PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
September, 2020
What a year this has been. We have all experienced a summer like none before. COVID19 of course was the driver of the challenges we faced. Lockdowns, social distancing, new protocols, limits on gathering size and so much else as we all worked to keep our community healthy and safe.
I want to take a moment to recognize members who did so much to help the Club to deliver a strong summer season.
Hiking experienced many challenges but our volunteer Summer Sports Director, Bill McKinzie and the hiking coordinators, LaVonne Feigeles and Dean and Linda Wolz did an extraordinary job of working through the guidelines with the hiking leaders and the hiking participants. They had to work through signup and waitlist issues, including adding new hikes to the schedule and even creating new member specific hikes to get as many people as possible onto the trails. In fact, they ended up delivering more hikes than last year. We all owe them and every one of the hiking leaders a great debt of gratitude for the work they did that made it possible for so many of us to get outside on the trails this summer. THANK YOU!!!
The work that Mart Matthews put in to Biking, served to get more bike trips in total on the calendar and more people on the seats during the course of the year. Super job Mart,
Tennis, under the leadership of Bruce Crow, enjoyed a renaissance this year with many additional members joining the play each week. Nice job, Bruce.
Golf, led by Nancy Young and Pat Montgomery had a very good season, with lots of participation at Eagle Vail golf course. The leaders had to make Covid changes but they were able to bring the opportunity to our members so golfers could enjoy time together.
We should also remember the work Barbara Wahle put in to bring Walking Events to fruition. Ultimately, the Club was unable to execute these events due to the Covid restrictions, but it was not for lack of effort on Barbara’s part. We appreciate the effort that was put forth Barbara!
Our Social activities Directors likewise faced a serious set of challenges as ECPH put very tight limits on the size of gatherings that we could hold. However, they did not give up and were able to bring to the membership some really different and exciting events. The wine tasting hosted by Candy Arbour was a rousing success. Great job Candy. They also brought us a Beer brewing summit that was really interesting and a flower arranging class. Thank you BJ Knez and Candy Arbour for your amazing creativity and hard work to deliver events that allowed our membership to connect by ZOOM this summer. Way to go!
Not to be forgotten was an exceptional effort created by Richard Durben, who on his own proposed and created a 5 part ZOOM teaching seminar for fly fishing. An incredible effort, and we had more than 70 people on several of the presentations. I even I caught some fish with the knowledge Richard shared!
I share this information to let you know your Club is continuously working to provide the greatest scope of activities for all our members. While the future is still not clear on exactly what the guidelines will be for future outdoor, and indoor, activities our volunteer leadership is actively working diligently to have programs and activities ready that will fit with whatever guidelines we have to work with. Please look forward to what we will be able to share with you in the near future.
My final note is to let you all know it is a pleasure to serve as your President and to work with the extraordinary group of volunteers who make it all happen. They are the best! I encourage each of you to find a place where you can bring your special skills to the table to help this Club prosper, you will get much more back than you give, I guarantee you.
All the Best,
Al
Al Musser
President, Vail Club 50