Larry called the meeting to order at 6:00. Those attending were Skip, Tina, Dawn, John, Don, Mike, Larry, Ann, Paula, Linda W., Jackie & Joni.
Joni made a motion, seconded by Mike, to accept the minutes and treasurer’s report, seconded by Mike. Motion carried.
PIONEER FEST –
Joni passed out schedules for the daily events at the festival. A souvenir was passed around from Biltmore. We could create something similar for us in the future.
A discussion was held about animals – Joni will call Holly to come with her animals. Each building was discussed as it relates to the festival. Another planning meeting will be held on May 20. Joni will let us know where and when this will be.
Mike asked Joni to ask Karen Alexander from the Timekeepers or Joe to MC the Fashion Show. The people involved will fill out a 3 x 5 card with details to be read.
Ann is working on making jellies and jams to sell. We could see some extra income from this endeavor. Tina will be sending out an email to remind people that we need them to make desserts. Jackie said to please label the desserts and price them at 50 cents.
CLASSES –
Cooking Class – turned out great. Great weather but windy. The lady from the class that was cancelled came and brough others with her. There were 20 in attendance. The event was profitable for us. There was a discussion.
Wool Felting Class – to be held this Saturday.
Blacksmithing – Friday, June 7. John Berg will be hosting a morning class and if there is enough interest, also an afternoon class. There is an admission fee. 16 years old and older. The $25 fee pays for the iron and coal. Group size is 3 at a time – mex 4. There was some discussion. Don asked Dawn to find a list of people who wanted to learn about blacksmithing from the membership questions.
Sheep to Shawl – to be held on Monday, June 17.
SCHOOL GROUPS –
We have one scheduled in April and other groups in May. We are doing good with scheduling. Linda told us about playing old time games with the kids.
Dawn suggested maybe including kids’ games at the Pioneer Fest next year.
TOWN HALL –
Chris Nepper will take over spearheading this project. He has helped with other projects and buildings like this in the past. Chris, Roger, Don, Mike, and Steve Parker met today. Masons are coming from Madison through Steve Parker next week to block out what’s going to happen. Windows will be worked on over the winter by Chris Nepper. Buchman Masonry gave us a bid of $28,000 for the foundation per Don. The foundation will be staked out next week and Peterson Movers will dig the hole. First Phase – move the building onto the foundation and put the roof back on. May take a couple of years to get it in shape to open after that.
Skip mentioned that he spoke with one of the school principals and was told that it would be better to contact us as a school versus a scout group.
Tina stated that the AED is on backorder. Training could be held in groups of 10 comfortably. There was some discussion. Nekoosa Fire Department will be doing the training along with CPR training.
The new insurance policy is all set to go and is being issued. The old policy will not be cancelled until the new one is issued.
Paula had the name of someone who contacted us regarding volunteering – Candace Richards. Joni will call her. St. Vincents’ suggested contacting Assumption High School for volunteers.
Tina reminded us to always take 2 adults if we are alone with a student. Cover your butt.
We discussed having Huber volunteers helping Don with projects.
Tina is going to pick up a walking spinning wheel – like what we have, only functional. The one we have doesn’t work. Don will be moving this to the upstairs room and will swap out with the one that is there.
Linda has been working with the website. Videos that are on YouTube have links on the website. She would like a little short story on the first page about each video. She would like to separate the videos into shorter segments and titled, but not dated. Don has copies of all the videos at home.
Larry suggested that we have a 10-minute video in the future visitor center that could be played before entering the site as an introduction. Tina said the videos can also be found on the Public Access videos.
T-Shirts will be available to order at the Pioneer Festival. Our cost $18 plus tax for Small – XL, + $2 for each X. Order forms can be made up. We need to get prices for mailing. Mike suggested we have a upcharge to make a small profit. Or people could to and pick up the t-shirts they ordered. The price will be $25 for a t-shirt. There was a discussion. Creative Design is where the shirts can be ordered from.
Mike made a motion to adjourn the meeting – seconded by Tina.
Meeting adjourned at 7:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Joni Wolf, Secretary