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 2011 PLANNING SESSION

 We agreed to continue our regular annual events: the picnic in August, Canonsburg’s Oktoberfest in September, Greenberg Train Show in November at Monroeville and the anniversary dinner in December. (Note: we usually also did the Greenberg Train Show in February but it had been moved to January for 2011.) 

 There was a lot of lively discussion and brainstorming suggested for the year’s activities.  Below is a summary of the tentative consensus of ideas, details, locations, contact people, etc.  We hope to meet at different geographical areas as much as possible.  Finalized details will be posted on the website calendar and via e-mail.  If you have any suggestions, please contact any officer.  This is your club and we welcome lots of input and assistance now and throughout the year.

 FEBRUARY:  It was decided we would try to schedule this meeting as late in the month as possible to allow time to schedule the details and avoid severe weather?  Everyone really enjoyed visiting and getting acquainted at this meeting, it was suggested we use February to continue socializing and hearing about other members’ individual layouts, along with sharing a meal.  Ann Celento volunteered checking with Paneras Restaurant beside Sam’s Club / Wal-Mart near Mt Lebanon. We also thought we could discuss possible layout themes for Oktoberfest and Greenberg club set-ups.

 MARCH: Gene & Caryll Linck offered to check on a location in the Mc Donald area for craft / learn sessions.  We still need to come up with specific activities so share your interest and talent ideas with any officer.  We will limit it to 2 activities so each can be better accessed.

 APRIL: It was suggested we have a speaker on horticulture to assist us in our tree, plant, and flower layouts for our trains. Jan & John Vogt will check with a person they know for one half of the meeting.  Our past Plant Swaps have been enjoyed so much it was thought we could maybe try that this month even though it’s the beginning of the spring season.

 MAY: One of PGRS’s functions is to help members develop their own garden train layouts.  Al Hartman has asked for assistance in re-doing his; he lives in the Baden area.

 JUNE: We would like to visit member home train layouts again.  Due to the vast area covered by our club members live, we were unable last year to schedule several visits in one day as in the past.  It was decided to just visit one home layout at a time.  Bert Mangold from Venetia, PA offered to host his layout this year.

 JULY: Many were interested in taking a train trip somewhere again this year.  Keith Baggus volunteered to check into pulling a package together; he has done a great job organizing past trips.  Several ideas were thrown out – Sugar Creek, OH, Lancaster, PA area, Steam Town in Scranton, Akron, OH area, Baltimore, MD.  Most liked 1-2 day trip.  Some mentioned about trying to keep costs reasonable.  But we were reminded that prices everywhere are rising; it won’t be cheap to take a trip.  But if we can get enough people interested, Keith will be able to get us a better price than anything we could do by ourselves.

 AUGUST: It was suggested that we try to make this year’s picnic a family (adults & kids) oriented activity holding it at a park where we can also set up our trains along with our great food.  (Our Chili Cook-Off went over so well tonight that we may consider having a Rib Grill-Off at the picnic; watch for more details). Ann Celento and Jim Schwarz are checking for dates and locations. The club officers will coordinate this event; contact any of them with any ideas you may have.

 SEPTEMBER: Canonsburg Oktoberfest will be held September 14, 15, 16 this year on the usual 3^rd weekend of the month.  We need a better turn out this time on setup, manning and take down of the layout.  Plan ahead to be able to participate and join in the fun.  What theme should we have?  Ann Celento will be the contact. 

 OCTOBER: We discussed trying to take a train ride or tour while nature begins its color transformation. We realized that is the prime time for those kinds of activities. Altoona and Titusville areas were mentioned.  Sondra Wiggins offered to try and find an interesting activity.

 NOVEMBER: We want to do the Greenberg Train Show again with our club layout.  We will check with Jackie Magri to file the paperwork for us to finalize.  Dave Bodnar informed us that the show is not using the back room of the Monroeville Conference Center this year so our space would be much smaller.  He had a diagram showing a 20’ x 40’ space that we would probably be able to use. We also discussed the low participation of club members at the 2010 show; if we are to continue these types of activities to promote the club, we need have a better turn out. Again, we need a new theme for this year.

 DECEMBER: Our annual Christmas / anniversary dinner, where we hand out member 5-year recognition pins, elect new officers, have member door prizes, is usually held on the first Saturday of the month.  The officers will work out the details. This year we will draw the winners of our new Attendance and Participation Awards.

 (2012 IDEAS - JANUARY: Consider having another Chili Cook-Off where we are able to lay out track and run trains as well as planning the upcoming year’s events; and / or consider setting up our display at the Greenberg Train Show if they go back to January.)