August 2nd it is! Volunteers???

It's been officially decided. We'll be holding the reunion August 2nd. We will have an afternoon activity at the Sports Mall for families, and a more formal evening reception at the new MHS. We are trying to get plans rolling so we can send out an invitation with the details by June 1st.

Right now we are trying to get together details for food, slideshow, deposits, RSVPs, invitations, etc... I'm having a hard time keeping up. If you have some extra time you'd like to volunteer, please let me know.

This week we are deciding the food arrangements at the Sports Mall. Would you like to do it potluck style? Would you like to rent big grills and have a BBQ (and pay per item)? Do you have connections for restaurants and catering? Karen Cheshire Chatelain will be coordinating the food preparation, so let her or myself know if you have any ideas.

Shane Cox will be getting together the slideshow, but nobody's emailed any pictures yet. I know you have pictures laying around. If you need them to be scanned, you can mail them to me, and I'll return them at the reunion.

Please keep sending updates on your mailing address, email, and phone numbers. We have a spreadsheet from the 5 year reunion that we're trying to keep up, and I know a lot of you don't live with your parents in Murray anymore... email your stats to

murray98reunion@gmail.com

Time to Start Collecting Alumni Info

I'd like to start compiling a list of alumni that already know about the reunion, and a VERY tentative RSVP. I want to start a LOST and FOUND list. Please email me your name (including maiden name), email, mailing address and phone number to

murray98reunion@gmail.com

Even if you are CERTAIN you won't attend, we would still like to hear from you. We would hate to have someone miss out when others may know how to contact her/him. Even if you are a best friend of the reunion committee, we want to have your info to make up a better alumni roster in case somebody else is accessing the email. I have been looking that the blog for the class of 1997, and they had a great success last year. We'd like to see as many of you as possible, and that begins with knowing how to contact you.

Also, if you have any pictures that you'd like to include in the evening slideshow, you can email to this address too! Just pull out that ol' MHS box and scan away!

New Contact Email

You can now email pictures, stories, dedications, or contact Nicole for reunion questions and concerns at

murray98reunion@gmail.com

The Votes are In...

Looking at the polls, it appears that the first weekend of August is the winner for our reunion date. As for the location, we will probably have the picnic at the Sports Mall and evening reception at MHS.

Aaron and I have also been discussing ways to raise some money for the reunion. We are hoping to find some sponsors of local business. If you know of a business or individuals that may want to sponsor the reunion ($25 and up), please email me at murray98reunion@gmail.com . Sponsors will get an ad on the reunion blog and will have mention at the reunion festivities.

Orange Level ($25-49)
Black Level ($50-99)
Silver Level ($100-149)
Gold Level ($150-199)
Platinum Level ($200 +)

Reunion at the New MHS?

Robin Lewis got in touch MHS. They said we can have the reunion at the school on Friday August 1st. The alumni rental price was quoted as :

Auditorium - $125 an hour
Commons - $35 an hour
plus $25 an hour for a technition for the auditorium
plus $15 an hour for a supervisor

We'll have to get an idea of how many people will be attending and how much the cost of food will be, and then we'll have a better idea of how much it would cost per person. I've posted a poll to see which location (Sports Mall, Murray Park, MHS) would be your preference for the reunion. But feel free to comment!

Reunion Location Possibilities

This week while in SLC, I checked out a few parks and locales for the reunion. I looked at the Sports Mall, which has a great big grassy area with a sand volleyball court. Pool access may also be a possibility. We could bring in some big grills and do a barbecue. It would be nice and private. The gym at the Sports Mall could also be used for the evening dinner/reception. The daytime price would be $5 per person (including for children) and I haven't negotiated anything for the evening yet. The food cost whether we cater or go potluck style, will be in addition to the $5. My goal for the evening price will be somewhere in the $20-30 range.

I looked at some of the park pavilions within Murray Parks and Rec, and this looks like our best options:

Murray Park Pavilion #2
(Pavilion Capacity 250)
$50

Rules for Murray Parks:
*Rental available from 8am to park closing at 11pm
*No amplified sound or alcohol allowed
*Limited electrical--two 110 outlets
*Equipment bags available for rent with reserved pavilion
*Blowup structures are not allowed at Pavilions 1 & 3 in Murray Park; Hidden Village, Walden, Winchester, or Grant. Use of blowup structures require Park staff approval
*Must have own generator for blowups

So using Murray park would be inexpensive, but we couldn't amplify any music or do any P.A. announcements. We could rent some blow-ups, which I haven't priced out yet, but we'll have to also rent the generators. I also need to figure out if the pavilion rental price is hourly or by the day.

There's also a possibility for renting MHS...if I can get anyone to call me back...

A new blog feature...

In order to make the reunion site interesting between actual PLANNING details, I decided YOU should make it interesting. I thought it would be fun to do some Then and Now pictures, announcing special events in MHS alumni lives (weddings, babies, promotions, graduations, etc...) If you would like to have a post about you, email your pics and announcement to cuteculturechick@gmail.comNathan McEuen next to his flammable gas ball in Ojai, CA

Our first installment will be a plug for a gig for Nathan McEuen. For those of you who thought he dropped off the face of the planet post-'98, he's actually been living his dream as a full-time, world-traveling musician. He's done hundreds of gigs, both solo and as part of bands over the last 10 years. He's created and produced two excellent albums, Grand Design and Festival. He currently lives in Ventura, CA and I was admittedly one of his So-Cal groupies when I lived there. His website with music clips is here. He's doing a SLC show Friday night, which is one of the reasons I came to visit this week. If you're looking for some great rock/folk/bluegrass/pop music...it's definitely worth your while to stop in at his show! Heck, I flew out 1700 miles to see it...

Nathan McEuen Live

March, 28 2008, 8 PMat Eeeasy Street
450 W. 700 S., Salt Lake City, Utah 84123
Cost : $5

New Tentative Dates

Two of our planners -Robin Lewis (trip to Paris) and Leslie Allard (having a baby) - have nixed the weekend of June 20-21. Right now it's looking like one of the first two weekends in August. This also gives us more time for planning and coordinating. Any preferences on dates?

If you could have the reunion your way...

Right now for the reunion, we're looking at a one-day shindig: family activity during the day and dinner/dance/slideshow in the evening. For the day, we're looking at a big outdoor picnic/carnival for alumni and their families. We don't know if we'll hire a DJ, have people we graduated with perform on stage, do it picnic potluck style or have catering people sell food ala carte. We'll probably rent some inflatable bounce houses too.

In the evening, we'll have a more formal, adult-only (with or without a date) dinner and dance with a slideshow and presentation on what everyone's been doing for the last 10 years. We have had many people say that they don't want it too formal, nor do they want it too expensive. It'll probably be shirt and tie dressy, but nothing too fancy.

How does that sound? Any ideas of what you'd like better? Please leave comments and let me know what you think. We're still in the infancy of planning this reunion, and are up for any suggestions you have. Also, if you have connections for venues (parks, dancehalls, etc) or catering...let me know too.

TENTATIVE REUNION DATE

TENTATIVE REUNION DATE: June 20-21

Comments?

Also, if you have a blog and want to be added to the link list, leave a comment. If you'd like be a contributor to this blog, email me at cuteculturechick@gmail.com .

Greetings Spartan Alumni!

At the request of Aaron McDonough, I have started this blog for information on the upcoming Murray High School Class of 1998 10 Year Reunion. Dates, places, activites, and more will be posted as they come. Also, please sign up for the reunion Facebook group to reconnect with other Spartans. Please comment and pass along this site to anyone who graduated with us.