FORT TICONDEROGA SCOTTISH FESTIVAL AND BLACK WATCH MEMORIAL
Fort Ticonderoga, New York
June 20, 2009
Boy, are we ever late getting this report out. This has been a long, boring and wet summer. It seems like our lack of attendance at Scottish activities this year has drained us of our motivation. It’s time to get back in the groove and get moving again.
The Festival at Fort Ti was small but nice. It was their first year and we have to give them credit for attempting it, considering the economy. They had advertised band competition but apparently dropped it, perhaps when they saw what it would cost. It sure doesn’t come cheap.
We had helped them by furnishing local leads to clans and vendors. When we couldn’t get anyone to bring a MacFarlane tent, Sam borrowed the banner from MacFarlane’s New England Commissioner and set up his own tent while Vicki hosted the Colquhoun tent. Sam insisted that since there were several MacFarlane’s in the Black Watch at the battles of 1758 and 1759, they should be represented. Other clans were Dunbar, Hay, Donald and one other that we are embarrassed to say that we have forgotten their name. They were a young couple from New York City who had rented a car to come up to the Fort and this was their first time hosting a tent. There were also 3, maybe 4, Saint Andrew Society tents there. It was fairly quite so it gave us a chance to talk to Bill and Betty Wolf, of Clan Hay, whom we hadn’t seen for a while. Several reenactors stopped by to chat and Sam, who went to high school in Ticonderoga , was able to reminisce with some of the locals. Not many Colquhoun’s up in that area, but Justin Potter, of Crown Point , NY , (another famous battle site) stopped by. Thanks, Justin, for making Vicki’s day. There is a good chance that many of you didn’t realize that Potter is a sept of Colquhoun.
In September we are off to California for our son’s wedding. We arrive back in NY at midnight on Tuesday, Sept. 16th, which gives us Wednesday to pack up all of our gear so that we can head out to the New Hampshire Highland Games at Loon Mountain on Thursday to set up the tent. If you come by the tent and we are napping, please wake us up. We look forward to seeing many of you there.
For those of you in the Hartford , Conn. area, we would like to call your attention to the musical event called Pipes in the Valley on Sept. 26. In addition to massed bands, they will feature the Red Hot Chilli Pipers from Scotland , who will also be at the Loon Mt. Games the weekend before. Also Seven Nations, who were at Loon in ’07 and ’08; Gaelic Storm, who were in the movie ‘Titanic’; The Wicked Tinkers, from the West Coast, who were one of our favorites when we were doing the California Games circuit in the 1990’s and early 2000’s; and Mactalla Mor, a favorite at many New England Games. And best of all – it’s FREE! The website is http://www.pipesinthevalley.com/.
And this just in. Corey Gilpatrick, up in Maine , has launched a new blog called Colquhoun of the North East, http://clancolquhounofthenortheast.blogspot.com/. We wish you success with your new endeavor, Corey, and we will be checking in often.
Vicki and Sam Overstreet
New York/New England Representatives
Clan Colquhoun Society of the United Kingdom
US: http://www.colquhounclan.com/
UK : http://www.clancolquhounsociety.co.uk/
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