May 2002
Clan Maxwell fielded a tent at this year’s Costa Mesa Scottish Games for the first time. This is the largest Southern California event, held each Memorial Day at the Orange County Fairgrounds near Disneyland.
Clan Maxwell tent (blue canopy)
Visitor traffic to our tent arrived in a pattern
opposite to what we experienced at the recent Woodland games near
Sacramento. Our first Maxwell arrived even before the gates
opened on Saturday morning, a volunteer working at another nearby
clan tent. The stream of visitors was steady through Saturday
then slowed a bit Sunday morning.
A trio of Sunday afternoon visitors
The
Clan Maxwell tent
The above picture shows what you can carry on an airplane without
incurring excess baggage fees. I got it all into two large
rolling suitcases and a box (containing the tent) - all within
baggage acceptance standards. Table and chairs can sometimes be
rented at games events, but this time were borrowed locally along
with an ice chest.
The layout of this event was somewhat in the
shape of a pitchfork, with the main entrance at the top of the
handle, most of the events and vendors along the tines, and clan
tents mostly along the handle or T-shaped area where the handle
attaches to the tines. The Maxwell tent was about 100 feet from
the main entrance.
There seemed to be some pent-up demand for a Maxwell tent.
Several visitors said they had been coming for years but had
never seen us there. Good reason: it was our first time! I handed
out about 40 membership applications, a new record for any event
I have attended. And our Allied Families were well represented,
with visitors descended from: Adair, Blackstock, Pollock,
Rawlings, Dinwiddie, Moss, Kirk, Williamson, Herries,Edgar,
Maxson, Wardlaw, Sturgeon, and French.
— Al Reeder, California Commissioner,
Clan Maxwell USA
