Next Meeting

Back to Business!
By Jim Fitz-Patrick

Our meeting to start our 2004-2005 year should be very interesting. It is being presented by Scott Schlager of Pollard Windows. Pollard Windows was started in 1948 in Burlington, Ontario, Canada by Normal Pollard. At first, every window was made by hand. However, today they operate out of a state of the art 300,000 square food plant. Pollard opened their US headquarters in 1992. Scott joined them in 1996 and is very active with the local builder associations. Pollard's authorized dealer in this area is Alside Windows and Siding. Our dinner that evening will be a full course pork tenderloin meal and will cost $20 inclusive. Reservations are extremely important to assure proper seating and food arrangements. Please take a minute upon receipt of this notice to call in your reservation. Call Jim or Jenny at 283-0557 by September 7th.

We Want You!

Are you interested in helping to run your association over the next year or two? If so, please call President Stan Swogier (731-4240 or 628-4403) or Executive Officer Jim Fitz-Patrick (283-0557) to let us know your intentions. Elections are held at the general meeting in November with positions starting in January 2005. If you have any questions regarding running for the Board of Directors or for an officer position, give Stan or myself a call.

We are happy to report that State Director Skip Mazenauer (Niagara Frontier Publications) is on the road to recovery after major surgery a couple of months ago. He should be coming to meetings in the next month or so.

NYSBA News

Enclosed with today's bulletin is a memo from New York State Executive Vice President Phil LaRocque in regards to the Reciprocal Insurance Company they have been working on. Any questions should be directed to Phil or Kristin Legere at the NYSBA (1-877-465-2492).

Christmas Party

I was talking with Stan and Lori Swogier the other day, who reminded me that our annual Christmas meeting and basket auction is set for Wednesday, December 8, 2005 at Suzanne's Restaurant on Niagara Falls Boulevard. Now is the time for all members to start talking to their suppliers about gifts (both monetary and otherwise) for use at the auction. In past years Lori and Stan have secured all the gifts and now need your help to keep the party successful. If you have any questions please call Stan or Lori at 731-4240.

2005 International Builders Show

Now is the time to start thinking about the National Convention being held in the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, from Thursday, January 13th through Sunday, January 16th. This show is the largest conference devoted to helping builders learn to do it right, do it better, and do it now. For further information, please contact Nation Director Bill Burg at Alside (297-1118 or 870-1437) or Jim Fitz-Patrick at 283-0557.

Parade of Homes 2004

Festival of Homes 2004 is moving right along according to Chairman John Ennis and his assistant Murdoch Mitchell. The show is scheduled for September 11-12, 18-19, and 25-26 at 10 scattered sites in Niagara County. We have 10 homes in the show this year built by 7 of our builders, located in Lockport (4), Lewiston (3), and Wheatfield (3). For a complete listing and photos of the homes, click here. This year we are doing some joint advertising in the Buffalo News with the Buffalo Niagara Builders Association, who are also having a scattered home show in Erie County in September. Builders participating include Talarico Brothers, Ryan Homes, Patrick Development of WNY, Glenwood Builders, Eddy and Lewin Homes, David Homes and Barden Homes.

Happy Anniversary!

The Niagara Falls Builders Group (now known as the Niagara County Builders Association) was started in 1945. Therefore, next year we will e celebrating our 60th anniversary. If you have any ideas how we should celebrate, please call President Stan Swogier or Jim Fitz-Patrick.

Golf

Our 8th annual golf tournament was held on Monday, July 12th at the Niagara Frontier Country Club in Youngstown. Chairman Jim Kuryak (Niagara National Insurance) did a super job this year. We had 102 golfers and all reports indicate a great time was had by all. Bob Minkiewicz (84 Lumber) was the winner of the 50/50 Split and received $250 as his share of the split. Other winners were Dave Donato, Scott Guthrie, Pat O'Brien, and Dave Carlson for the yellow ball contest. The longest drive winner for men was Rick Chojecki and Rachel Leo was the ladies winner. Winners in the closest to the pin contest were Leslie Granchelli, Steve Cretanovich, Peter Habes and Scott Budman. Finally, a special thank you to our sponsors who made the tournament the success it was. They were:

Picnic

A great picnic was held on Wednesday, August 18th at West Canal Park. Special thanks to chairman Larry Quigliano and his co-chairs Rachel Leo and Bob Minkiewicz. The food and liquid refreshments catered by J.T. Wheatfield's were great. The evening meal of BBQ ribs and chicken was exceptional as usual. This is the first time in many years that Past President Merv Cook was able to enjoy the picnic and not have to handle the corn preparation. Since Merv has retired from the corn cooking business he has turned his equipment over to the association for our use in the future. The equipment is available to our members who may need it for a large picnic. Thank you Merv for all the years as our corn cooker and giving us your equipment for future use. The 50/50 split was a huge success with special thanks to my wife Jenny for pushing these tickets and also assisting me with the registration table. The winner of the 50/50 split was Brian Tomeny of B&L Wholesale Supply, who received $319 as his part of the split. Randy Sinatra won the beautiful Weber Gas Grill, donated by National Fuel. The tickets to the Bills vs Titans football game donated by United Rental were won by Dennis Sharpe. A special thanks to our sponsors who made the picnic a greater success. The sponsors were:

The winner of our famous nail driving contest was from 84 Lumber Company. We are not sure if the timber, nails, and hammers coming from "84" had any effect on the win.