This has been one of B&G’s busiest years in recent memory. While we’re a little behind schedule, we hope that our members are enjoying the club’s recent upgrades.
We’d like to thank ALL of the volunteers that have helped over the last couple of months. We asked a lot (and often) – and many members really stepped up to help achieve our ambitious goals. Thank you!
May Volunteers
We’re way behind in thanking our volunteers for the month of May. So, with no further delay, we’d like to thank (in alphabetical order):
- Clare Earle for planting annuals and other continued landscape efforts in the clubhouse beds.
- The Mehelich family for the landscape/mulch work on the club’s roadside entrance area.
- Chandler Pierce and Dave Svoboda for the heavy lifting – helping to move rocks to the beds surrounding the pavilions and pool deck.
- Bob Stephens for helping powerwash the clubhouse for paint prep and hauling landscape rock for our pumphouse border detail.
- The Stevenson High School Girls Swim Team for installing 40 yards of mulch around the club grounds, placing our furniture around the pool deck and grounds, clearing brush overgrowth from the fence line, and helping to paint the women’s locker room.
- Lisa Vecellio for deep-cleaning the restrooms.
- The Votruba family for painting the pavilion and clubhouse, digging the landscape bed, and weeding the playset mulch.
Also, a shoutout to the board members who have pitched in to help tackle the ongoing work efforts around the grounds in our extensive endeavors this season.
Please let us know if we missed anyone! Again, thanks to those who helped in April.
Project Updates
We’ve finally updated the 2024 Projects page – and while it’s still a work in progress, we’ve managed to get most of the items on the list. We do this to provide transparency to our members, helping to address the question, “Where does my money go?”
What’s Still in Progress
Unfortunately, as we (B&G) are volunteers – and rely upon the volunteer efforts of many – we’re a little behind in a few things. We hope to wrap everything up in the next couple of weeks. Here’s what we’re still working on:
- The gas fire pits are still waiting for the internal parts to make them functional.
- We’re still finishing up some painting in the men’s and women’s restrooms. Once the ceiling painting is complete, covers will be installed on the new exhaust fans.
- We removed the old vinyl baseboard trim that was in poor shape, covered in paint splatters, and, in many cases, was falling off the wall. New vinyl baseboard has been purchased and will be installed soon.
- We hope to have the drainage project – which is the reason for the large mounds of dirt near the basketball and volleyball courts – to be completed this week. We’ve been waiting for several things to come together to make this happen – more on this soon!
- The wooden benches are missing in the men’s and women’s restrooms and shower areas. They were removed and sanded down, and they are now sitting in a B&G volunteer’s garage awaiting refinishing.
- New shutters will be built and installed on the lobby and snack shack windows this summer.
Pool Temperature
We’ve had some questions this year – and in prior years – about the pool temperature and the operation of our pool heater (boiler). We’ll attempt to answer a few in a Frequency Asked Questions (FAQs) format:
- When do you turn on the pool heater? We turn it on a few days before the official opening – about a week before Memorial Day. The heater remains “on” for the season, operated automatically by a thermostat.
- Why is the pool cold? There are a couple answers to this…
- Likely, it’s not – we keep it set at 82 degrees, and while it may not feel as warm depending on the weather (and if you haven’t recently run a lap around the property), this is our standard operating temperature.
- If the weather is unseasonably cool, the pool temperature might be less than 82 degrees. Because of the pool’s large surface area, a cool/windy day might prevent reaching the setpoint despite best efforts. Overnight low temperatures can be challenging, particularly during early and late season.
- Isn’t heating the pool expensive? Yes. To help conserve energy and save money, we have the thermostat programmed to drop the temperature to 78 degrees overnight. It’s set to ramp back up in the morning to ensure we’re at the proper temperature by opening (noon).
- Okay, so why was the pool 78 degrees mid-afternoon a week ago? Despite our continued efforts through upgrades and inspections, occasionally, equipment fails. At the start of this season, we had a brief stretch where two parts of our pool heater failed. It took us a couple of days to identify the problem, order parts, and install them. We’ve been running trouble-free since then.
- Do you monitor the temperature? Yes. If the pool heater fails to start or the temperature drops to 79 degrees or below, the system automatically sends B&G an email. We typically hope to identify and correct issues before anyone even notices!
- Is the pool temperature on the TV in the lobby real? Yes – this is the actual temperature, measured by the thermostat attached to the pool heater. It’s a complex, custom-designed set of systems for Fairway Farms. On hot days in July and August, temperatures may rise to as much as 85 or 86 degrees mid-afternoon.