Dear Solair Family,

Another wonderful season at Solair has passed and we are again in hibernation mode at camp. Although we did not have the good graces of the weather gods, we still had an exceptional year financially. This past year brought us record snows, several power outages, a hurricane, a full-fledged tornado, snow in October and lots of rain in June. Our gate was slightly off from the previous year but considering the horrible weather we had at times, I would say that we had another banner year. We welcomed many new people through our gates, several of whom became associates. Overall, 2011 was a great year with many more positives to offset the negatives.

We accomplished so much in camp this year, thanks to all of you for your hard work and contributions. Whenever a call went out for help you were there with smiles, strong backs and willing hands. We always had fun, with lots of laughing and joking around but we never lost sight of our mission, making Solair the best place to hang your hat. A thousand thank you’s to all of Solair, we are truly a community of friendship and love, a home away from home, a family.

This past year saw many changes in camp. We opened our new sun deck on time and in budget and it has been a hit from the get go. The new deck added almost a thousand additional square feet of much needed seating area at the pool. The new chaises, 25 in total, were always occupied and there were many positive comments from our guests. We also instituted a new smoking policy, limiting where people can smoke as well as opened a new, welcoming smoking deck at the pool. The new policy was accepted camp wide and we have implemented it without any problems. Thank you to the smokers who saw the need for this and welcomed it with open arms.

We continued to work towards making our camp more secure by closing off as many of our borders as we can. We have repaired and replaced our entire fence now and have only gated access for vehicles in the back entrance. The renovation of the Arent Pavilion has begun with preliminary plans being submitted to the town. We have bid on and won the right to host the AANR East Convention for 2012. It will be held on July 9-15 and 2012 will also be our 75th Anniversary celebration and we are planning on combining the two to make this convention the talk of the AANR community.

2012 will also see many new upgrades to the camp in addition to the Arent Pavilion being refurbished into rental units. We have a completely new floor for the shower/hall in the community center being installed in January. We will be having a new hot tub for the 2012 season along with a new private shower area outside.

So as you can see, although the camp is in hibernation, we are hard at work making Solair even better. We will be holding our first formal meeting in the community center on December 31 at 11AM for all those who signed up for the committees for the convention and the anniversary. We ask that all team captains and their helpers attend as well as anyone else who would like to participate in making these events happen. We at Solair never do anything half assed and I am confident that we will have a great turn out for what will be the kick off of an exciting season at Solair. Feel free to bring an appetizer to share with the attendees and the office will provide sodas and waters. Please email me or the office to let them know that you will attend.

In closing, Sheila and I would like to wish all of our Solair family the very happiest of holidays and a prosperous, healthy New Year.

Sincerely,

President Paul

Members and Associates Only

Enjoy Solair off season in one of our warm and cozy cabins.

Reserve one night and get the second night free!!

Call the office to make your reservation.

We have a 48 hour cancellation policy.

As of Friday, still no power or Internet/TV but we're planning on having a good weekend anyway.  The Office, Community Center, and Sunshine Cafe are all operating.  The showers and bathrooms in the Community Center are working.  Time to come to Solair and get back to nature!  The beach and pond are nice and we're looking forward to some good weather this weekend.  Who needs electricity, anyway?

As of right now, Thursday morning, we are still without power but are cautiously optimistic that it will be on by Saturday. We have been informed that all of Woodstock will have power by then so keep your fingers crossed.

As of right now, the only thing that has been canceled is the dinner. All other activities will be on, with or without electricity.  Have generators, will party: Saturday's dance with DJ Chris is on, Sunday's annual meeting is a go, AANR East award presentation is on, bonfire with slide show and music by Dave C is on and Monday's memorial service is a go.

It is supposed to be a beautiful weekend so come and enjoy the last hoorah of summer with your friends before our snow birds head back south. Hope to see you all there.

According to Blockbuster Dave power is still out in camp.  CL&P has said that it may be out until Saturday, but who knows?  Cable TV and Internet are also apparently still out.  Luckily the new office generator installation was completed last week, so the office has power and there is also minimal water avialable in camp.  There are a some personal portable generators floating around camp.

Dave reports that there isn't much damage anywhere.  The worst seems to be a tree that came down behind his yard.  Dave is still planning on the lobster dinner this weekend, power or not.

Update: Note that the pool and hot tub are shut down for the duration of the power outage.  President Paul said that even if power is still out by the weekend camp will remain OPEN.  Just be prepared to actually "camp."

Update From President Paul: The camp is open for your enjoyment even though we still do not have electricity. We have many fun things planned for this weekend and we are all hoping for the electricity gods to come through and power us up. For the time being, everything is a go. Keep checking back throughout the week for updates and cancellations. The annual meeting will be held regardless of whether or not we have electricity. Even if you do not come in for the activities, please make sure that you come in for the annual meeting, your vote counts. We will also be discussing the AANR East convention that we will be hosting next year and we are expecting an AANR official to come in to give one of our own a special award. It would be great to have as many people there as possible to congratulate the recipient.

Keep watching the website and Twitter for more updates as we get more information.  The office will probably also send out email updates.

The 9th annual Solair Health Fair was held on Sunday, July 31, 2011.  This yearly event was again deemed successful, with 91 registered participants consisting of 52 Members, 22 Associates and 17 Visitors.  Corey and Ronna, who have been coordinating the health fairs, received many positive comments about this year’s event; one participant emphatically wrote, "Keep this every year!". 

We would like to heartily thank the volunteers, who were kept quite busy and did a great job in their assigned activities:  Bill (AED demo), Laura  (skin checks), Janet and Joan (glucose testing), Beverly and Bob (blood pressure readings), Martha (body mass index readings), Pam (massages), Al (relaxation), Kimberly (material organization), and Carol and son (nutrition and skin product demos).  Bob N. provided creative signage, Pat P. provided posters, and Erik N. provided new health materials.  A special thanks to our reliable crew, Alvaro, Rich, and Wayne, who helped in setting up and breaking down. 

We are also grateful to the office staff and any others who helped to make this event the success that it was.  And please continue to offer your suggestions to either Corey or Ronna if there is anything you would like to see at next year's health fair.

We are still looking for folks to accompany us to the AANR East convention in August from the 17th to the 21st. We are going to make a pitch to try to secure the AANR East convention for 2012 to coincide with our 75th anniversary. If you are interested in joining us please let the office know as soon as possible. We would like to have the largest contingent of any club there.

President Paul

The new smoking area near the pool has been completed thus allowing us to implement the new smoking policy ground rule 3.3 in its entirety. Effective immediately, smoking is permitted only in disignated smoking areas as is put forth in the following ground rule:

3.3 There is a strict smoking policy and smoking is allowed only in designated areas throughout camp. All smoking areas are clearly marked and only camp-supplied cigarette disposal receptacles are to be used.

Smoking is allowed on member sites, and while in personal vehicles, however appropriate receptacles must be used. Smoking is permitted on the upper canteen deck only during evening functions in the community center. There is also a 10 feet no smoking zone around the pavilion, and all other camp operated structures.

Smoking is also prohibited on camp wooded trails.

We currently have the no smoking areas identified and are having signs made to identify the smoking areas.

I would like to thank everyone for adhering to this rule to help Solair limit the amount of public smoking by creating smoke free areas.

President Paul

After several long weeks with many interruptions, thanks to Mother Nature, I am proud to announce that the final deck on the Community Center is complete. This deck ties all of the decks together and you can now go from the pool area to the canteen deck without having to walk through the building. It is a very large deck as is obvious when you look at the 25 new lounge chairs on it and how much room is still available.

We decided to change the style of rails that are on the deck to a ballustrade system. This is mainly for ease of repair, you can change out 1 or 2 ballusters if they should warp or break instead of changing out a whole lattice panel. Cost wise, it is a much less expensive system to install and maintain and we have the added benefit of a more conventional, and in many folk's opinions, a much prettier rail system.

I would like to thank the many folks who came out to help this past week as well as throughout the project. It is not an easy venture to undertake such a large project and without the help of these folks, it would have been an impossible task.

We have one final deck project to complete in the next few weekes up near the gardens for the smokers. The plan is to have this deck, complete with new canopy, complete by July 4. If the weather holds it will be done.

Enjoy,

President Paul

Last Saturday afternoon I stood back to look at what the border fence workers had put together. I was absolutely taken back at what had been accomplished. I was very proud of what we had done. The group went right to work. We were a well oiled machine! Boards went flying up and were instantly nailed in place. People were not saying "look what I did" instead they said "what can I do next!"

Saturday was great day for me and I thank the volunteers very much.

Tom C

Solair is now on Twitter at twitter.com/SolairResort.  Follow Solair for instant website updates and other important announcements!

There was NO damage to any Solair property, trailers, or cabins from last night's storm.

On Saturday June 4th I want to continue work on the border fence. The fence posts are mostly up and we need to fasten the slats. We will need holders, levels, extension cords, some sturdy rope, and nailers. I am bringing a compressor and a generator. With 10 or so people we can do this quickly. Cordless drills and other instruments of mass destruction would be welcome. We can meet at the front gate at 9:30 a.m. Hope to see you there.

Tom C Planning and Construction

Today's ceremony has been canceled due to weather. It will be rescheduled for a future date.

Many of you have been asking about the deck and when it will be started and completed. I am happy to say that last Friday and Saturday we were able to make some headway in the construction. We actually were able to get the most difficult part, the 4 foot wide walkway connecting the 2 decks, started and with any kind of luck on Wednesday we will finish framing that section. I want to extend my thanks to Al, Harry, Mike and Steve who came out to assist with this task.

We will continue to work on the connecting walkway on Wednesday and will start the main deck on Thursday morning. The plan is to work Thursday through Saturday and we could use some help. We have 2 decks that need to be built and if we could get all the framing done on both of the decks it would be great. So, if you have any time to give this week or weekend, please come join us. No need to be experienced to join us, just your enthusiasm to help make Solair better.

Paul

A belated thank you to all that helped with the spring cleanup. A special thanks to Doc Rob for bringing his real cool John Deere tractor with the post hole digger. It helped getting the perimeter fence repairs off to a good start. All the bathroom floors were painted and leaves raked away. The beavers clogged up the pipe under the road and Ron and his crew risked cold water and a swift currant to clear the debris from the pipe. Tim and his crew got beach area ready to go. The pizza crew provided a great lunch that we all enjoyed very much.

Thanks to Barbara of Bob. The new roll-up pavilion enclosure is up and looks top notch!

So we are off to great start and when the weather cooperates we can finish up what we started.

Thanks again, Tom C.

At long last the winter is releasing its grip on camp! I am so ready for warm weather. So on the weekend of April 2nd we are going to turn on the water.

We will meet about 9:30 Saturday morning at the rec center. The water turnoff volunteers professionals from last year are invited to  participate.

This means you Gail!

Of course any volunteers are welcome.

We expect to be done by 1 p.m. We should have a lunch. Hot dogs, Hamburgs? Donations will be gratefully accepted!

Tom C.
Planning and Construction