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Hello all, here is a lot of information from the AMS meeting on Nov 16. Please note the schedule for the "Gem of the Hills" Holiday celebration and tentative plans for Lion Days in March. There is a lot going on and a lot of opportunity to help--especially with the decoration of Alumni Park on Saturday, November 25! We have a lot to be thankful for in our small town! Happy Thanksgiving from Alderson Main Street President Don Sutherland and all the members! M

Gem of the Hills Schedule 25 November: Decorating Alumni Park – 10 am Inflatables Photo ready Santa Sled and reindeer Green Building wall Gazebo Candy cane garden Mini-park Depot wreaths/tree/lights 1 December: Parade and Grand Illumination – line up at 6 pm AMS Float 1 December: Lampposts completed – email sent, Girl Scouts have not committed. Town not decorating lampposts. 1-3 December: Methodist Church Bazaar and luncheon 2 December: Train Show 10-4 (Lee Scaggs confirmed, possibly others) Santa Photos – 2-4 6 December: Live Nativity at OGBC, 7 pm 10 December: Christmas Tea at the Old Victorian Inn – 1 and 3 pm Harpist Leah Trent - confirmed Tickets – on sale at Artisans Gallery with seat map Flyers - distributed 17 December: Christmas Cantata at Old Greenbrier Baptist Church – 3 pm 31 December: Fireworks – 7:30 pm, time confirmed with Charlie Lobhan Gem Flyer Sponsors Press Release – NLT mid-November (sent?)

Lion Days 2024 DRAFT Purpose: Engage residents and businesses to embrace the Lion theme. Dates: 18-23 March 2024 (in like a lion…….) Concept: Primarily indoor activities and displays that saturate the town with the Lion theme, with a culminating event on 23 March. Potential Activities: 1. Businesses have some kind of Lion theme (decorations, food, discounts) (Don) 2. Residents post Lion decorations. (Facebook) 3. Lion pet parade? Or other culminating activity. (Brian) (Facebook and flyer) 4. Re-creation of the Lion/salesman story, with narration after parade? 5. Scavenger hunt. (Sheena/Doris) 6. Youth art projects. (Cheryl) 7. Old elementary school flags posted. (Don and Travis) 8. Lamppost decorations in Lion theme. (Don) 9. News release (Margaret) Advertising: 1. Newspaper/TV coverage of Lion Days overall, specific emphasis on re-creation event. 2. Flyer with activities listed, posted in town and nearby communities, plus Facebook.

AMS Meeting Sheena Pendley 16 Nov 2023 Location: Alderson Big Wheel Pledge of Allegiance Don brought a flag!! Previous Minutes: Don read - One change - 2nd page Lamp post - Girl scouts are willing to adopt lamppost. We will need to fill any vacancies. Accept - Mary 2nd - Sophie Treasurer’s Report: Margaret is out of town. She emailed out budget. Don - went over income versus outflow. Depot donations went above expenses. Fall festival budget/income will change a little, since there were a few more expenses. Accept - Sophie 2nd - Cheryl Depot Visitor Numbers: 21 October, 5 28 October, 5 total 563. Old Business: • Bricktop concert 2024 . Mary - Cheryl and Brian, etc. discussed a Bricktop/Jazz event, looking at a venue. Plan to talk with Julie Morgan about using some of her space. Cheryl - did research on some local Jazz artists, start with locals then expand Mary - there are 2 jazz festivals in the northern part of the state Don - Fawn was to have discussed with Susanna, she isn’t present so we’ll circle back. Fawn showed up later - she spoke with Susanna and discussed. Started Bricktop in 2014 as a Sunday afternoon on the bridge. Would like to add more history, especially black history. Bricktop was probably the most famous person born in Alderson. Maybe we could get some help from the Historical Society as well. We need a significant increase in advertising. Would like to add food to the event as well. How can we make $$ on the event? Christmas Tea recipe book Doris - There are still plans, but it is on the backburner for now. Maybe next year! Annual planning calendar (cy 24 draft) Don - no update as of yet • Final sponsorship plan/logo Don - Annual Sponsorship options. consulted websites on names/gems. Sheena will send out to previous sponsors and contacts • Draft Logo Most like colorful, some think it would be nice to have all colors. Brian mentioned that the he saw tombstones, maybe a line up top to separate or pillars could be shorter. Maybe we add blue to bottom for “water” to differentiate each part. Sheena - we’ll try different options and go from there. • Gem of the Hills – add live nativity 6 December, 7pm Don - He presented a list of Gem of the Hills Schedule, changes will need to be made. Some things are not set in stone. We hope to have Lampposts decorated by Dec 1st. Town is not decorating lamp posts, so it’ll be up to our lamp post adopters! Doris K - Lamps needed new wreaths but they were extremely expensive. Maybe we can do that again in the future, but as of this year we will not have those. Tickets are almost sold out for Christmas Tea, flyers have been distributed Sheena brought draft of flyer for Gem events. Sophie - working on parade float, painting trees and scene on cardboard, with a star. Doris has a joy to the world sign. Reminder. Community Decorating Day 10am Nov 25th We need a Santa for Parade!!!!!! Gazebo renovation/refresh. Don - no news. Waiting for a sample of the shingles. Doris K - in the condition it’s in, is anything that could be a safety hazard before we start decorating. Don - the railing on the wheelchair ramp is gone, it is likely under the gazebo. We can re-attach. Decking is fine. Fundraiser for new Christmas tree lights in the median strip. Don - no news New Business: Special Board Meeting – VP, nominating committee, annual election in Jan. Don - Mary asked if AMS has a vision or mission statement. There are purposes listed in the bylaws, a few things needed tweaked to follow the letter. The board met and made an interim appointment to Doris K to be vice president until January for new election. Last time we took nominations from the floor. We are supposed to have a nominating committee to provide a list of officers that goes out with the announcement of the January meeting. Members can vote at the January meeting. The board appointed Fawn to lead the nominating committee, and to ask 2 more people to help come up with a list of nominees, so Margaret can send out with an announcement for the Jan. meeting. Mission/Vision Statements Mission Statement: “The mission of Alderson Main Street is to further the economic development of the Town of Alderson by improving the appearance of the town; fostering tourism; and marketing the town and its businesses.” Mary: Presented another mission statement for AMS. Don and members agreed, that it sounded great. Maybe we could blend the two. Doris K - when we were working on the overall plan, the Comprehensive Plan in 2016 for Alderson, we came up with lots of ideas. There are lots of plans out there that could be picked back up that may have gotten left behind with people who have left. Add Arts and Culture to our mission statement, it’s important to the growth of our town and the tourism. Comprehensive Plan https://aldersonwv.org/index.php/town-government/comprehensive-plan/ Strategic Plan Don - there will be plans for a Strategic planning meeting in 2024. Ideas for 2024 Fall Festival Don - Mary and Cheryl talked with Don - Mary suggested we have separate committees for each festival. Another suggestion: move vendors off the bridge and have activities on bridge instead, like chalk art/street art, giant checkers, etc. Mary - maybe we use middle of bridge for kids activities and move vendors to edges of the bridge. Doris K - maybe we disperse activities between vendors Crosswalk at the clock? It’s state property so we can’t make that determination Don - moving vendors into Alumni park, there are benches, etc. Not a lot of electric hookups. Would really have to be planned out to be sure there is room for pedestrian walking room. There are 34 vendor spaces on the bridge, we would need to keep that amount at a minimum. Move music? Mary - to Depot instead of Gazebo. For inclement weather, under cover, eliminating sound system, etc. Stored stuff in the depot, there is nowhere else to put it. Brian - what about purchasing a multi-speaker sound system Maybe when Memorabilia room is ready at the Alderson Opportunity Center, some things could move over there. Lion Days Brian - thinking maybe Fire dept has lion mane contest, (hat or headdress) that’s lion themed, and pet lion parade, lion roar contest, etc. Cheryl - maybe find a church in town with a fellowship hall that might allow setup for a Kids Lion Painting day, early in the week so that they can display the paintings at the “Mane Event” Consider specific events and ideas for Lion Days that don’t need an outdoor event, given that weather might not be ideal. What could we do at local businesses, the fire station, etc? Next meeting: 18 Jan 24, Fruits of Labor, 10 am