Greetings folks,
My name is Steve Pelizza, I was inaugurated as President at our Annual Chapter Meeting this past June, taking Phil Spencer’s place. A big thank you to Phil for handling the Presidential duties since 2021, this was Phil’s second time serving as President, his first go-around was in ’96-’97.
Thanks Phil for steering this ship for us once again!
A bit about me for those who don’t know me already. I got into wooden boats back in 2006 when I first wandered into Phil’s shop looking for work, and after pestering him for a few weeks he hired me to work on boats with him at his Bay Street shop. Over the years I’ve worked for other local shops, with my most recent stint being at Lakes Region Wooden Boats in Wolfeboro.
I’ve recently turned my attention to stitching upholstery and canvas for our fine wooden boats, and am now focusing on honing this craft.
I got involved with the New England Chapter in 2012, when then President Dennis Schauer asked me to rebuild the old website, and I created the new design of the website which you see now. Then two years ago I rebuilt it again, just to bring us up to speed with current tech, while keeping the same design. I wear a few other hats as well, mailing out the posters when they sell from the website, acting as Registrar for our events, and responding to inquiries from the website, both from members and non-members, as many of you know.
Myself and the crew have some good ideas in the pipeline, and are really looking forward to doing more as a Chapter. Over the years I’ve heard so many great stories from members of getting together and running their boats, and we’d like to bring some of that enthusiasm from the old days into the present time, and a new generation of boaters. And I’d like to hear what you have to say about it, what you think we could be doing, what you miss doing that we no longer do.
To that end, in the coming months I’m going to begin calling all of you to get a sense of how you feel about our club. Just a brief phone chat. Looking at the membership list over years I’ve seen the names of folks who faithfully renew year after year and have sometimes wondered, “When was the last time any of us spoke to this person?” I’d kind like to change that.
I’ll give you a call at some point, if you don’t have much to say or don’t feel like talking about the Chapter then that’s quite all right. If you miss my call I’ll leave you a message and you’re welcome to call me back, or not, it’s up to you. But I want to feel like I’m doing my part to get a sense of how all of you, all of us, feel about the club and what we’d like to do more of.
This will take quite a while, and I won’t start until after our 51st Annual show is over, as right now I’m just too darned busy! Speaking of which, you ARE coming to the show, right? Head over and check it out, register your boat, join us for cocktails, don’t be a square!
Looking forward to great days ahead!
Best,
Steve Pelizza
stevepelizza@gmail.com