Dixie Car Club

Benton, Arkansas car club

April 2024 – Newsletter

April has the cars out and the sun shining!

Spring is in the air and let’s hope that the April showers keeps all of the pollen washed away. Things are in full swing with the Dixie Car Club this month. It’s been so wonderful seeing all of our members out in the community with their cars. Our new membership is up more than it has ever been and with new members comes opportunities to make new friends. We have had so many community organizations and businesses reach out to us wanting the club to be a part of their events. The Dixie Car Club is bigger and better than it has ever been and it’s such an amazing time to be a member of this club!

April Meeting Minutes
President Jennifer Lytchfield called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. There were 43 members present. The Dixie Car Club welcomed 2 new members to the club. Treasurer Lisa Ramsey read the treasurer’s report. Secretary Tosha Thibeau read the meeting minutes from the March meeting. She also listed the mail received from the club P.O. box which was a car show sponsorship check from Summerwood Sports for $500. Tosha reminded members to sign up for the monthly newsletter and listed previous club vehicle of the month winners from the past 3 months.

Club member Kassie Penn informed the club of the April club cruise which will happen on Saturday, April 20th. Members are to meet at Big Lots in Benton at 12:30 p.m. Drivers will then leave Big Lots at 12:45 cruising to the Salem Dairy Bar arriving by 1 p.m. Jennifer Lytchfield spoke of the Benton CADC (Pre-K) asking for club members to bring their vehicles by for the children on April 9th, 10th, or 11th. The club members voted to turn down this invitation. A reminder was given to the club to reach out to club member Roger Weng with any possible car show donations.

Committee chairmen presented updates from their March meetings.

The Publications Committee: They did not meet due to illness and expected member absences.

The Car Show Committee: Secretary Tosha Thibeau presented the updates in place of her husband, Chairman TJ Thibeau, who was out of town. Car show categories have been decided: Off Road, Import/Foreign, Rat Rod, Motorcycle, Modern Car, Antique Car, Modern Truck, & Classic Truck. Modern cars and trucks will be1981 & newer and 1980 & older. Car show trophies have been decided: O’Reily’s asked that we submit the trophies 9 weeks in advance now and for the future. Best of Show will be gold. 1st place will be blue. 2ndplace will be red. 3rd place will be silver. The truck categories will each get 1 trophy (1 for modern& 1 for classic). Off Road & motorcycle will get a 1st, 2nd, & 3rd trophy. Cars will have 8 categories (1949 & before,1950-59, 1960-69, 1970-79, 1980-89, 1990-99, 2000-09, 2010 & after). The Bill Newsam award will remain as a plaque. Rat Rod will also only be 1 trophy(homemade). The committee voted and approved the purchase of 200 dash plaques to be given out for participating in the car show. These will be the size of a business card. The committee voted and approved the purchase of walkie talkies for the car show as the previous walkie talkies did not belong to the club. Pre-registration will continue with the car owner being responsible for the additional fee. No refunds will be offered for online registration. Online registration will end 24 hours prior to day of the show. The committee voted and approved to allow a limited number of vendors at the show. Vendor fees will be $25 and will be required to pre-register and pay via cash app. There will be no food vendors allowed. Depending on space, there may be up to 10 vendors. The route that the car show attendees take to park will be changed due to safety reasons. Volunteers: 2 registration stations will be set up requiring 4 volunteers (2 at each station). One will be for pre-registered attendees and the other will be people signing up the day of the show. There will be a separate membership station that will require 1 volunteer. Parking will require 6 to 8 people. Kitchen will require 6 volunteers. There will also need to be 2 additional volunteers as runners. The next meeting will be on April 16th at the Saline County Fairgrounds at 6 p.m.

The Special Events Committee: Chairman Thomas Gage presented updates to the club. Things discussed were setting some pulmonary dates for family activities. There will be a small online silent auction in June to see how the online process will work and for its possible use at the car show, Future discussions with the car show committee will be needed in regard to table set up. They will begin collecting donations. Tina will be making items for a girl themed basket. Sheridan Car Club has informed them that they will not be willing to participate in a possible chili cook off. Events were tasked out to members to confirm dates and details. Once these are confirmed, they will be announced.

The Membership Committee: Chairman Bill Gray presented the club with their updates. Lisa Ramsey presented an option for a new member gift instead of a new member packet. The gift will be 2 small car care products along with an events flyer and a car club trifold. A vote was taken to purchase these items and to allow $20 for the start of these bags to get started. Member Kelly Hori made a motion for the purchase. Thomas Gage was the second. The motion passed. A text to go out to new members was also created and approved. Membership photos will begin to be added once more photos come in.

Last month, club member Roger Weng presented the club officers with a suggestion for amending Article III Section 3.03 of the club bylaws by removing the restriction of only allowing 2-year terms before requiring a 1-year hiatus. Treasurer Lisa Ramsey will write up the possible change for discussion and vote during next month’s meeting. Roger Weng also proposed that there be an earlier date for nominations before the election meeting date. Club member Gary Reed made a motion to hold officer nominations every October with elections being in November. Bill Gray made the second for the motion. 36 members were in favor with 0 against. The motion passed. Club Member Tanny Jones suggested a change in the wording of Article I section 1.03 of the bylaws due to the current wording being outdated. Gary Reed addressed last month’s vote on changing the logo. Porfirio made a motion that the anonymous vote count be posted in this month’s newsletter. Gary Reed second the motion. 20 votes were for the motion and 0 were against. The motion passed. (THE VOTE COUNT WAS AS FOLLOWED: 5 votes for image #1, 3 votes for image #3, 4 votes for image #4, 3 votes for image #6, 4 votes for image #7, 7 votes for image #8, 2 votes for image #11, 3 votes for image #12, 12 votes for no change) Gary Reed made a motion to change the tire color of the original logo from blue to black. Bill Gray made the second. 10 votes were to change it to black. 5 votes were to keep the tire blue. The vote for the black tire won and will be changed on the logo for the future. Thomas Gage made a motion to end the discussion of a logo change and for it not to be re-addressed for the next 2 years. 27 members were in favor of the motion with 0 opposed. The motion passed.
The meeting was dismissed at 8:07 p.m.

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