2005 KAO Reunion in Calgary
As many of you have already heard, plans are being made to hold the 2005 KAO Calgary Reunion around the time of the Calgary Stampede in July. We have heard that many of our Russian KAO friends plan to make the trip to Calgary for the occasion. So, this email is to make sure everyone on our current email list becomes aware of the event, and has time to plan accordingly for it. The basic planning has begun, but now many of the details need to be dealt with. Here is what we have done so far, and what needs to be done next.
We are expecting to have some 20 - 30 Russians coming to Calgary. Some of the names of people who have expressed an interest so far include:
- Tatiana Titarenko
- Luda Krokhman
- Alexander Isyurov
- Olga Isyurova
- Nina Salikova
- Rachid Usmanov
- Magomed Magomedov
- Flora Popova
- Flora’s husband (they live in England but would join us in Canada)
- Irina Samsonenko
- Andrei Zhitlukhin (KAO lawyer)
- Sergeo Doldudneko (KAO finance)
- Olga Brem (KAO finance)
- Yakov Pavlov (he expects to be a Canadian new immigrant by this time)
- Mr. Leskin
- Mrs. Leskin
- Natasha Makarova
- Kiril Skidan, and perhaps his wife
- Olga Grishina (Abramova)
We hope to hear from more Russians that they plan to make the trip. When we do, we can make sure that we make the necessary arrangements on this end.
The itinerary for the trip, while not all final, looks something like this: July 5, Tuesday: Travel Usinsk – Moscow July 6, Wednesday: Travel Moscow – Toronto, and Toronto – Calgary July 7, Thursday: Rest day in Calgary; evening KAO Reunion (location to be determined)
July 8, Friday: Attend Stampede parade in morning, and Stampede Rodeo in afternoon. July 9, Saturday: Attend a Stampede Breakfast in the morning, and the Calgary Stampede in the afternoon, and the Chuckwagon Races and Grandstand Show in the evening. July 10, Sunday: Visit Drumheller, Stettler July 11, Monday: Travel Calgary – Banff – Kelowna July 12, Tuesday: Travel Kelowna – Vancouver July 13, Wednesday: Vancouver July 14, Thursday: Travel Vancouver – Jasper July 15, Friday: Travel Jasper – Edmonton July 16, Saturday: Edmonton July 17, Sunday: Travel Edmonton – Toronto July 18, Monday: Travel Toronto – Moscow July 19, Tuesday: Travel Moscow – Usinsk
With more than 20 people coming from Russia, we are thinking of chartering a full size bus to travel outside of Calgary, to Vancouver, and to Edmonton. If we do this, there is room for up to 50 people, so it would be great if many Canadians could travel along with us for those few days. Some have already expressed an interest in this. Please let us know if you think you would like to do this.
While the Russians are in Calgary (July 6 - 11), we would like to find homes of KAO personnel for them to stay at. This will make it more interesting for our visitors, as well as save them some expenses, as this trip will be quite costly for them. If you would be willing to do this, please let us know numbers and names. If some of you are making direct arrangements with any of the visitors, that is also great, just let us know, so that we can coordinate to confirm a place for everyone.
To ensure reasonable seating at the Stampede events (rodeo and grandstand show), we have already purchased the tickets for our planned visitors. These tickets are all in a block, and if others want to purchase their own tickets nearby for the same event, here is the location of the seats.
RODEO: Friday, July 8/05 at 1:30 PM, Rows C, D, E, F, G, H, Seats 12 - 16 (approx), in (A) Level 1 South. GRANDSTAND SHOW: July 9/05 at 8:00 PM, Rows D, E, F, G, H, J, Seats 38 - 42 (approx), in (A) Level 1 South. It would be great if other Canadians could attend and find seating nearby.
As noted above, we are scheduling the KAO Reunion for the evening of Thursday, July 7. We are looking for your ideas on a venue and format for the evening. What are your suggestions?
So, what is described above, is just some of the basic plans. Jim Guthrie is working on the arrangements from his end in Russia. We would like to get some volunteers from Calgary to help with more of the detailed planning. If you are interested in helping with this, send an email to Dennis Knudtson and we will contact you for further details.
We will post details of this event on the KAO website, and keep it updated as things develop. We will also send emails from time to time to keep everyone advised of the plans. Please forward any ideas that you may have regarding how we may plan better for the event.
Your Reunion Committee