7566_MSA_May2021_MaineSnowmobiler

2021 MSA Snowmobiler of the Year – Lori Hemmerdinger Presented by Mike Grass, Jr.

on are all grouped, paid and sent to the lay out company. Our newspaper has never had so much read worthy content in all my years here. Then she brought us Form Stack, which is now used for so many things and we keep adding them as she shows us how easy it will work for that application, such as trail inspection forms and registering for our meeting links. Need I say more, sure, why not. This lady also works 40-50 hours a week and raised a teenage boy who likes snowmobiling as much as she does, so how she finds the time and energy to do it all amazes me beyond belief, as she answers her phone any time with words of wisdom and a fix for most any problem. She is an asset to her son, her parents, her local club, a brother of mine and most of all, she is an asset to MSA for all she has done and continues to do above and beyond as with all her Steering Com- mittee team mates. Please join us in congratulating Lori Hemmerdinger for the 2021 MSA Snow- mobiler of the Year.

him I ran into her and he said you’ll be seeing more of her. She started coming to meetings shortly after that and when we had an opening for secretary, I won- dered if she’d be interested in getting more involved with MSA. Of course, I talked to my brother Mark to see if he thought she’d be interested. He said he wasn’t sure, I’d have to talk to her myself. So I gave her a call and she asked a lot of questions about what it entailed and how much of a time commitment it would be. Of course I said it wouldn’t be a lot of work or require much time. Well, she agreed to take on the secretary position and did a heck of a job at it. Move forward to April of 2019. MSA was looking at the task of replacing Bob and Peg Meyers due to retirement. My first job as president was to form a committee to take on that task. I asked John Monk to chair the committee and together we formed the committee, which included this young lady. We hired Susan Carver to work in the office and train with Bob and Peg before they left. After

they left, we found we needed to dig into our finances as we found some unpaid invoices and other places we could save money. This lady dug in and started looking through the MSA finances. Lit- tle did we know she had a background in this area. She started finding places to change to save us money. Next thing I know, she has a preliminary budget for next year. I’m not sure if we would have been able to do that without her. Next, with all the Covid going on, Susan had family medical issues to deal with and had to leave us. We had to figure out how we were going to man the office, get memberships done and pay bills. Well, Al Swett has manned the office, Eileen has done the memberships remotely from home and this lady has done all the book- keeping, mostly spending her Saturdays at the office reconciling the books, pay- ing bills and entering data. That alone is worthy of this nomination but she goes much further. She has also taken on the newspaper, making sure the content, club news, ads, articles and so

Sometimes you never know how a “by chance meeting” will end up later in life. A few years ago, I was “working” on a safety check with Al Swett in Newport when a group of sleds pulled up. The lead sled ended up being a lady that I struck up a conversation with. I asked if she belonged to a club and she said yes, Bog Hooters and I think you know Mark Chin- nock. I said, “yes I do” but she was off on her ride. A short time later, I talked to Mark Chin- nock who explained who she was. I told

2021 MSA Dealer of the Year Reggie’s Kawasaki Ski-doo Written by Mark Chinnock

2021 Groomer of the Year – Travis Roderick Presented by Mark Chinnock

Although I know that this story could be told over and over again, so many clubs with a similar story to tell, which is what makes this award so difficult to choose, so many deserving people. With that being said every year, we set out on the daunting task of trying to weed though and find that one special person that sticks out and who has made a positive impact within a particular club as well as the community. It doesn’t take long when you begin to talk with club members, friends, family and towns people who know that you realize this person has done some extraordinary things for our snowmobiling community over many years. There isn’t a day go by when his goal isn’t to make the best trails that he can possibly make that day, period! Over the last few he has resur- rected and brought back to life, with the help from his family, one of Carrabassett Valley’s most his-

toric buildings and coolest snow- mobiling destinations ever. Rid- ers from a long ways away know that the door is always open, the fire is hot the coffee is on, and you are always guaranteed nothing but good snowmobiling conversation. Oh and of course grooming too! The place that I am speaking about is Bigelow Lodge, the club that is lucky enough to have this man as a groomer / operator is J.V. Wing in Carrabas- sett, and the gentleman that we are honoring as Groomer of the Year is Travis Roderick. The J.V. Wing snowmobile club is very for- tunate to have Travis as an active member of their club. Travis has not only been grooming for the club for many years but has also served as groomer mechanic and Trailmaster and is currently the President. Please join us in congratulat- ing Travis Roderick as the 2021 Groomer of the Year.

2 021 MSA Dealer of the year A big Congratulations is in order for Reggie’s Kawasaki Ski-doo of Leeds Maine, for achieving this most prestigious award offered by the Maine Snowmobile Asso- ciation to one dealer each year who has gone above and beyond in participation and involvement within the snowmobile community during the past season. Not only is Reggies Ski-doo one of the premiere snowmobile deal- ers in Maine. They offer very com- petitive sales and great service and have become a welcomed partner with the MSA this past season. Reaching out to BRP (Ski- doo) and securing an amazing deal on a sled for our Super Raffle, and thus became our feature sponsor for the Raffle and promo poster. In addition to that, given the Covid-19 restrictions that were in place this past December, we were forced to have a virtual drawing for the Super Raffle, which brought with

it a whole host of challenges. At the end of the day when this was all realized by Reggies they opened up their doors and offered their show- room for the MSA to hold the Raffle via live Facebook feed. Reggies was also a supporter and hole sponsor in our MSA Golf Scramble last June which proved to be a huge success. Once again, the MSA cannot thank you enough for stepping up to the plate and CONGRATULATIONS on becoming the 2021 MSA Snow- mobile dealer of the year.

I have a story, a story of a man who’s heart is filled with more passion for the sport of snowmo- biling than you can possibly imag- ine. A man that wakes up every day with the thought “what am I going to do today to make this sport better than it was yester- day. This man lives every day from December to April literally in the groomer, whether he’s grooming or doing trail maintenance, and if he’s not in the groomer he can usually be found somewhere in town at a local business talking snowmobiling or chatting it up with a landowner.

5

o b i

w m

l e r

0 2 1 l M a i n e S n o

a y 2

M