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.

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.

The picture (top right) 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 Society