Hopkinton Recreation Committee
July 25, 2006
(These minutes are not official until approved at next month’s meeting)
Meeting called to order at 6:33 PM
Members in attending: Sharon Nall, Vernon Miller, Dan Rinden Selectmen Representative Louise Carr, and Recreation Director Robert Mattes. Also in attendance Carla Carlson and Kim Hoitt representing McLane Company Inc., Tony Y, Imagination Village of Concord (represented by Vernon Miller), Christine Head representing the Interact Club of Hopkinton High School, Jen Samela, Karen Tryon, and Jen Rocket representing Army Corps of Engineers.
June minutes approved
Business:
There is a position open on the Recreation Committee. It has been discussed that the position be filled by a senior in the community that would be able to contribute to active senior programming and needs. The committee had a potential candidate in Susan Feltus; however, due to scheduling conflicts Susan will not be able to attend the meetings regularly and therefore does not think that she should continue to pursue the position on the committee. The committee will continue to search for a senior who will be able to fill this position and contribute to the group in a productive manner.
The rest of the meeting focused on the Haunted House program that the Recreation Department will be putting on in October.
Rob started the meeting by giving a map tour of the Kimball Cabin facilities explaining what activities took place in the different areas at last year’s event.
Some questions were asked about the ability to use fire in some of the areas. The approved areas for fire use are the fire places in the Main cabin, the fire pit in the field, and in jack-o-lanterns along the pathway leading to the cabins (as long as there are no spooks along the way that may scare people and knock over the jack-o-lanterns). Rob noted that the fire department will have to inspect the facility before the event takes place and that the areas should be completed by Thursday October 26th (if possible) in order to give us enough time to make changes if they are necessary.
Karla asked about the availability of groups to have access to the cabins in order to drop off supplies and ready the area that they are sponsoring. Rob will give out keys to any group that has an area to take care of so that they can come and go as they need to. Cabins will be available for decorating and organizing after October 1st. It will be expected that groups will have all of their area cleaned, material cleared out of the cabin, and keys returned by November 6th.
The group toured the cabins and other areas to haunt in order to get a better idea of what size and features the facilities have.
Conversation ensued at the main cabin about what the theme should be and it was a consensus that the theme for this year should be “Horror Movies”. Groups will be responsible for decorating their area in a Horror Movie theme which they will pick.
Next topic was to determine exact times for the event. The date of the Haunted Village will be Saturday, October 28th. There will be two sessions. The first session will be a “non-scary” version for little children and it will be held from 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM. The second session will be held from 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM and it will be the “full scary” version. It was suggested to leave 2 hours in between the sessions this year so that everyone would have an opportunity to eat a little dinner (the Recreation Department will provide pizza and soda for all volunteers) and prepare for the second session. The second session was also extended to 3 hours due to last year’s response and the reality that the event had to stay open an extra 45 minutes last year to
accommodate all of the participants that were interested in attending the event.
Sharon mentioned that the front gate area would be a great spot for the Woman’s Club to put together. Sharon will be presenting a proposal to the Woman’s Club in August to solicit their involvement with the Haunted Village.
Jen suggested that there be a story teller in the front area while people are waiting in line. Last year there was a fortune teller in the front area and that worked very well, we would like to see one there this year as well. Dan mentioned that it would be a good idea to have something like donuts and hot cider in the front because of the temperature and the length of time that people may have to wait to get into the event.
Louise and Sharon mentioned that we should have someone designated to take pictures of the event both before the event starts and while people are going through the different areas. It was noted that we have no pictures from last year’s event and we would like to start accumulating things like this for promotional purposes and to post some of the recreation department events online.
Jen made note that the Army Corps of Engineers will be happy to sponsor the pond area of the Haunted Village (thanks guys, I think you will have a lot of fun with this)
Sharon asked what area the Interact Club was going to be involved with. Rob mentioned that they are definitely interested in being involved with this event again this year they are just not sure what they will be able to do yet. It would be great if they could sponsor a cabin or area, but Patty and Christine will have to present the options to the group when they reconvene in September before any final decisions are made.
Rob will contact the Drama Club to see if they are interested in leading the tours again this year. It was mentioned that any group who is interested in sponsoring an area have a script established well in advance so that the Drama Club can work on making it flow and becoming familiar with it. Though last year’s event went well, it would be better to give the tour guides more time to practice the scripts that they are going to be working with.
Sharon asked about having short movie clips displayed in the entrance to prepare people for the Haunted Village and for entertainment purposes while in line. Rob is cautious about this because of copy write laws. Louise mentioned that we may be able to find movies on the internet that are royalty free which can be used. Another suggestion was to get one of the local movie rental stores or cinemas to sponsor that part of the event. Rob will contact Chris Hamm to ask for some help in finding the right person to contact. Chris is involved with the Red River Theatre group in Concord and the group may be looking for some good places to publicize their presence and when they are going to be opening their theatre.
Jen mentioned that she may know someone who would be willing to be a headless horseman riding around the camp. She will check with her contact and get back to the group.
Rob will ask the Boys and Girls Club of Hopkinton about sponsoring the walkway to the cabins by carving pumpkins (about 14 pumpkins total).
Carla and Kim will get back to the group about McLane’s involvement after they present the material they have gathered from tonight’s meeting to their group.
The Recreation Committee will take up any area that other groups are not able to sponsor.
Our next meeting for the Haunted House event will be Tuesday August 15th at 6:30 PM in the Kimball Cabins.
Thank you all for attending this meeting and expressing interest in sponsoring this community event.
Our next Recreation Committee meeting will be Tuesday August 29th @ 6:30 PM in the Community Room (not the History Room where we have been meeting) at the Hopkinton Library.
We are adjourned at 8:00 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
Rob Mattes
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