Dear Northeast Area Chapter Presidents and National Directors,
Please share this letter with your chapter members.
I am writing to update you on the latest FMCA Northeast Area happenings since the annual meeting in Syracuse. First, I would like to thank each and everyone who attended and volunteered for “We love N.Y. 2017”. I particularly want to thank the board members and volunteers who put in countless hours to make the rally a success. We had 344 camping units including FMCA members and guests. Over 100 volunteers helped with all facets of the rally. We had a couple of bad weather evenings but made the best of it. Participating RV dealers sold at least 1 motor coach and 4 other RVs.
It is with a heavy heart that we make this announcement that the Northeast Area Rally (NEAR) has been cancelled for 2018. We understand many are disappointed and it's contradictory to the Northeast Area's mission, but we will make 2019 a great rally. We heard that water and electric (sometimes sewer connection) is preferred. We heard that you want to wait before going back to Essex Junction, VT. We are evaluating several possible locations, but rally venues that are large enough to handle our numbers fill up fast for the summer season and many desirable ones are already taken. If we had chosen Syracuse again, a large building construction project was scheduled to begin next to the campground. We did have front door access issues to our major building due to construction beside and in front of the building and dates for 2018 did not work out despite our research and investigation. They also conflicted with the national convention calendar.
For 2019 several locations and rally types are possible. We could do another rally in the Syracuse location, or we could do a destination rally with more adventures but fewer seminars. We could move the rally to June or September. However, that might preclude members with school age children from coming. We would like to have the new rally location decided on by spring, so we can begin putting our chapter volunteer teams together. The board tells me that it takes over 1.5 years to plan a rally of this size.
However, we will have a 2018 annual meeting. Dates and the location will follow. Northeast Area Executive Board members are discussing our options.
If you have questions please contact me.
Sincerely,
Barbara Smith
National Vice President
Northeast Area
bsmith@fmca.com
978-764-7484
