Mark your calendars now! As
many of you couldn’t make it to last year's Fall CMG when we had to change
the date suddenly to Thanksgiving, we wanted to give you ample notice that
this year will again start on the Friday
of Thanksgiving weekend (Nov. 28) and run until the Monday following.
TOP
SIX REASONS WHY CMG AT PATHFINDER RANCH WILL BE EVEN BETTER THIS
YEAR:
1) Brand
new dining hall! Way more space in
a new building with a new staff, eliminating
the previous crowding.
2) New menu! Chef Phillip Bowden
(graduate of the Pennsylvania School
of Culinary
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As
soon
as
all
details
are
available  for
the Fall
2008
Gathering,
all
information
and
registration
materials
will
be
posted
on
this
site
and
will
be
sent
to
all
subscribers
to
our email notification service.
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Arts
and
fiancé of
planning-committee
member
Jordan)
is
working
directly
with
our
eager
camp
staff
to
develop
a
totally-overhauled
menu,
appropriate
and
pleasing
for
everyone
from
vegans
to
omnivores.
3) New meeting
space! The old dining hall
becomes our newest and biggest workshop space. The committee is
even considering moving the “puppy piles” there to alleviate
other cabin-related issues.
4) We know
the place now! A lot of the 2007
challenges came from our committee learning a lot about the camp on the
fly. Like we know that opening ceremonies will definitely be indoors! One of many ways we’re ready
to roll this year.
5) Less
frazzled committee! Ten
people with six more months to plan
vs. five people with six weeks to find and set-up a new camp. ‘Nuff
said!
6) Fabulous
fun new theme! We’re not announcing
it until Malibu, but we’re stoked about the chosen phrase and many
of the ideas are already falling into place. And this year, we can concentrate
on making it great…instead of using that time to search for a
new camp at the last minute!
WHY
PATHFINDER RANCH OVER CAMP STEVENS IN JULIAN?
Camp Stevens, our fire-ravaged
Julian home in past years, will still only have about 70 beds to offer
by November…and half of those will be in temporary housing. They
just aren’t ready for big groups yet. With the number of ways
we can see that Pathfinder Ranch will serve us even better this year than
in 2007, it seemed the right choice to return there for 2008 and decide
in 2009 where we’d like to be next.
WHY
THANKSGIVING WEEKEND?
First, 2007 Fall Gathering
survey results showed overwhelming preference for Thanksgiving
weekend over a non-holiday weekend. Overwhelming enough, in fact, to balance the number
of people who had to drop out when the weekend changed…many of whom
told us that they could have done Thanksgiving if they’d just
had more notice.
After much discussion, we
decided that the advantages of travel in Friday’s daylight and the avoidance of “Palm Springs
Pride” weekend were undeniable.
So we hope you’ll
enjoy local Thanksgivings on Thursday and come join us that Friday through
Sunday (or Monday!) in Mountain Center, CA near Idyllwild!
Save the dates!
Fall Gathering Planning Committee
63rd California Men's Gathering
