Tuesday Night Live

JOHNSON TUESDAY NIGHT LIVE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES REMOTE MEETING VIA ZOOM TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2026 Present: Howard Romero, Tim Mikovitz, Sophia Berard, Geoff Hollis, Charles Flaum, Morna Flaum Absent: Tom Moog Note: All votes taken are unanimous unless otherwise noted. The meeting started about 7:05. Morna Flaum said she is the project manager for Discover Johnson, which is designed to foster growth in Johnson. Its main pushes are recreation, agricultural tourism and wellness tourism. They plan to put on a Blueberry Festival to push agricultural tourism and hope to include a concert in cooperation with Tuesday Night Live. She is asking for a $5K grant from the Levitt Foundation. She would like the concert to be August 1. It needs to be on a Saturday. To get the grant, the concert can’t be part of a series. It needs to be a unique event put on by a 501(c)(3), and it needs to be outdoors and free. It has to have paid professional musicians and it has to be put on in conjunction with an organization with a proven track record of producing concerts. She has asked for a letter of municipal support from the selectboard. The grant has to be applied for by the end of this month. The plan is to have the concert on Legion Field. Morna described some other planned elements of the Blueberry Festival. Tim suggested bluegrass would be the obvious music choice. Geoff joined the meeting at 7:14. Morna asked how many people are likely to attend. Howard and Tim said it depends on who is booked to perform. It could be up to 1000. Charles said he thinks Discover Johnson will go for additional grants and sponsorships. Morna said they want to use the same engineer TNL will be using. Charles asked what other items they should budget for in addition to the band, the sound engineer and an extra cleanout for the portable toilet. Tim said probably hotel rooms and hospitality. He said $5K can get a pretty decent band. Charles said they need to figure out marketing costs. They don’t know if the Levitt grant will cover those. Morna said she thinks they will need to raise more money in addition to the $5K grant. Sophia said it sounds like Discover Johnson will raise the funds, advertise and prepare for the concert and TNL will orchestrate the concert and provide sound. Charles and Morna asked who would need to be put up in a hotel besides the band members. Tim said it depends on who they get, but most bands are not touring with a big crew these days. Typically a band performing for this price would just have one tour manager with them. Sophia asked if they will have $5K to spend for the band only or for the whole event. Charles and Morna said they have to figure that out, but they don’t think they have to have it figured out before they apply for the grant. Sophia said she is wondering if we know what TNL will look like this year. How many concerts are we doing? She loves and supports this idea, but she is curious about how it fits with the rest of the summer. TNL Committee Meeting Minutes p. 2 January 20, 2026 Tim said he doesn’t think it matters what we are doing for TNL. This could still happen on its own. He thinks they are separate products. Tim moved and Sophia seconded to support the proposed Blueberry Festival concert as co- producer, offering to provide the services we provide for TNL concerts. Morna said the marketing materials for this concert will also feature TNL. The motion was passed with Charles recusing himself. Tim said if Johnny Betts is not available, he has plenty of gear at the college and can figure out the sound engineering. Howard said Brian Raulinaitis will be the general contractor for the library project. He thinks he will start in 2-3 weeks. The library board is expecting to have the building done by mid or late October. Howard wants TNL to be on Legion Field. He wants to do 8 concerts, or fewer if we have to. He doesn’t think it will be a problem. One of 3 Legion Field planning meetings with an engineering firm has been held. Geoff, Tom and Howard were there representing the TNL committee. The people who came to the meeting were broken up into 4 groups that each worked on a plan for how to arrange things (bandstand, skating rink, etc) on the field. He still doesn’t know exactly where the bandstand will go. It will be somewhere in the same corner of the field it was in previously. He thinks moving the bandstand will be pretty simple. For next summer we may just want to leave it on the skids. We will get all the power we want at Legion Field. It is a short run from the transformer to the bandstand. We are also planning to put lights all around the field – one tall lamp at the center of each side of the field. Tim asked, we will have control of that for after the show? Howard said yes; they will be wired to the bandstand. Howard said people have asked why we can’t use the porch on the field side of the library as a stage. He thinks it would be hard to mike. It is only 9 feet deep. Tim said it would be a nightmare. Howard said as soon as the snow is off the field he has to get it leveled and seeded as soon as possible so we can have grass by the time TNL starts. Charles asked if they are raising the field by adding material from Holmes Meadow. Howard said they are going to level the skating rink area and blend the dirt from there into the rest of the field. Howard said we now have a curb cut in place at Legion Field. That will be the main entrance for vendors. It is in the area where the portalets used to be. He is hoping we can squeeze a driveway in around the end of the library and to the back of the bandstand. He was met with a lot of resistance about the storage box. Nobody wants to look at a container. But there were about 30 people there and he asked if anyone had ever seen the storage closet attached to the bandstand. Only 1 or 2 people besides Geoff and Tom had noticed it. We will get a container and put it behind our stage. It will hold ice rink equipment, firewood for the bread oven, and TNL equipment. It will provide more room for us than we have had with the closet. The people who used to paint signs for us have retired from that. Howard is looking at having signs printed on vinyl. Tim suggested we could consider printing them on scrim. He knows of a company with good prices. He can get a price. TNL Committee Meeting Minutes p. 3 January 20, 2026 Howard said after town meeting he will no longer be the TNL committee chair, but he will still be on the committee. It was agreed to schedule the next committee meeting for February 17. Geoff said it seemed like the groups at the Legion Field planning meeting all had different ideas. He thought the one developed by the group that included the TNL members was the most well thought out, but he doesn’t know that the majority of people will vote for what we see as the best use of the park. When the engineering firm reveals the two versions of a plan they are going to develop, TNL committee members should all be there to vote for what we think is the best version. A lot of people wanted a pavilion – a covered seating area. Charles said the next Legion Field meeting is scheduled for February 4 on the town website. Howard said he is not in favor of a big covered gazebo on the field. Tim agreed it would not be a good use. Geoff said people were talking about a pavilion the size of Belvidere’s, over 2 stories tall. Howard said it would be great if we could get another committee member. Tim moved to adjourn, Charles seconded and the motion was passed at 8:00. Minutes submitted by Donna Griffiths