Author: Phill Goldman

Holiday Train Outing

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Four of us hearty souls made it to the Union Depot for the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train.  Hearty, because December 10th was only day in December that was fuly below freezing during the warmest December in Minnesota history.

It was a great party atmosphere as the train arrived, albeit a bit late due to traffic on the line.  The Country Music conference was easily heard throughout the event.  The Christmas Marketplace was larger than past years and had several tasty vendors. Parking was easy right at the Depot.

Next year maybe we'll select a different point on the line, closer to a nice meal.  It's a good event to supplement our holidays, but maybe we should make an event that's less weather-sensitive for our main holiday gathering.  Let me know please if you have ideas, or if you'd just rather have an indoor party and are willing to help run it. - Phill

Canadian Pacific Holiday Train Christmas Outing This Weeked!

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What says Holidays more than trains?  And this time, a real train - the CPKC Holiday Train! The train arrives from the South at 6:45PM, though it's visible along the road from Cottage Grove for perhaps 10 min before that.   Before that, the St Paul European Market happens just north of the Station, easy walking distance for both. The Marketplace is open until 6PM.

Gathering

Let's make a loose plan of meeting at the Christmas Marketplace right around 5PM.  Don't worry, if we don't get together the event is still fun.  I'll post where I land on the website.

Schedule of events:
5:00-6:45 PM: VIP Lounge opens, enjoy concessions, holiday shopping, model trains, family activities including oversized games and craft stations.
5:30 PM: Free General Admission gates open
6:45 PM: Train arrival
7:00-7:45 PM: Outdoor live concert by Tenille Townes and Breland!
7:45-8:00 PM: CP Holiday Train Departs
We STRONGLY encourage that you bring a non-perishable food or cash donation for our local food shelf partner, Keystone Community Services.

The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train will stop in 20 Minnesota towns on its annual ride (2023 is its 25th anniversary!) through the northern U.S., bringing live entertainment and Christmas cheer in exchange for donations to local food banks.  The train arrives about 6:45 PM on Sunday, December 10th and spends the evening there.  We'll have plenty of time to view the train and the show.

Need more details?  The State of MN has even more info at MN Holiday Train Schedule | Explore Minnesota, and the Christmas Marketplace details are European Christmas Market.

Since the train moved to Sunday the 10th, this will be the Club's holiday event, freeing Saturday the 9th for your own holiday purposes.

Parking

Thanks to a couple of our intrepid memebers, we know that parking will be full at the Depot.  By they time 5:00 PM rolls around the likeliest spaces are at the far north end of the Union Depot parking lots.   THere are a couple of options to consider.

  • Parking, good walking shoes, and patience (my particular choice)
  • Light Rain trains roll to CHS field, just a couple of blocks from the Depot.  The green line continues regular service until well after 10 PM westbound.
  • Uber to the station is easy, but finding one after may be a challenge
  • There is a taxi stand at Union Depot

Dinner After

Since the train, and I presume most of us, are departing at 8 PM on a 'school night', I will try to find a casual place to grab a bite rather than a sit down dinner close to the event. I've been advised by most places nearby that they will be either very crowded, or close at 8PM on Sundays.  Suggestions are always welcome.

Our Christmas Event – CP Christmas Train, Sunday Dec 10th at 6:45PM

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All Aboard the Nokomis' Christmas Holiday Event for 2023!  We'll be viewing the train at St. Paul's Union Depot.  The train arrives from the South at 6:45PM, though it's visible along the road from Cottage Grove for perhaps 10 min before that.   Before that, the St Paul European Market happens just north of the Station, easy walking distance for both. The Marketplace is open until 6PM.

The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train will stop in 20 Minnesota towns on its annual ride (2023 is its 25th anniversary!) through the northern U.S., bringing live entertainment and Christmas cheer in exchange for donations to local food banks.  The train arrives about 6:45 PM on Sunday, December 10th and spends the evening there.  We'll have plenty of time to view the train and the show.

Afterwards we can retire to one of the fine dining establishments in the area.  Just a couple of blocks away, I am recommending Dark Horse Bar and Eatery, a good dinner and burger place that won't require reparking. We can visit that at the November meeting.

Need more details?  The State of MN has even more info at MN Holiday Train Schedule | Explore Minnesota, and the Christmas Marketplace details are European Christmas Market.

Since the train moved to Sunday the 10th, this will be the Club's holiday event, freeing Saturday the 9th for your own holiday purposes.

 

 

Annual Bake Sale after November Meeting

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Don't forget to bring your baked goods and money to the November meeting! Every year, yummy things show up and are gobbled up by the dozen. You can also not gobble, but bring them home to be gobbled with the turkey or holiday meal. Either way, we can't have a sale without donations and buyers, and it's up to you. Bring your items separated into small portions (6 cookies, one pie, etc) with prices marked on each item.  Please keep the prices to whole dollars, make it easy on your Science Officer!

Chuck Wagon Fundraiser, Sunday October 15, 2023

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Chuck Wagon Dinner and Auction

Sponsored by

U.S.S. NOKOMIS STAR TREK CLUB

SUNDAY
Sunday, October 15, 2023
at the
Dan Patch American Legion – Savage
12375 Princeton Ave
Savage, MN 55378

Cost is $13.00 per person

Social Time and Auction Viewing  2:00 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.
Chuck Wagon Chili Dinner Served, plus fun Games 2:15 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.
Silent Auction Closes  3:30 p.m.
Door Prizes  2:15 p.m. to  3:15 p.m.

Please reserve your spots by October 7th so we can make sure there is plenty of Chili and fixins for everyone.

Hello Everyone,

We’re back again and we’re excited to say it’s that time again for our annual Chuck Wagon Dinner.  I can’t begin to tell you how much your support means to us.  Come enjoy a fun meal as well as the auction.  The dinner tickets are $13.00 a person as well as we are raffling off 50/50 tickets (one for $5.00 or three for $10.00).  That means if your name is drawn you will win half of the proceeds that we have collected.  Last time’s winner took home over $365.00 dollars!!!  So, if you can’t make the dinner, please buy raffle tickets.

  Please pass along the invitation to friends and family.  All are welcome.  We just need you to purchase your tickets by October 7th so that we make sure to have plenty of food for you to enjoy.  If you have already bought your tickets, please mark your calendars so you don’t miss the fun!

Thanks again my friends,

Pam

Back to Normal Nokomis News

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BC (Before COVID) we had a curated, monthly newsletter sent by email, and updates to current events were posted to the website but were not necessarily mailed out.  To keep up with the rapidly changing world we set up the website to mail any new articles out in a blast each Wednesday.  Rapid change has settled, and the weekly blast seems to be more noise than usable given the very low click rate we've seen lately.

Starting after the June 14th automatically generated Update email the Nokomis News will return.  You'll get a more complete email once a month,  without the rapid-fire narration.  If we do the job right, everything will be timely and detailed.

What changes?  Well, Scott and I have a monthly task to create a newsletter.  If you're recruiting, running a project or wrapping up a task, we'd very much like you to write the newsletter article and submit them to the newsletter.  We're aiming to mail the newsletter 7 days ahead of the scheduled meeting, so the deadline for contributions will be 10 days prior to each monthly meeting.

Look for the return of Nokomis News, and please let us know what works and how we can make it better for you.

 

-Phill

 

A Way to Reach Out and Help Ukrainian people.

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Mark Uecker brought us a touching request.  Mark and his friends, while traveling the Ukraine singing with their choir, were cared for by a wonderful, gentle man.  In the years hence, as the war has taken over their world, this gentle man has taken on care of kids in a local orphanage.  He's been making sure the children get the care they need in the face of the destruction they've seen.   Mark has been helping these folks out regularly, and asked if we'd be interested as well.

When the Nokomis verifies that a charity is legitimate and the money will go where it's needed, it can take work.  In rare cases though, we have a good and trusted friend describing the charity and vouching for the destination.  Mark Uecker is all the good word we need.

The Nokomis will donate $100 without conditions, and match 1:1 donations to the cause up to a total of $500.  This means your donations go twice as far.  Thank you to the membership for approving the amount, for the members present that pledged support.   And in late breaking news, there is another $500 available from a personal source, meaning that up to the first $1000 donated will be matched.  Please consider giving to help.

To donate, get the money to the Nokomis treasury and we'll gather it to one convenient donation.  There are a couple of fee-free ways to get the funds to the Nokomis, the ways are detailed on this web page.  We'll collect funds through at least the Independence Day Weekend, the collect and forward the funds to where they will do the most good.

 

 

 

 

 

  • Ukrainians of all ages and walks of life have come together to create "trench candles" for soldiers on the front line. The process is fairly simple: cardboard sheets are cut up into lines, then twisted and fitted inside tin cans, the cans are then filled with mixture of wax and paraffin.

Thank you for your generosity, one and all!