To the Editor:

The Hollis Nor’Easters Snowmobile Club, with over 800 members this winter, would like to thank all the volunteers who have done such a wonderful job maintaining and grooming all the multi-use trails in and around Hollis.

With the huge amount of snow from late January into March, the riding and trails have been great, and our grooming crew has done a super job of keeping the trails nice and smooth. Many thanks to the guys who have put in hundreds of hours grooming – namely, Amos White, Dave Jennings, Joe Vallier, Trevor Hardy, Jon Lavoie, Jeff Peters, Doug Sattler, Ed Cook, Dave DiTullio, Larry Moore and Lenny Schofield. My apologies if I missed anyone else.

We would also like to thank all the landowners who allow us to use the trails across their property, and our local sponsors and business partners at RJ’s Motorsports in Nashua and the Hollis Pharmacy, as well as Souhegan Valley Motorsports and Amherst Motorsports in Milford.

Our major event of the season, the Pink Ride, was a big success again this year, with more than $20,000 raised for the St. Joseph Hospital Breast Care Center in Nashua.

This ride was organized by Nor’Easters secretary Sue Keough as a cancer charity event in 2012. This year, we had 87 sleds lined up at Silver Lake State Park in Hollis on a beautiful day for a 50-minute ride on freshly groomed trails through Hollis and Milford, followed by a cookout back at Silver Lake with more than 100 people attending. Thank you, Sue, for a wonderful event and a fun day for all.

The Nor’Easters followed up the Pink Ride a week later by participating in the Lone Pine Hunters Club Winter Carnival in Hollis by providing snowmobile and sleigh rides. We had a couple big sleighs and several smaller ones pulled by groomers, plus 2-up sleds. They traveled through the Lone Pine property and Hollis conservation land trails on a scenic ride through the woods and along the Nashua River. We also had a 120cc kids sled that many young children had a chance to ride with instruction and supervision. The Winter Carnival has become a popular annual event attended by many families and children, and snowmobiling has been an important part of the day.

A big thank you to all the officers and directors and volunteers who put in so much time for the good of the club at monthly meetings, Old Home Day, preseason barbecue, snowmobile safety course, the Pink Ride, grooming our beautiful trails, the winter carnival and a couple of group rides.

In addition to snowmobiling events, the Nor’Easters offer a $1,000 scholarship to any high school senior whose family has a connection to the club. Applications for this year’s high school scholarship will be accepted until Saturday, May 2, and can be downloaded from the Nor’Easters website at www.noreasters.org.

We hope you all have had a nice winter riding season.

Doug Cleveland, Hollis Trails Committee
and Hollis Nor’Easters Snowmobile Club