May 29, 2024 Breakfast Meeting Notes

 

Today’s guests were speaker Joyce Weston as well as Scott Weden and Marianne Evans.

 

A Rotary Minute was provided courtesy of Phil, since Tony is away. He spoke about World Immunization Week and Rotary’s Global Polio Eradication Initiative. In 1988 there were over 1000 new cases of wild polio per day worldwide; in 2021, there were only 6 cases total in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Rotarians continue to fight polio and have also spread information on vaccinations and helped to combat vaccine misinformation around COVID.

 

The 50/50 was won by our speaker Joyce.

 

Alicia won the chance to draw for the ace of spades in the card game but drew the 2 of spades rather than the ace. The game continues. 

 

Scott and Marianne spoke to us about organizing a fall food festival, in support of local farmers and businesses. It would be held on October 20th on Green Street and at the Amphitheater. October 20 is also parents’ weekend at PSU and is the weekend before the NH Pumpkin Festival in Laconia. They are meeting monthly at PSU about this; the next meeting will be on June 7th at 11 am in Hub 119 of PSU. The initial meeting was held in April; the original idea was to hold it on Main Street but that was deemed logistically impractical. They hope to have people park at the High School and walk to Green Street. The goal is to make this an annual event and offer things on campus too (such as kids games and other activities) as well as food trucks, farmers, and Main Street businesses. They need an organization to act as the fiscal representative so they can get sponsors to donate and they hope that Rotary will do this. 

 

Ken spoke about the upcoming visioning sessions. He will pass around a signup sheet. The committee needs help! Sessions will be on Thursday, June 13th at 6:00 pm at the Senior Center and on Saturday, June 15 at 10 am and Plymouth High School Library.

 

The Changing of the Guard will be held on Tuesday 18th of June. Cost is usually around $40-45 per person.

 

District changeover will be Saturday June 8th. 1-4 pm in North Conway. Let Mike know if you plan to attend.

 

The Kanc cleanup will be this coming Saturday. Meet at Loon Mountain bridge at 8:30. 

 

Today is the last day of the early bird special price registration for next year’s Rotary International convention in Calgary BC. Dates are June 21-25 and the discounted rate is $475. 

 

Tonight is Scholarship Award Night at the high school. We are awarding $1000 to each of 10 students. Sharon will present the awards and all are welcome to attend.

 

We have some applications for the technical training grants. We will review them this week and decide on recipients. 

 

Nancy introduced our speaker, Joyce Weston. She spoke about the Plymouth Beautification Committee’s work.

 

In January 2022, the roundabout’s flower garden had gotten weedy and out of control. The met with Amy Bailey and Scott Whitman in 2022 about creating a more welcoming entrance to town, starting with this garden. They edged the garden at the roundabout and pruned, to define the edges between the grass and the plantings. They took burlap cloth to smother the grass, and the following year they made slits n the burlap and put in native plants. The Girl Scouts planted a tree in the center of the garden The next year sadly the space was neglected and with the rainy weather last year, the garden did not do well. They have had a problem with horsetail, which is very hard to eradicate, but they are hoping to try a new eco-friendly herbicide from PSU. They also have found invasive Asian jumping worms, which are NOT good for gardens. 

 

The first year they also pruned the Silver slope and since then they have added in plantings. They also started working at the edge of the Silver Center. They send out an email list and typically get about 7 volunteers to weed and work each time. They also had a winter potluck to discuss their plans. 

 

The Plymouth Beautification Committee is also expanding into the center of town. They have planted the triangles and had 4 window boxes put up around around the gazebo. Last Friday they planted hostas around the gazebo.

 

In 2023 they bought a bench of plastic wood and put it on a stone base. The stonemason (Klee Mason) donated the stone. They are also cleaning the area around the Samaha yard, fed the lilacs, and put in bulb plants. They would like to work on the area around the Green Street parking lot. More volunteers would be appreciated! 

 

The Plymouth Beautification Committee has not done a lot of fundraising, tho0ugh in 2022 they raised $2000 from local businesses and individuals. This summer they may do a fundraiser of sorts, though they don’t want to get into an event. There will be a line item for the PBC next year in the budget. 

 

Next week they will meet with Alex to decide where to put Ella Doucette’s new welcome to Plymouth signs and they will create a garden around it. They will put the second one down near the Community Closet. Both signs should be up by the end of the summer. 

 

There is as triangle between Newbury’s and the Town Hall (Sign Island) and it has been weeded This year they have removed all of the plants from this area and they want to put in landscape rounded river stones, along with a tub for flowers. 

 

Erica announced that there will be a Women in the Wild Run, Retreat on August 23-25. The event will be at the Mountain Fare Inn and cost includes two nights at the Inn, breakfast, and a 5-7 mile trail run with 1000-1500 foot vertical gain. For more information, go to info@mountainfareinn.com

 

Happy dollars were shared by Lora, Erica, and Mike.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Lora Miller, secretary