1) Minutes: The reading of the minutes from last year was suspended by popular demand.
2) Vote on next Council of Councils meeting:
a) Wisconsin Van Council presented: they previously hosted in 1991 and 2005. Next year’s presentation was for Wisconsin Dells:
i) The weekend of February 19-21, the event would be at Antiqua Bay Resort. It has 220 rooms, have a large hall for the meeting, with 2 pools. The room cost will be $69.99 for 4 people in a room. They should have a restaurant in place before the event, if the restaurant is not up, the council will work out a catered buffet.
ii) Amenities:
(1) There are restaurants within walking distance.
(2) America’s largest water park is in Wisconsin Dells. The area is trying to start year-round activities, and there are indoor year-round indoor water parks.
(3) There are 2 ski resorts 10 miles away.
(4) There is a casino with 24-hour shuttle.
(5) 45 miles to House on the Rocks
iii) Vanners can fly in to Madison (45 minutes) and Milwaukee (2 hours) or Chicago airports.
iv) There is a daily train from Milwaukee ($55.00) or Chicago, which takes you to within ½ mile of hotel.
v) The council is working on shuttle service to closest airports.
vi) For activities, they may have in-house wine-tasting.
vii) Website: www.wivancouncil.com
viii) They received a donation $100.00 from Southeast Van Council at the meeting.
b) No other presentations were submitted, so no vote was required. Next year will be at Wisconsin Dells.
3) National Truck-In Board, www.vannationalsboard.org :
a) There was a www.vannin.com chat to get suggestions for teens to get them interested in coming to the Nationals. Courtney Bentley will monitor and work with the board to keep interest up. The chat yielded some good ideas from and for kids. The board is seeking information from kids. They will be removing the 10:00 curfew for 16-year-old and above. Everyone should address issues with kids at the event as things happen, rather than waiting.
b) There is one bid for the Nationals in 2010. There will be no announcement yet, as they are working with the team, and are not quite ready.
c) After this year, entrants in the Bright N’ Shine will no longer be able to have the engine running. New judging sheets will not separate vehicles by make, but will divide the field by lighting arrangements. The sheet will be posted to the web.
d) Members were added to the Nationals Board: Bill Seward, Tom Chronister and Paul “Chooie” Walsh.
e) The “How to Judge a Van” seminar certified more judges in Las Vegas. At the Nationals, the seminar will be Thursday at noon. Classification is Thursday at 10:00.
f) The Nationals Board is having a raffle. 1st prize is $1000.00, 2nd prize is $100.00.
g) Everyone is encouraged to support the Nationals (and local events). If you can’t go; buy an ad, sponsor a trophy, or make a donation.
4) 2009 Nationals in Summit Station:
a) The event team needs certified judges.
b) Voting will help determine activities and will be updated on the website.
c) The only golf carts allowed are for use by the handicapped.
d) Vanner’s Nite Out will be Thursday night. It will be $15.00 per person, at Cousins Pub. The pub will be open for Vanners only. There may be a limit of 100 people. The website has the application. The council is working on having free beer that night.
e) There are currently 158 pre-registrations; they need 500 to break even.
f) The official opening will be July 4th at 12:00 p.m. for the “non-event” event.
g) The website is www.37thvannats.com.
h) The facilities will not allow a burnout contest.
i) If anyone wants to have a keg, it needs to be set up in advance with the event committee to order it.
j) The 50/50 drawing is $2.00 a ticket. Ticketholders do not have to be present to win.
k) The team is working on getting a bus for trips into town. Status will be on the website’s blog.
l) Friday night will be the main party night, with 2 bands and beer on tap. There will also be at least one band on Thursday and Saturday.
m) There is a blender party Friday.
5) Be sure to send in the Council of Councils registration form with any address changes. It is on the internet at the Council Board website.
a) The process to be a recognized council is: the organization must have at least 3 clubs in a designated area, or a group of councils, and must have attended 2 previous council meetings.
b) Mid-American Street Van Association was approved as a council.
6) Paul “Wacko” Wack thanked everyone for all of the support and assistance through his illness. He is doing better.
7) The meeting had a brief discussion on clubs having trouble with attendance at events when they have both trucks and vans. Each event’s rules guide who can enter.
8) A possible discussion on the issue with Class C entries into the Nationals was put off. The 5-year wait time is up next year.
9) Open discussion:
a) Joe Madonia is still working on the list of regional cruising magazines. Vanners should write articles or send a copy of flyers to magazines to print. He has copies of the list available.
b) Everyone needs to reinforce that dogs at events should be on a leash, and owners should clean up after their dogs.
c) Judith Pilon is trying to keep up a list of all events worldwide. Please send event flyers to judpilon@aol.com.
d) Rebel Vanners in England may want to be added as a council. The group has a run next Aug. 14-16 for their 10th anniversary.
e) Wisconsin is giving away a free entry to next year’s council event. Ticket holders need not be present to win, but in-house at Las Vegas.
f) Nationals board putting together a list of the contacts for different areas, posted to web-site. Will try to send to councils also. Or can use councils list as reference. Name, number, geographic area, what can assist with or just reference to vendors.
g) Bryan and Cathy wanted to thank everyone for their support when Bryan was taken to the hospital Friday night. (He was in the hospital still undergoing tests as of this meeting.)
h) There was discussion on whether C of C is an open or closed meeting. It has been an open meeting since 1988. The morning meeting is when only council reps can speak. The afternoon is an open session when people in the gallery can speak.
10) ICAN Vanners presented the “Pass Along Plaque” to Wisconsin.
11) A scam artist was on the internet raising funds, and ripped off several vanners. The Southeast Van Council is selling raffle tickets to raise money to pay back vanners who donated to the con artist.
12) Tom Chronister received a call from True Spokes Wheels, which used to be seen on vans a lot. They are still around (and thought about coming to the meeting), and can be reached on 760-731-8303 or www.truespoke.net.
13) Mike Purdue offered for sale envelopes that have a picture of “Vanishing Breed” or one of 5 other vans. The envelopes with postage were issued by the Post Office only on one day. The envelope commemorates the first van club in the Hall of Fame.
14) Ray Gebhardt was a guest at the meeting. He was a member of Midwest Vans, and the VP of the original NSVA. He was instrumental in putting on the 3rd National Truckin, and has lots of history with the vanning community. He hasn’t attended events in the last 30 years, and received his fair share of harassment about getting back into vanning. He answered questions about the vanning world back in the day. He would be happy to answer any emails from vanners. His email is: raygebhardt@sbcglobal.net
15) Discussion was raised to get Vanners feelings on trophy recycling. It was favored by vanners as a “green” solution.
16) New England Van Council guides are out and available.
17) Van-In Magazine is out and for sale.
18) Adjourned at 2:10 or so.
Respectfully submitted.
Tina Hane