Dining Out is simply about having fun while getting to know a local restaurant and experiencing their food, drink, and service with a bunch of your newest friends. This year we will try a couple of new places, repeat some fan favorites, and return to a few we have not visited in recent years...all while attempting to avoid general meeting venues. A tall order for a small town like Estes Park! The plan is to order off the menu for a full variety of options. The group will generally meet on the second Wednesday of each month, but look for dates and locations on the Newcomer Calendar under “What’s Going On.” Interest group members will be notified via email once the calendar is finalized and the next event is open for registration. Bon appétit!
MEMBERSHIP: Welcome Our New Members
Since the first of June, the following new members have joined the class of 2023:
Adams, Cindy & Dan
Alper, Cathy & Steve
Atterbury, Lorraine & Thomas (Joe)
Beechy, Judith
Bennett, Rose
Bryson, Wendi
Currie, Carol & Dean
Davis, J R & Barbara
Hagnauer, Karl & Cheri
Hannigan, Barry & Mary
Lambert, Linda
Leeds, Caity & Josh
Patterson, Margaret & Glenn
Peyton, Deb & Dave
Poznic, Steve & Anne
Routh, Debi
Stewart, Scott & Gosia
Stookesberry, Denise & David
Sullivan, Gayla & Rick
Underwood, Susan
Waters, Jennifer & John
Webb, Drew and Carla
Wise, Ann & Riedlinger, Stephen
Wood, Wally & Melissa
Yowell, Sue
Welcome!
PRESIDENT’S POST: Happy New Year!
I am pleased to be the first to welcome everyone back to the start of another year with the Estes Park Newcomers Club. And a great year it will be, I predict.
Your new board hit the ground running early this summer, starting with a planning workshop in mid-June, where we gathered to brainstorm plans for the year while studying what we learned from the member survey taken last May (we’ll talk more about that at the September meeting).
To kick off the workshop, I challenged everyone to pursue “Great Member Experience” within everything we do as a board. I am excited to see that challenge embraced and how quickly it is being applied to the numerous programming facets that make up Newcomers.
I believe you will see your Board’s commitment to Great Member Experience right away, and in many different ways. How and where we conduct our monthly meetings. Finding yourself with more time to socialize with your friends. The originality and detailed planning put into our club programs and events.
One example that stands out is the enhanced summer program implemented these past couple of months.
In addition to our usual summer fare of wine & cheese and interest groups, your special events team hosted two events – a fun outing to a festive screening of ”Mama Mia 2,” as well as the Great Summer Picnic of 2018, with all the fun, food and friends any of us could handle.
And speaking of Great Member Experience, have you noticed the new website? Check it out - it’s all new and shiny, and with all the features you told us were important to you as members.
Behind the scenes of the new website is a new membership system – the workhorse that makes everything all about Newcomers. You will see and touch that system every time you receive an email from the club, sign into the website, register for an event, make a payment, or look up another member’s address.
A ginormous shout-out is in order to the tech ops and membership teams for the months of work they devoted to pulling all this together. That’s to you Jeff Lindbergh, Ed Ellingson, Rod Unruh and Deb Stalder
And there’s more. Much, much more. But that can all wait until the September meeting.
Make sure and register now for that meeting - it’s earlier than usual. And come prepared to reconnect with all your Newcomer friends, as well as get to know our newest members - the class of 2023. And brace yourself for a full-on introduction of the 2018-2019 plans of your programming team.
Speaking on behalf of your board, you have our commitment to making everything about Newcomers this year a Great Member Experience for you. And if for some reason you feel we missed the mark, we really want to hear about it.
Let the new year begin!
FROM THE BOARD: There’s A New Website!
It's new. It's different. It's better.
Let’s take a quick tour.
Making Estes Home…
Landing on the home page, every visitor is greeted with the photographic genius of local artist James Frank, who has captured the unrivaled beauty of the area we've all made our home. The distinctive, rich autumn colors in the photo became the color palette for the entire design.
Scanning the home page brings the vitality of the Club to the forefront. Who we are, upcoming events, interest groups, news updates - you will see something new every time you come to the website.
Hello...Who's This?
The website caters to many audiences - in addition to our active members and alumni, there are also those first time visitors who may one day be among us. The website makes the right things visible for the right people. As a member, simply choose the green MEMBER SIGN-IN button to get to the right place.
Once signed in, the About You area lets you make your profile your own. Confirm your household information, renew your membership, add a picture for the directory, and set your privacy settings.
Exactly When Was That, Again?
Checking out What’s Going On from the menu will land you on the calendar for the entire year - every activity, group, event and gathering of the Club. Now it's easy to plan your life around Newcomers!
Using that calendar, you can quickly register for the various meetings and events the club hosts. You can even RSVP for small group gatherings. Paying online is fast, easy and secure - so in minutes you're good to go to that big event.
Well, Now This Is Interesting…
From their icon on the home page, Interest Groups has a big presence on the website. Each of the 20+ groups has a place where you can learn about them, reach out to a leader, RSVP for an event, see the schedule - even join online.
This Is Us.
Signed-in members can head on over to the Member Directory - where everybody who’s anybody hangs out. Quickly do a search to get directions to wine & cheese, send a message to another member, even see the entire membership on a giant Google map.
And It Goes Where You Go.
The new website works on any device - your computer, your tablet, even your phone. So next time you're on your way to an interest group gathering and need to call the host - get out your phone, and after a couple of taps, you're talking to them.
And A BIG Thank You.
The Club's new website made its debut last month, just in time for the start of the new program year. It is the culmination of a lot of hard work over the summer by the Tech Ops and Membership teams. We encourage you to extend a big Newcomers thank you next time you see them.
SPECIAL EVENTS: Benson Sculpture Garden Tour
On Thursday, September 27, the Newcomers Special Events team is delighted to bring to you an opportunity to tour one of northern Colorado’s most celebrated treasures, the Benson Sculpture Garden in Loveland, CO.
In addition to the sculpture garden tour, a portion of the group can take part in a tour of Art Castings of Colorado, the bronze art foundry also located in Loveland. There you can see firsthand just how all those amazing sculptures come to life! This optional part of the day is limited to twenty people.
In between the foundry tour and the sculpture garden tour, we’ve arranged for a lovely buffet lunch and will include a presentation on the sculpture garden by Kristi Elyce, Executive Director of the Loveland High Plains Art Council.
After lunch, we will head over to the sculpture garden to begin our tour.
Cost is $17pp for lunch, plus $4 for the optional foundry tour, and the sculpture garden tour is free! Carpooling from Estes is recommended but not required. We are limited to 40 people for lunch and the tour, so don't miss out!
INTEREST GROUPS: New Groups Getting Started!
We are very excited to announce that two new interest groups are starting this year.
Debra and Kim Sloan have agreed to share their photography expertise by leading a group titled Nature Photography. The group will meet on the 2nd Saturday of each month, leaving at pre-dawn in order to catch the animals at sunrise for the best possibility of good photo shots. Photographing the critters will finish up approximately two hours after sunrise, once the animals have headed into the trees or bedded down for the day.
Caity Leeds has agreed to head up a Weekend Hikers group. Although anyone is welcome to join, this group is targeting members who work during the week and are unable to participate in the regular weekday hiking groups. Hikes will begin at an easy level and gradually advance based on the needs and ability of group members.
Please consider joining one of these new groups on September 12th at the general meeting.