Stone Mountain 2009 Pics

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Thanks to those who have posted pics so far. Wow, what a long weekend it was, but fun! The weekend started for the Scottish Tartans Museum crew on Thursday, packing up our inventory to take down to the Games.

(For those who don't know, Stone Mountain is one of the few venues where we actually travel with gift shop inventory to sell merchandise as a museum fund raiser. We take a good portion of our gift shop stock to Stone Mountain, but as we are not really a "games vendor" with a stock ready to travel, we literally have to pack up our stock off the shelves in the gift shop to do this.)

So Thursday was "packing day" and then the museum & gift shop were closed on Friday so we could travel down. My wife and I left early Friday morning to attend the annual meeting of the STA USA before the Games. The rest of the museum staff & volunteer crew headed down a little later in the morning. We all met together on the field after lunch to get our tent set up.

Friday was cold and overcast, but no rain. I have to say that with all the rains Atlanta has had recently, I was expecting the games field to be a muddy mess. I was actually quite impressed with how dry most of the ground was. The games set up crew really did a lot to divert the water and keep the field dry. I had packed my Wellies just in case I needed them, but they stayed in the trunk of my car all weekend.

Saturday, as everyone has posted already, was cold and damp. The rain never was heavy, it just went from a mist to a light drizzle. But it made it impossible to warm up and really kept the crowds down. Sunday was just as cold, but sunny the whole day, which made the temperatures more bearable.

I do have to say that you see a lot fewer "kilt don'ts" in the cold weather. People wear more sweaters, jackets, and capes, and generally speaking just cover up more. I saw one man walking by in a nice kilted outfit whose knees looked a bit whiter than they should. When he came closer I saw he had thermal long-johns on under his kilt and hose! He may not have been fashionable, but he certainly was warm!

Sunday was a great day for us, but after 5pm when the crowds disbanded, we had to once more pack up all of our inventory and head home for Franklin. My wife and I actually pulled into our driveway about 10:30 that night.

Today was spent in the museum gift shop unloading boxes and putting the inventory on the shelves. I left work at 5:30 and I can say that things are about 95% put back together. :-) Tomorrow maybe I can relax!

Thanks to everyone who came by the museum's tent, chatted with us, asked questions, talked about kilts, tried some haggis, and supported us with your purchases.

And thanks to all the museum staff and volunteers who helped make it all happen. Everyone seemed to really have a great time!

And, last but not least, thanks to the Stone Mountain folks for letting us come down! These really are our favorite games!

And now.... the PICS!


This was Saturday during the day. Left to right: Peter Wilson, owner of Great Scot International, Brian Wilton, director of the Scottish Tartans Authority, and myself.


A close-up of Brian's kilt. This was an organic tweed, woven by Ardnalanish mills on Mull. I am currently awaiting a delivery of another tweed from their line, to be made into a box pleated kilt for myself. If all goes well, I'll be offering kilts for sale from their superb cloth. You can read more in my recent blog post.


Scott (one of the hard working games crew!) happy in his new MacKay box pleated kilt. That's the Georgia state tartan in the foreground, by the way. (I think being worn by Atlanta Kiltie, though it's hard to tell from the back -- ID yourself!)


This gentleman was showing off his Royal Cuff kilt hose that he ordered from us at the Stone Mountain Games last year, to match his Hamilton kilt.


Close up of the hose in question. This is the shephard's plaid pattern.


Candid shot of Lamar Britt (maker of our fine Ferguson Britt sporrans), and Ryan Ross, hardy museum volunteer and fellow X Marker. Ryan had just acquired a new Ferguson Britt sporran and no doubt is discussing the finer details of it here with Lamar. (I really need to update the FB sporran page, he's really doing some nice new stuff I need to showcase).


This gentleman, Russel Dabney, was wearing a kilt made from a new Dabney tartan I designed for him. He commissioned me to make two Dabney tartans, one grey and the other red. This is the grey one (duh!).


I just had to take this gentleman's photo! You can't beat the look -- barbour jacket, flat cap, pipe, tattersal shirt, sweater, tie and kilt! He really looked well turned out, especially for the kind of weather we were having. I didn't catch his name, but he was wearing the MacSporran tartan -- not frequently seen.


The museum's tent, late in the afternoon on Saturday.


Directly in front of us was the tent of the Scottish Spinning and Weaving Society. They were doing demonstrations and also selling a few wares. One of the members is Betty Johnson (who, along with my wife, knits the cuffs for our Royal Cuff hose). Betty was selling some shetland yarn she had hand spun and dyed. My wife bought enough of her yarn last year to make a sweater vest for me -- which I posted pictures of some months back.

More pics to follow.....

[M. A. C. Newsome]

On Sunday Lamar Britt wore his personal/corporate Ferguson Britt tartan as a great kilt with his newly acquired 18th century doublet and waistcoat. I had to take a picture!


A candid shot showing the same outfit. That's Brian Wilton of the STA with his back to us, this time in trews on Sunday.


The games drew a larger crowd on Sunday, it seemed to me, no doubt due to Mr. Sun making an appearance.


The crowd in the vendors area.


Gathering to watch the massed bands on Sunday afternoon.


Our tent on Sunday. The kilted fellow on the far left is Jim Walters, owner of Caledonian Kitchen. He spent a good part of the day there making sure my wife was giving everyone an opportunity to taste his fine haggis.


Last, but not least, yours truly, taken sometime late Sunday afternoon. Don't I look happy to be still vertical? :-) Little do I know there are boxes to pack and a long, late night car trip ahead of me. Ah, but isn't it all worth it?

[Atlanta Kiltie]

Scott (one of the hard working games crew!) happy in his new MacKay box pleated kilt. That's the Georgia state tartan in the foreground, by the way. (I think being worn by Atlanta Kiltie, though it's hard to tell from the back -- ID yourself!)

Hi Matt

That is not me, I was indeed wearing the Georgia tartan but I was also in the tweed vest and jacket, you took a photo of on Sunday.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Hi Matt

That is not me, I was indeed wearing the Georgia tartan but I was also in the tweed vest and jacket, you took a photo of on Sunday.

Speaking of which.....


You looked very well turned out in your Harris tweed Braemar jacket.

[Rex_Tremende]

This gentleman, Russel Dabney, was wearing a kilt made from a new Dabney tartan I designed for him. He commissioned me to make two Dabney tartans, one grey and the other red. This is the grey one (duh!).

Well, dang if that doesn't look like the Balmoral tartan that I have been wanting to emulate.

Regards,
Rex.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Well, dang if that doesn't look like the Balmoral tartan that I have been wanting to emulate.

Regards,
Rex.

His instructions to me when I designed that one were basically to create a tartan that had a pattern similar to MacDonald of Keppoch (his clan), but with colors similar to the Balmoral. :-)

[Ryan Ross]

...

Candid shot of Lamar Britt (maker of our fine Ferguson Britt sporrans), and Ryan Ross, hardy museum volunteer and fellow X Marker. Ryan had just acquired a new Ferguson Britt sporran and no doubt is discussing the finer details of it here with Lamar. (I really need to update the FB sporran page, he's really doing some nice new stuff I need to showcase).
...

You had to catch me with the collar up! Heh... I think this may have been one of the moments between sporran talk... Lamar was likely laughing at a relay of Ronan's heroin addict crack.


Bwahahaha...

[MacKay71]

Just a few pics of setup, (and rain!), as well as a few from Saturday and Sunday as well.

[MacKay71]

Scott (one of the hard working games crew!) happy in his new MacKay box pleated kilt.

Not the best pic, but I do love the kilt!!