Author Topic: Colorado Scottish Festival & Rocky Mountain Highland Games (Read 16909 times)

Mary · « **on:** July 14, 2009, 04:34:32 PM »

Hey guys! Booner and Michael will be hosting the clan tent at this one!

When Aug 7 – 9 2009
Where Highlands Heritage Park, Highlands Ranch, CO (map)

http://www.scottishgames.org/directions.htm

Michael Thompson · « **Reply #1 on:** July 25, 2009, 03:57:06 PM »

Tell all Thompsons about this one. We want to see everybody there. View Booner in his kilt! Have a pint. Listen to great music. Have a wonderful time!

http://tinyurl.com/nfzds4

Pamela K. Thompson · « **Reply #2 on:** July 31, 2009, 04:57:44 PM »

oh geeez. We spent all of our traveling money on a vacation to Colorado the end of June! We would love to be there, but we can't.

Take lots of pictures!Karma

Michael Thompson · « **Reply #3 on:** August 02, 2009, 02:41:21 PM »

We'll sure miss you all Karma, but you need to get Katie's foot propped up and healing anyway, don't you? No hobbling around festivals for a while.

Booner · « **Reply #4 on:** August 02, 2009, 10:12:49 PM »

Hi Everyone!

I quess we're all set up for our first appearence at the Colorado Scottish Festival & Rocky Mountain Highland Games.

We'll be in tent #16, right between the Cumming/Comyn & MacKintosh's tents. I'll go over there Friday night after work to set up our tent and we should be ready to go on Saturday morning when it opens at 9 a.m.

I have to give a big thank you to michael for his help in getting this organized. Without his help I don't think we would be represented there.. Thanks, Michael!!! I hope his band will be there; they were a big hit last time we did this.

I'm looking forward to this, it's been a real busy summer for my son & me, painting all the stairs here at the condo. If the rain holds off this week, we should have all our painting done on Friday. So the festival is a reward for all our hard work. All of the work has had it's advantages; the kilt is fitting a little looser.

Michael, I'll give you a call this week, and thanks again

Best regards,
Booner

Parker Thomson · « **Reply #5 on:** August 05, 2009, 12:35:43 PM »

I know that the Clan funds are tight and the Longs Peak Festival in Estes raised their fees, but I have to say I'm disappointed that Clan Thom(p)son will not be represented there. Booner has been doing some stellar work, but he cannot do it all.

I have already made plans starting 3 months ago to be at the Estes games and can't rearrange the schedule with all the other Thomsons to do the Highlands Ranch Festival.

I'm hoping that we can get some exposure at the Estes - I mean marketing exposure. Estes is the biggest games between the East & West Coast- so I hope we can be there.

PS- If there are any other "troublesome" Thompsons at Estes, maybe we can hang out for awhile, drink some single malt, and start a haggis fight?

Cheers
Parker
))
((

Michael Thompson · « **Reply #6 on:** August 09, 2009, 09:41:01 PM »

Quote from: Pamela K. Thompson on July 31, 2009, 04:57:44 PM

We would love to be there, but we can't. Take lots of pictures!Karma

How about these?

That's Booner on the left, me on the right, and in the middle, guess who? The overall best athlete at the games (took first place in the caber toss and I don't know what all else) LOWELL THOMPSON!

Good thing Booner loves to talk, cuz he got in a lot of practice. Here he is with some guy whose great great grandmother was a Thompson. We got a lot of that. Seems like we're related to nearly everybody one way or another.

Met lots of Thompsons of various sorts. Hope they'll join the clan.

Booner's son Collin Thompson helped us out a lot too. Good to see the young up and coming Thompsons involved in the clan. He has the Thompson grey kilt, while Booner and I wore the traditional blue. We all marched in the parade of clans with our tartan banners.

Booner represented Clan Thompson during the opening ceremonies but he wouldn't come out from behind the banner long enough that I could get a picture of his face.

All in all, it was a great festival. We met lots of Thompsons, made friends with McIntoshes and Cummings and Donnachaids and all sorts of other clan people. We were very warmly welcomed, it being our first time at this festival. We learned a lot and hopefully advanced the cause of Clan Thompson.

Donna · « **Reply #7 on:** August 09, 2009, 11:50:22 PM »

Michael,
I'm not seeing the photos

I'm just getting a little red x in a black box...

Donna

Michael Thompson · « **Reply #8 on:** August 10, 2009, 04:41:00 PM »

Try it now Donna. I linked from Facebook and it's apparently kind of strange about the link format.

Donna · « **Reply #9 on:** August 10, 2009, 06:19:30 PM »

Thanks Michael, Booner, Collin and Lowell

Michael, I sure do like that shirt you're wearing! And, Woooo Hooooo for our own Lowell Thompson!!! I can see that the Clan Thompson Society had some First Class representation at this event! With Collin helping out, we may just get some young folks to join the Clan.

Well done Lads...

Donna

Booner · « **Reply #10 on:** August 11, 2009, 10:35:13 PM »

Colorado Scottish Festival & Rocky Mountain Highland Games report

I arrived at the park Friday night to look things over and to set up the tent. After I got done securing the banner and flags I noticed that I had everything facing out the wrong side of the tent. No problem, I made a quick adjustment and went home. One of the nicest things about this game was that it was about a 10 minute drive from my house.

The games started at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday and my son & I got there about 8:30, after a brief stop at that quaint Scottish restaurant, McDonald's. I stopped at a gas station to get some gator aid and the clerk, (a female of the species) gave me a big WaHoo! as I was in my kilt.

Michael showed up shortly after nine and he had brought some clan info that he had made and I was very impressed with his work. The morning was pretty slow, I don't think we had anyone inquiring about our clan but we sure had a lot of kids who wanted their passports stamped. We didn't have one so we improvised my carving a "T" in the end of a cork and used a ball point pen to add ink. It was very rustic.

At noon all the bands marched onto the field in a large formation followed by each clan. Michael, Collin and I represented our clan. After the parade the crowd began to pick up and by mid-afternoon we had had 4 or 5 people come by and show some interest.

The tents closed down at 5 pm and Michael stayed to listen to the music while I went home to attend a party that night. I said the heck with it and wore my kilt to the party. My son had a "previous appointment" so he took the car, so I rode my motorcycle...... down I-25..... the kilt flapping in the breeze behind me.......it felt.... liberating! It was real strange because all the men in the cars tried their best to ignore me while the women waved! I got pinched twice while at the party.

Sunday turned out to be a little warmer than Saturday, or did it just seem that way? I expected sunday morning to be real slow and it was, other than the kids and their passports. Again at noon we had a grand review of the bands and clans and the crowd really didn't pick up until 1:30 or so. I would say that Sunday was slower than Saturday in terms of the number of attendees both to the festival and to our tent.

I would have to say that we were very well received by all the clans, and while the numbers visiting out tent were smaller than I had hoped, I didn't other clans crowding with visitors either. There were about 24 clans represented, and I would say the festival is about half the size of Glasgow, for those who have been to that game.

We, and I especially are fortunate to have Michael as a member. Not only did he take it upon himself to get us a tent at Estes Park, he's also very well informed about the Celtic community here in Colorado, and about our clan. It was a pleasure to spend some time with him and get to know him better. We made a list of things we need to add to or change at Estes Park, and I look forward to working the tent with Michael there.

respectfully submitted,
Booner

Booner · « **Reply #11 on:** August 11, 2009, 10:38:56 PM »

I forgot to mention that Lowell Thompson came up to our tent late sunday and told us he took first overall in the games!!!
We didn't know he was even in town---Duh! he lives here! I thought he lived in Arizona or something. HE's a single man again and unfortunatly doesn't have a computer so he didn't know we'd be there---So we'll see him again up at Estes Park.

Booner

Stirling Thompson · « **Reply #12 on:** August 12, 2009, 07:49:08 AM »

Booner and Michael, you guys are really doing a super job representing the clan out there in Colorado! Keep up the great work you guys make a terrific team and it certainly makes it easier when one person doesn't have to try to do it all. Thanks to Collin as well, I do hope he's a willing volunteer and didn't get drafted to the job! We really do need the younger generation to get active if we're going to continue to build on what we've already accomplished. Again, thanks to all and keep up the great work! Semper Familia! Stu

Donna · « **Reply #13 on:** August 12, 2009, 06:07:41 PM »

Hey Y'all,

Would it be possible to give us a "roll call", if you will, for the Gatherings where we will have a Clan Thompson Society Tent ? Please show the Event Location, Event Date, and who will be hosting the Tent.

Thanks

Donna

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