Madeleine Ryan, ice show coordinator

To the editor:With spring having just arrived and "ice out" at the Ham Arena scheduled in a few short days, we at the Mount Washington Valley Skating Club can't help but reflect back upon the skating season. In doing so, the hard work and generosity of so many comes to mind.Being a non-profit organization, whose mission is to provide skating instruction to interested individuals of all ages and abilities here in the Mount Washington Valley, we rely heavily on fund raisers. Perhaps our biggest fund raiser of the year culminated with our annual "It's Great to Skate!" a spring skating spectacular, which took place on April 8 in combination with a raffle, a flower sale and bake sale. Successfully coordinating these activities was no small feat and could not have occurred without the hard work and generosity of not only MWVSC volunteers and board members but the community as a whole. We would like to publicly thank these individuals and businesses in this letter.Starting with our most visible event, we would like to thank the following whose talents helped make our show a success. First and foremost our skaters for their willingness to display their talents and their parents for their hard work and support off the ice. For our coaches Emily Finn, Vitaliy Opekan, Laurie Green, Carol Rosenblith and Danielle Laroche for their ability to transmit their love of skating to those just starting out. To George Cleveland, who generously announced our show, and David Page, who expertly videographed it. To Gayle Lemerise, who once again beautifully designed our programs and publicity posters. To Hannaford and Ruthie's Flowers for their donations to our flower sale.We would like to thank the following who helped to get the word out about our show and events: The Conway Daily Sun, MAJIC 104.5 Radio, The MountainEar, Northern Light, RSN TV 16 North Conway, Valley Vision, Inc., 93.5 WMWV Radio and "behind the scenes" Marcia Burchstead. Last but not least, we would like to thank the Ham Arena management and staff for their support and use of their state of the art facility, without which our club would not exist.In regards to our raffle we would like to thank the following for their generous donations: A Fresh Start Breakfast & Lunch, As You Like It Bakery, Attitash, Boston Red Sox, Chuck Roast, Citizen's Bank, Cool Jewels, Crest Auto World, Curves, Decades Steak House, Dunkin Donuts, Eagle Mountain House, Fashion Bug, Four Your Paws Only, Frechette Oil, Glen Junction Restaurant, Glen Ledge Market and Deli, Great Glen Trails Outdoor Center, Heritage New Hampshire, Hillside Farms, Jackson Ski Touring, Langdon's Mercantile, Leavitt's Country Bakery, Madeline's Deli, Maestro's Cafe and Deli, Merlino's Steak House, Mount Washington Auto Road, Mountain Valley Car Wash, Red Fox Pub and Restaurant, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, George G. Ryan DDS, Silver Lake Home Center, Smucker's Stars on Ice, Stonehurst Manor, Story Land, Teddy's Candles, TD BankNorth, The Framed Art Superstore, The Met, The Profile Group, The Sound Resort, Thompson House Eatery, Up Country Family Restaurant, Valley Originals Restaurants, Wentworth Golf Club, White Birch Books, Yesterday's Restaurant and Zeb's General Store. In addition, we would like to thank Grant's Supermarket, Shaw's, Outlet Village Plus and Patch's Market for allowing club members to sell raffle tickets from their businesses.In closing, we would like to remind everyone that "ice out" only lasts about nine weeks and we at the Mount Washington Valley Skating Club are already planning our summer session, which will start in late June. For more information on this or our club in general, please visit our Web site, www.mwvsc.org. Again, the sincerest of thanks to all who make our club and its programs possible.