| History of Tri-County ATV Club | |
On June 16, 1999, Tri-County ATV Club of Island Pond held its first meeting. The club was named at the meeting with the intent of representing Essex, Orleans, and Caledonia counties of northern Vermont. Club dues were $25 per year and per machine (4 wheels or more). Dave Page and George Holobowicz had been working on a trail system in IP for a year or so and felt it was time to form a club. Originally the club was assisted by the Brighton Snowmobile Club both formally and financially. By July of 1999, we had 17 members, and seven landowners had given us permission slips. Meetings were being held the first and third Wednesdays of the month and we were looking into insurance for our landowners. Bob Warren had even come up with a design for our logo. In August of that year we had about five miles of cleared trails and more were being planned for Basil Hill. In May of 2000, John Ley, President of the VASA stat organization attended a meeting to introduce the benefits of joining with VASA at this time. Tri-County had 34 members at that time. On September 11, 2001, our last meeting of 2001 was held. We had a total of 66 members and about 11 miles of finished trails at that time. |
The following April (2002), a letter was sent out to all members stating that the board did not want to run for office that year, and unless there was interest from others to step forward and run, the club would be disbanded. In the summer of 2002, club activity was halted and most ATV riders were riding without the benefits of a club behind them. After riding that summer without a club, Ernie Pappas and Bill Bailey decided to try to get the club organized again. Meeting throughout the winter with past officers and members of the now disbanded club, and also with VASA, we found that almost everything we needed to start the club again was still in place and available. A letter was sent out in early spring of 2003 to all past members asking if they had any interest in re-starting the club. We held a meeting in May and found many of the original club members in attendance. It was then decided to restart the club, several past officers volunteered to serve again, and new officers were elected. As of the summer of 2006, we now have over 60 members and over 18 miles of trails to ride, and we are still growing. NOTE: We offer this history of the Tri-County ATV Club with the help of old minutes and past members memory. We regret any errors or omissions. Bill Bailey and Ernie Pappas |