and were able to raise another $4,200 toward the park. We are currently working with Talent Skate Shop and Parker Construction to build a new concrete feature within the park. This will be the first new addition in quite a few years and will fill an open area to complement the existing structures. In the week following the event, the snow started coming little by little, then we finally got some accumulation that required the shovels and snow plows to come out. It was good to be able to ride from the house again and see all the sleds out there enjoying our efforts to provide our portion of the VAST Trail network. As I visited the local businesses that we provide trails to, you could see the excitement in their smiles as the snowmobile traffic returned. As we tour around the trails, I’ve had plenty of opportunity to visit with law enforcement out on their sleds. It’s good to see them out there, helping to keep our activity safe and hear their reports that they haven’t had too many violations this year. It’s good to see folks having the proper registration, insurance and TMAs on the sleds. Income from these is what allows us to provide the infrastructure to ride on and pay for grooming. This past season, we obtained a few new landowners, as we had to reroute our trails around development. One of them decided to capitalize on this by having his Orange County Crush Boys AAU basketball team provide a trailside barbecue fundraiser. Although this was a planned one-day event, they had so much fun and nice weather, that it turned into a Saturday and Sunday offering. I’m not sure how much they were able to raise, but I believe they had around 60 sleds stop on the first day alone. It’s great to see some creativity out there and the snowmobile community taking the time to support their efforts. The way I see it, that was at least 60 “Thank Yous” made directly to our landowner, not to mention the many whom passed by riding considerately, showing them how we respect and appreciate the use of their land. This bodes very well for us and the longevity of our trail system.  We’ll see you out there on the trails in the second half of our season! Dave Rouleau, President barretownthunderchickens.com Like us on Facebook Green Mountain Roamers A fun night of festivities was had by all who attended the Green Mountain Roamers’ Annual Raffle. It was held Saturday evening on Jan. 21 at the American Legion Post 59 in Waterbury. Prior to the event and up to moments before the first ball was drawn, club members worked towards selling every ticket for the chance to win the grand prize. Only 100 tickets are sold each year, and this year they went for $100 each. Last season was tough on all of us due to the lack of snow, and to say thank you for our club member’s continued support, we reduced the cost per ticket by $25. The grand prize of the evening was $3,000 cash, with a second prize of $500 cash and a third prize of $250 cash. Newly appointed Roamers Vice President Patrick “Flea” Nelson was the MC for the evening and kept things moving along nicely until the final ball was drawn and Jay Ribera of Waterbury was crowned the grand prize winner.