Welcome to the Online Clann Tartan Newsletter for September 2010

2010 Shows Coming to a Close

Saturday Sept 11, Scottish Heritage Day at the First Presbyterian Church in Hudson WI. This is our third year there and the organizers promise a bigger event than before.

Thursday Sept 30 through Sunday Oct 3, Big Island Rendezvous in Albert Lea MN. Thursday and Friday are school days while Saturday and Sunday are public days.

Thursday Oct 7 to Saturday Oct 9, Mankato History Fair. Thursday and Friday are School days and Saturday is open to the public.

Please see the Event Maps and Notifications section of this newsletter for more information. If you want to sign up or need more info, please contact your HCF or Chief of Staff. We particularly need members with demos for the school days.

Dun Gowan Work Weekends

Gaffneyis Regiment, through the kindness of member Don Chesney, has its own historic site in Fredenburg, near Duluth.

Dun Gowan is an ongoing project wherein we are building a 17th century village. We have built a small garrison fort there, and have been working on the first house for several years now.

Dun Gowan is the site of our annual Tactical, and when we have more buildings up we can host immersion weekends, where the public - or other reenactors, living historians, and the like - could come live in the 17th century with us for a weekend. If we do it right, it could be a wonderful addition to our annual events, focusing as it would on living history.

We need help building! If we get enough workers up there this season, we should be able to erect the frame of the first house before the snow flies. We are nearly done with hewing the timbers, after which we will cut the joints, assemble the components, and then have a house-raising party!

No experience is neccessary - just bring a willingness to learn.

The weekends scheduled for this year are:

Sept 11 & 12
Oct 16 & 17

The more the merrier, and the sooner we have a house up there.

If you can attend attend any of these weekends, or if you have any questions, please contact Captain David at baethan1630 at yahoo dot com or 612-378-1973.

Thanks!

p.s. Another group that has built their own site is Skjaldborg, the Viking group from Omaha that we have often played with at the various Iowa events we have done. Their website is www.skjaldborgedu-tainment.com/ and their site, Vikinghjem, can be viewed at vikinghjem.skjaldborgedu-tainment.com/

BIG ISLAND SETUP

I look forward to working with you!

Mary McKinley

Discover the Manual

A lot of valuable information is in the current Clann Tartan Manual.

Wanted!

Deadline for articles to go in October's newsletter will be the 15th of September.

Board & Staff

If you need to contact someone associated with Clann Tartan, here is where you find out how. If you are unsure who to contact, you can always email us at: info at clanntartan dot org

Guilds

Contact:
David Vavreck
baethan1630 at yahoo.com
612-378-1973

Music

The Yoders have graciously offered to host music once a month. We will meet at their house at 4736 12th Ave S, Minneapolis, from 7 - 9pm the 4th Monday of each month.

To contact the Yoders, call 612-825-4519 or email to Julieyoder at juno dot com.

To contact your Music Chair, call David at 612-378-1973 or email to baethan1630 at yahoo dot com

Thanks, and I look forward to making some noise with y'all!

David

We have a yahoo groups email list for the guild that we use for reminders about the meetings and topical discussions. If you want to be on the email list, request an invitation to join from Bruce at bruceyoder at juno dot com.

Gaffneyis Recorder Consort

The first Monday meeting is at Margaret Kirkpatrick's home, 2636 17th Ave S, Minneapolis and the third Monday meeting is also at Margaret Kirkpatrick's home.

We have seven members already, and are working on a bit more refined style of music than we do in our regular music meetings.

Contact your music chair (David) if you are interested in joining up.

baethan1630 at yahoo dot com or 612-378-1973

Dance

It is at the corner of 27th Av S and E 44th Street. Both streets are one way. That block of 44th between 28th and 27th Avenues is one way westbound and that block of 27th Av between 44th and 43rd Streets is one way northbound. You must enter turning west onto 44th St from 28th Av and exit from 27th Av onto 43rd St.

2nd & 4th Tuesdays
Saint Christopher's Episcopal Church, 2300 N Hamline Ave. in St. Paul.

It is at the northeast corner of Highway 36 and Hamline Avenue (Hamline is between Snelling and Lexington). The church is actually encircled by the highway entrance ramp.
The Dance Guild gathers weekly from 7PM-9PM to learn and practice historic Scottish country dances.
For more information call:

Mary at 651-699-6853 or Julie at 612-825-4519

It's a great place to meet people!

We have a yahoo groups email list for the guild that we use for reminders about the meetings and topical discussions. If you want to be on the email list, request an invitation to join from Bruce at bruceyoder at juno dot com.

Fiber Guild

Historic Site

Calendar of Events

The following is a list of the dates of the events that are currently on the schedule for this year. The staff has met and decided to keep this running list of events in the newsletter to give you a chance to get an idea of what is going on this season as well as keep you updated to changes in the schedule.

The column titled status will include the following information.

Tentative- this means that an event organizer or Clann has expressed a strong enough interest in doing this event that it warrants reserving space on the calendar for the event.

Pending- this is the next stage of an event. This means that the Contracts Administrator has entered serious discussion about Clann doing an event but we are still not committed to the event. You should however if possible think about whether or not you may be able to attend this event.

Scheduled- this level means that the board and staff have approve the event and we are committed to providing manpower to making the event happen. When an event is assigned this level please let the HCF know as soon as possible if you can or can not attend this event.

Canceled- This means that for various reasons an scheduled event has been removed from the current season. We will try and give as much notice as we can prior to canceling an event.

If you have any questions about this, please feel free to contact staff regarding this matter

Thanks,
Your Staff

Maps

1st and 3rd Wednesday Dance Lake Hiawatha Neighborhood Center 2701 E 44th St., Minneapolis	Map to St. Paul location St. Christopher's- Dance
Map to Bruce and Julie Yoder's Home Music and Board & Staff Meetings 4736 12th Ave S, Minneapolis 55407	Map to Glenn & Mia's home Hosts for staff meetings 340 Brooks Ave Roseville, MN
Ellis O'Rourke Host for Fiber Guild 1638 Arlington Ave Saint Paul, MN 55106

Event Maps and Notification

DIRECTIONS:

From Duluth, Minnesota- Take US Highway 53 northwest out of town - take a right turn on the Ugstad Rd./Lavaque Rd. Bypass, and travel north about ten miles. Take a left turn on the Fish Lake Road, and travel west about 3/4 miles. At this point I am the only house on the right hand (north)side of the road.

From Mineapolis/St.Paul, MN- Travel north on Interstate 35 out of the Cities for about two hours or so. After you pass the Esko/ Thompson exit, but before you get to Duluth, take the Midway Road exit. Turn left on the Midway road, which will head you north. Continue north on the Midway Road for about 12 miles or so; crossing three stoplight intersections, and then you will come to a stop sign. Turn right there onto County Road 9, the Martin Road. Travel east on the Martin road for three miles and take a left turn onto the Lavaque Road. Travel north on the Lavaque Road, for about 7 1/2 miles until you come to the Fish Lake Road. Make a left turn there, and travel west about 3/4 miles. At this point I am the only house on the right hand (north) side of the road.
5261 Fish Lake Road. Large grey garage, small grey house.

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SCOTTISH HERITAGE DAY

WE WILL SET UP THE DAY BEFORE Setup will begin at 4:00 PM for those who don't have day jobs. PLEASE COME IF YOU CAN. If you don't get off work till later, please check in with Mia at 651-247-6978 to see if we'll still have work for you.

LAST YEAR ONLY FOUR PEOPLE CAME TO SETUP. They were all old enough to qualify for AARP. Please don't leave all the work to just a few.

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Big Island and Mankato History Fair coming in October

Big Island Rendezvous, September 30-October 3

The Thursday and Friday are school days, and the weekend is public. We need enough of us during the school days to run about eight demos simultaneously. Organization and scheduling is tight, so even those who don't feel ready to give demonstrations are needed to act as traffic cops and prepare meals. We put on presentations of roughly 20 minutes on some aspect of 17th century Scottish life. On the weekend, we normally have some scheduled presentations like dance and drill, and we may be asked to participate in other event activities, such as the parade. Saturday night is usually a big party near the main stage.

We are allowed to set up the weekend before the event; please check Staff announcements for Corporate setup time. As we did last year, we have the prime real estate right inside the gate; we will be the first group that people see!

For a fee you will be able to park at the private residence on the road to the park entrance. Free participant parking is available at Snyder field (not the athletic field, but a lot on the North side of the high school.). Shuttles run from the parking area to the park on a regular schedule. Shuttles run to shower facilities at high school. Showers are free for show participants. Personal vehicles are prohibited from event grounds during show hours.

Location

Big Island Rendezvous is located in Albert Lea, MN - just off Interstate 35 about 98 miles south of the Twin Cities.

Drive Time

Allow about 2 hours from the Twin Cities.

Directions

From Minneapolis or Saint Paul, take I35 South to I90 in Albert Lea.
Take I90 West to the 90 west take exit 157 (one mile)
Turn Left and head South on Bridge Avenue to Hammer Road (about 1 mile).
Turn Right and head East on Hammer Road to the park entrance.
You will be able to drive on-site before and after show hours. Our camp will be located inside the park area.

Mankato History Fair, October 7-9

Saturday is a public day. We are allowed to remain in camp Saturday night and leave Sunday. Clann equipment will be packed after closing Saturday. Mankato is within day-trip range, but vehicles have to removed before opening.

Setup is TBA. In the past couple of years we have been dropping the gear off directly after Big Island and setting up during the day as the evenings are short

Directions

From the Twin Cities, follow 169 through Mankato.
Left at the Hillcrest Health Care Center ( if you go past the flashing lights at Co Road 68 you've gone too far);
Left onto Shamrock Lane, which is the second left after crossing the Blue Earth River;
follow this to its end (Jack McGowan's on the map)