It's official folks!!!!!!The Living Sky Letterheads are excited to announce their 2007 meet!
Your hosts, Pat Welter, Suelynn Sedor, Marty Happy, Lotti Prokott and I have been winding the gears to stage what promises to be an unforgettable experience in the prairies "Little Chicago".
Moose Jaw has a colorful and exciting history that has become the basis of making it the top tourism spot in Saskatchewan.
Extra curricular activities include trolley tours of the 39 existing murals (starting with one by our own Grampa Dan) and interactive tours of the famous underground tunnels used by Al Capone during prohibition. Make no mistake though, this is a working holiday so bring your brushes!
We are currently looking at 5 murals which will be led by some of the top talents in the Walldoggin' community!
Guest host Rodger MacMunn will be leading the quest to "sign up" the Burrowing Owl Interpretive Centre.
.....Word has it someone will be bringing some liquid gold..... and confirmed.....some Butler Gold
We have secured the exhibition grounds and the murals will be painted on panels there to be installed on site when completed. Workshops will be held there as well as a panel jamming area and recreational areas. We have ample meeting rooms for workshops and seminars, so suggestions and volunteers are welcome to contact us. Free camping will be available as well as some limited free accommodations.
Any merchants interested in participating, sponsoring or in any way being involved please contact one of the hosts.
Mark it on your calendar Heads! July 4-8, 2007...It's going to be a meet to remember!!!!!
[ February 09, 2006, 11:11 AM: Message edited by: Kelly Thorson ]
Posted by Tony Segale (Member # 1380) on :
Well, by gosh there , Kelly... Glad to hear it! I'm going to mapquest to find out how long a drive towing my '65 Silver Streak trailer will take. Thanks for the heads up, I can plan early.
Got any questions, don't be afraid to ask. I'll have a whole mess of info come June 1, 2006.
Way to go!
Posted by Kelly Thorson (Member # 2958) on :
I am coming to Lodi to learn from your mistakes Tony.
Seriously, thanks for the help so far, we'll be talking lots more. Posted by Dale Manor (Member # 4858) on :
Sounds like fun Kelly,
I will have to save a bunch of money up so I can steal my Camaro back from Duncan and drive it back down here!
I will definitely jot this onto my Calendar, you know me when it comes to painting large things.
Paint from sun-up to sun-set and love every minute of it.
If I can help in any way from a bazillion miles away let me know. I'm a bit quicker with designs and maquette's than Jay is but you'll have that sort of thing!
c-ya on Grampa Dan's wall this Spring!
Posted by Jon Butterworth (Member # 227) on :
I probably won't make Lodi at the rate things are going here ... but I'M COMING TO THIS ONE!
Promise!
Sue and I are already planning a week in BC on the way.
Posted by bill riedel (Member # 607) on :
If I were a rich man, I'd go to every meet every month all year long. They just keep getting better all the time with some of the very best people.
Posted by Matthew Rolli (Member # 4089) on :
Any chance we can eat moose?
Posted by Kelly Thorson (Member # 2958) on :
Moose? Hmmmmmm, I have a field of Sunflower fed Moose. They have the shiniest coats. They would make some tasty BBQ!!!! Our sunflowers never got combined this fall, the Moose think it is their playground/supper table. Funny we never had Moose here a few years ago. Sure I think we could dig up some Moose for you - if you work hard.
Posted by Suelynn Sedor (Member # 442) on :
This is really exciting to see coming together! I can't wait to really see it get rolling! I know it's gonna be fun working with my fellow "Living Sky Letterheads"...maybe our little group will continue to grow. (Any Saskatchewan letterheads that are lurking are invited to join in the fun.)
This is really shaping up to be a little bit of everything. As Kelly stated, we've got 5 murals to be completed, but there will be lots of classes and seminars as well. And signs to work on with Roger MacMunn. There are also a few ghost murals around the city...maybe we could refresh some of those????
Kelly has done a great job getting this ball rolling. We'll do our best to help her out. Hope you all can come!!
Suelynn
Posted by Kelly Thorson (Member # 2958) on :
Suelynn's idea of the Ghost Murals is a great one! It might also be interesting to somehow incorporate some type of photos and documentation of them before they are gone.....I'm sure it would be an interesting and worthwhile project. I know quite a few of them have been covered with murals though. we'll have to check with tourism and the murals committee and see what they know. Maybe we can even post some of the really faint ones here and see if the experts can figure them out.
We are in the initial planning stages, we haven't even secured a meet name yet but I wanted to secure the dates so we didn't step on any toes, and so you can have lots of time to plan!
Posted by John Jordan (Member # 2368) on :
Kelly,
Send me some information as soon as it's available so that I can fill in my calendar.
Maybe you may need a Gold Gilder there.
John
Posted by Sonny Franks (Member # 588) on :
The Canadian Meets are always great and with the hosts you named, this is going on the "can't miss" list.......
Posted by Kelly Thorson (Member # 2958) on :
Grab your pot of gold and follow that rainbow, a little Aussie Gold, along with our Liquid Gold and Butler Gold would do fine! You know I would be delighted to see you here, John. I'm sure there are many who would love to benefit from your talents. Glad to hear you are looking to come too, Sonny! It's been too long since I heard that Southern Drawl!
Posted by Pat Welter (Member # 785) on :
GOLD...did someone mention gold!!...in Little Chicago!!!This alone conjures up a pile of ideas Lots still to plan and do, but this promises to be a good one...It will be good to see you all again, alone with the new faces....Make sure you bring your gangster hats ,pinstriped suits and wide ties.
Posted by Carole Bersin (Member # 5710) on :
I'm gonna cry if that's the weekend my niece is getting married.
Otherwise see ya all there. You wanna carpool Dale?
Posted by Catharine C. Kennedy (Member # 4459) on :
why "Little Chicago"?
Posted by Sandy Baird (Member # 4773) on :
Kelly, I think Pat Welter has a great idea for a themed dance/pub theme night. "Lil Chicago" gangster speak easy anti prohibition party.
The roaring twenties clothing and music could be a great gathering and the photo ops for the costumes will be a hoot. I can picture you and Sue in flapper gear.
Make it happen.
Monk
Posted by Kelly Thorson (Member # 2958) on :
It's got to do with the gangster activity, the "rum runners" in the tunnels during prohibition and the Al Capone Connection. I think that is the angle we are going to theme our meet on. The tunnels were also used as a underground retreat for the Chinese who were persecuted. I think it was them that originally built them. At one time the entire downtown area was a mass of tunnels running under the streets.
If any one has followed the Murals link I'd love to tell you a story about one of the murals. #30, the Clarke Bros Store was painted by Ruth Hamilton when she was I believe 92. She had hoped to paint the mural three years earlier, but her plans were thwarted by breast cancer treatments and surgery. Although she was still in her words "not quite 100% recovered" she undertook the mural that summer and asked me to come and assist as she wasn't quite sure she was up to the third level of the scaffold. Both of my daughters and I spent a few days on the mural. Ruth is an incredible woman. I stopped in at her cabin a couple of years back and spent a lovely afternoon with her, sitting on Adirondack chairs, overlooking the lake and soaking up the sunshine and 95 years of accumulated wisdom of this wonderful woman. The afternoon flew by quickly and when I went to leave I hugged her, thanked her for a wonderful afternoon and said "When I grow up I want to be just like you, Ruth" to which she replied...."I'm not sure what I want to be when I grow up, but I suspect I should make up my mind as I probably will have to do it in the next 15 years or so...."
I first met Ruth fifteen years ago, when we both took a murals class from Dan in Moose Jaw. She is on my list of the top 10 inspirational people in my life. At the age of 82 she was still swimming the three miles across Buffalo Pound Lake annually. She said she had never missed a year in over 70 years.
Posted by Marty Happy (Member # 302) on :
This gonna be a good one!!!!
For those of you that are country music fans you may want to stick around for the following week and take in the Craven Country Jamboree. This was one of the first huge festivals of it's kind in North America.
Posted by Ian Stewart-Koster (Member # 3500) on :
I'd love to come, but can't promise anything, unfortunately- sounds great though!
Posted by Lotti Prokott (Member # 2684) on :
All credit is going to Kelly, she's doing a great job at getting this off the ground. I'm so exited about this, I can hardly wait to meet so many people that I only know from the BB. Not to mention that Moose Jaw is my favorite city in Saskatchewan. This is going to be a big deal for the city, too. Not a whole lot is happening here most of the time, so be assured that this will draw a lot of attention, with media coverage and all. Trust me, you don't wan't to miss this one!
Edited to add, be sure to check out the link Kelly posted to the existing murals in Moose Jaw, some great stuff there.
[ February 12, 2006, 04:21 PM: Message edited by: Lotti Prokott ]
Posted by Duncan Wilkie (Member # 132) on :
Can't wait to sip a Rusty Nail in the Big Sky Speakeasy. Me and me moll wil be derr, foist in line, eh.
Posted by Susan Banasky (Member # 1164) on :
Kelly and 'Gang'....this sounds terrific.....Count me in. If there is anything I can help with from here...call me. I can come early and stay late.
Posted by Kelly Thorson (Member # 2958) on :
For those of you who were wondering if there was going to be a sequal to the Maritime Roundup in 2007, I got a call from Brian yesterday and it was being considered. As things stand he is thinking of having it either within a month of ours...hoping to perhaps lure some of the international visitors into an extended stay in our beautiful country, or hosting one in 2008. Brian said he has been sans computer for the past year which is why he hasn't been on line. I got to speak to the beautiful Dani as well. All is well with them and their family, can you believe that their baby Jonathan is a year old already????
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