Dear Fellow Members,

First and foremost and on behalf of our Association, I would like to wish you, your family and loved ones the very best during this holiday season and peace, good health and happiness throughout the new year. It’s a great time of year for people in our industry, as we can relax a little, spend some time with our families and hopefully most of the stresses of our occupation are at ease for a while. There is also great excitement in my home as I'm sure with others who have young families. Anyway, enjoy it because they seem to grow up way to fast

To all my fellow Board and Committee members, thank you for your support and tremendous help during the past year. To our Executive Secretary, I don't know what we would all do without you! Thanks Julie. To our Vendors, thank you for your continued support in all our events throughout the year and last but not least to all our members for making this association the very best it can be.

Our Annual Meeting was held a few weeks ago at White Cliffs and went very well. There were some interesting points brought up and the Board along with the sub-committees will work diligently on them.  Although I'm not there yet, the Past Presidents Meeting which was held before the Annual Meeting also had some interesting points.  Good work by everyone involved and to Lianne for hosting the meeting. It is a great venue.  Also, thanks to everyone who brought something for the troops at war overseas. Those items will mean a lot to them. Our 50\50 raffle also went in their direction.
 
The Holiday Dinner at the Black Cat was terrific. It is always nice to catch up with fellow members and their spouses. Nice job with Lou Colombo for the entertainment and to his son David for hosting the event.

Anyway, the meeting schedule for 2012 is already in full swing.  Upcoming events include Family Night at the Hyannis Youth and Community Center on Friday, January 20th where we will watch our local semi-pro team the “BlueFins” in action. We will have our own “Luxury Box” with food and refreshments for everyone, so please sign up early so we can plan accordingly. The New England Regional Turfgrass is in February this year. It is a month earlier than in previous years.  The dates are February 6th - 9th.  It promises to be a good one as always and will be here before we know it.  After that for those who are fortunate to attend, comes the Golf Industry Show.  It is a few weeks later than in the past.  It runs from the last week in February through the first week in March. With the venue being Las Vegas, I'm sure it also will be very well attended. Then on March 15th we plan to have our own educational seminar. We will keep you updated on the details.                                     

That is about all I've got for now. Hopefully, I see you at one or maybe even all of those events. Until then, thanks and happy holidays again.

Yours Sincerely,
Joe