Parade and Fireworks 8/20/26

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Parade Fireworks Minutes 08-20-26 84 KB

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Richmond Fourth of July Committee minutes

Attendees: Sue Glennon, Julie Wahlin, Tommy Carpenter, Stefani Hartsfield

8/20/26 Minutes

1. Minutes from Last meeting approved unanimously
2. Post event feedback - Great feedback/response.
   1. Top 3 response percentages for Parade themes were:
      • Best of Vermont (Maple, GreenMountains, Dairy, Champ, etc.)
      • Richmond is Out of this World (think s…
      • Forest Creatures (Fairies, Moose, Big…
      • Board Games (think Candy Land, Mo…
   2. Stefani will collate the written responses to try and quantify themes and highlight the key themes in feedback to help planning
   3. Many comments about gaps in the parade. It’s hard to control what different groups do for performances as they move down the parade route.
   4. Some feedback that the DJ wasn’t as good. Sue talked to Brian and the DJ he had replaced him this year about pricing. We would prefer Brian if we have a DJ.
3. Tom’s Projects
   1. Tom talked with Kate in finance and she has been very helpful in straightening out the flow of accounts through the town and is working with Josh and the selectboard to streamline processes for future years. Much appreciated. We spent approximately $1750 to put on the entire day’s activities, without the fireworks. The sponsors made a huge difference, all of the work paid off.
   2. Sent a letter to the 40th Armory Band requesting they participate in the parade or do a concert at the park
   3. June and Jane Heston will sing the National Anthem at the flag raising!
   4. …and more…
4. Leadership Requests for each segment of the days activities
   1. The Howland’s offered to organize the car show. Tom would like to advertise for the car show early.
   2. Heather will organize the Fun Run
   3. Sue asked Megan Spence Millard Greenough if she will be the lead for horses. She is considering it 🙂
   4. Rebecca knows of someone who volunteered to take over planning and organizing for Karaoke
   5. Looking for someone to be the lead on floats! Maybe a business? Tom will work on recruiting.
   6. Food vendors need a leader. We need to consider if we want to keep having food vendors at night.
   7. Organizer for games?
   8. Right now Tom and Rebecca coordinate the sponsorships, if there are another couple people wanting to help with the organization of that it would be great.
   9. Justin and Chris are in charge of road safety and set up. It could be good to get a couple other people trained to assist them.
   10. Marketing and Communications!! A lot is falling on Rebecca alone. Julie suggested a marketing schedule and possibly recruiting some support for that piece of things.
5. Coin Drop - October 10th - Columbus Day weekend
   1. Tom talked to Susanne Parent to put in the formal request
   2. Need to get volunteers
6. Times Ink Article - We are grateful to Heidi and the Times Ink for the nice piece in the paper this month. Heidi sent some ideas for next year for the committee to review. Stefani will add that to the feedback received.
7. Julie will update the planning calendar to help us get more in advance.
8. Sue mentioned that the selectboard was grateful for the committee's hard work. We appreciate all of the town support as well. 

Next meeting : September 17, 2026 Thursday 7pm