Southern Four Wheel Drive Association
SFWDA Leadership and Board of Directors Online Meeting
Monday, June 22, 2015 8:00 PM EST
Attendees:
Ray Stanley, President
Doyle Punches, Treasurer
Flint Holbrook, Director of Conservation and Land Management
Walter Shafer, Web Administrator and Public Relations
Jon Plaza, Director of Public Relations
Aimee Darnell, Recording Secretary
Jeremy Rose, Co-Director of Membership
Brian Overly, Vice President
Tony Wilson, Rock Corp 4x4
Brian Staley, East TN 4WD Club
Al Sweney, Trick N’ Traction
Barry Flowers, Stones River Jeep Club
Jim Berliner, Trick N’ Traction
Aaron Roddy, Ohio River Four Wheel Drive Club
Denver Issacs, Scenic City 4WD Club
John Galbreath, Hardline Crawlers
Tony Chaapel, Georgia Bounty Runners
Jay Bird, Georgia Bounty Runners
Roger Theurer, STLC Association
Membership updates
• Clubs – 28 Clubs + 843 Members
• 1360+ Total Members (Total 1700 +)
• Premium Members Update – 69 Total
• 2886 Facebook Members as of 06.22.2015
Clubs with active dialog on becoming members:
West TN Off Road (Jackson TN)
Triad Jeep Club (Troy NC)
Evansville Area Jeepers (Indiana)
CNC 4x4 (North Carolina)
Business Renewals
Black Mountain Off Road (Harlan KY)
EVAC Emergency Preparedness Equipment & Supply LLC (Rock Island TN)
Business member target: Coghill Jeep (Knoxville TN)
No contact has been made with Coghill Jeep at this time.
Brian suggested Jared Slabel as a contact at Coghill Jeep.
Jon has started a conversation with Rice dealership.
• SFWDA Traffic
Bleeping Jeep website has logged almost 22K views for the SFWDA Educational Videos with a total of 60K estimated minutes watch.
Calendar Updates:
• July 28, 2015 – UFWDA Annual Meeting (Flint Holbrook SFWDA Rep)
•September 22, 2015 – Board of Directors and Leadership Council Meeting
•September 24-27 – Dixie Run 29, Golden Mountain Park, Sparta, TN
•October 3, 2015 – Knox Off Road "Wheeler's for the Wounded” benefiting Smoky Mtn. Service Dogs" event at Windrock Park
•October 20, 2015 - Board of Directors Work Session
•October/November, 2015 – SFWDA Meet and Ride, TBD (Morris Mountain, AL)
•November, 2015 - Board of Directors Work Session (As Required)
•December 6, 2015 – SFWDA Annual Meeting and Leader Council
TrailFest 2015 Recap
•Total Attendance – 392 Total
•150 Full Weekend Driver
•110 Full Weekend Passenger
•95 Saturday Only Driver
•22 Saturday Only Passenger
•392 Meals Sold, Served 295 Meals (Commitment for 300)
•AOP Costs for TrailFest 2015 - $7,735
•Total Revenue $23,050
•Total Expenses $14,383
•NET - $10,130 including adjustments
Survey feedback on Trailfest 2015
Overall rating: very good
Value for the money: a lot of value
Organized: very organized
Online registration: very good
Onsite registration: very good
Desirable features: open park trails/ guided trail rides
Receiving add’l information: email
Comments from Leadership group:
Traffic: Over all everyone thought the traffic flow was good. The only negative comment was when guided trail groups going through there seemed to be an overlap of general park traffic that intercepted the guided trail traffic.
In the future we need to think about traffic management for large guided groups on the trail systems.
Registration: We need to have the registration for rides open the entire time of event.
Newer members want to know about the trails, we need a knowledgeable person who can answer questions about the trails skill levels.
Volunteers: Need to start considering a process for individuals or clubs that step up and volunteer. A suggestion made for a volunteer only raffle. The amount of time volunteered would equal one raffle ticket; 4 hours = 4 tickets.
Unlimited Off Road Expo Recap
Total visitors June 5 - 7, 2015: 13120
Total vehicles at the Tavern & Cavern Charity Night Crawl: 1887
This is the first event SFWDA has set up as a vendor. Something to consider for other large scale events.
June SFWDA Meet and Ride Recap
• Hosted by the Georgia Bounty Runners
• 48 Vehicles and approximately 75 people
• Jay Bird conducted the meeting portion of the ride
• One Issue: Ford Ranger PU Rolled over on an off camber trail.
Curtis and Rita Barnhardt are OK.
Bantam Jeep Recap
2937 Jeeps in attendance
Jeeps from 38 states and Canada
25,000 people over 3 days in attendance
Guinness World Record Parade was comprised of 2,420 Jeeps
6th annual Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival on June 10-12, 2016
Additional Updates
UFWDA Four Wheeler of the Year
Curtis Barnhardt Nomination
ORBA National Advocate
· Jeffrey Dozier Contribution Page 29 on the Sand Lick Area
· Daniel Boone National Forest Scenic Byway
Preliminary Agreement on Access, appeal has been withdrawn
Scheduled Ride 26-27
Vandalism Update Uwharrie National Forest
Chris has organized a couple of work days to put up barriers to prevent ATVs cutting road trails through the forest in areas they could not make it over the obstacles. Since the work day (6-13), the fencing has been torn down, the barriers relocated.
We are continuing to work with the archeological reports that keep threatening the existence of the Uwharrie system.
SFWDA Grant Program
•2015 Educational YouTube Video – Phase 2
Should see a late summer for video release
Future topics for consideration:
Fire Safety
Managing fluids and other materials on the trail
Advanced Recovery Techniques
•2015 Rock Solid Picnic Area Grant Request
Target completion: late August 2015
•2015 Review of Grant Process
We are not getting the attention or traction from clubs.
Set something up to send a club individual to get trained and use the grant process to fund the educational training.
Example: Certified Master Trainer for Tread Lightly Training Classes
Big Creek possible SFWDA Grant Request
Entrance road issues getting to the park property.
Rain has made road worse.
Grant request of $10K for gravel, new gate, drainage work, etc.
SFWDA has asked Scott to revisit grant request with new quotes.
Dixie Run 2015 Planning
38 registrations
21 passengers
5 registered for the Ladies Ride
Pre-registration has increased from years past.
To encourage early registration, SFWDA has offered as perks:
First 50 SFWDA Member registrations receive a SFWDA LED Flashlight
Next 100 SFWDA Member registrations receive a SFWDA First Aid Kit
Next 100 SFWDA Member registrations receive 10 Raffle tickets
Registration Costs
SFWDA Member $99.00
SFWDA Passenger/ Child Over 6 $29.00
SFWDA Saturday Only $49.00
SFWDA Saturday Only
Spectator/Passenger/ Child Over 6 $19.00
Meeting adjourned.