A pub is its people. What follows is a slice of the sites and interest groups relevant to our (and your) activities within, connected to, and on-going outside of the pub. Got a suggestion? We welcome it. For blog links, please scroll to the very end.
Categories: Authors ** Bird is the Word ** British ** Irish ** News ** Renaissance Festival ** Scottish ** Smart Things ** Sport & Recreation ** Welsh ** Bloggers
AUTHORS
Erin Hart - Erin Hart has published two novels (Haunted Ground, Lake of Sorrows) and is at work on a third. She is also a traditional singer.
Harrison Matthews - Actor, playwright, novelist, and our open mic host. He’s a good cat and rather talented. We’re fans.
BIRD IS THE WORD
Birdchick - Sharon Stiteler’s birdwatching adventures. Great stories and photos.
Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union - An outstanding resource for birding. A listserv, membership information, a wonderful photo gallery, links to other state birding clubs, and much more. Really great group.
Raptor Resource Project - Wonderful non-profit group restoring raptor populations. They’ve also been part of some extraordinary documentary film work, such as the recent Raptor Force which was made for PBS’s Nature program.
BRITISH
Brits in the US - Fine resource for British culture, store/restaurant connections, immigration and more…all of it influenced by a trans-Atlantic marriage
Saint Paul British Expats Meetup Group
IRISH
Ceili Dancing: Step it out! There is a lot of Irish Ceili and Set Dancing going on in the Twin Cities, including free lessons every Wednesday at Midtown Global Market. Here is a Ceili Dance Directory. Also, you are invited to e-mail irishdancetc@yahoo.com for more information. Writes Paul M., “This is not Riverdance! It’s social folk-dancing to traditional jigs and reels.” Thanks, Paul, for sharing these links!)
Emerald Society of Minnesota - Heritage pride, good will between communities and law enforcement, charitable events, and much more
Emigrant Online - News for the global Irish community
Failte Minnesota - An Irish immigrant and Irish-American cultural organization dedicated to establishing an Irish community and cultural center
Gaeltacht Minnesota - Irish language support organization, including free weekly language classes in the Twin Cities
Irish Blogs - Seeing what they’re writing back home!
Irish Fair of Minnesota - 8 - 10 August 2008. Free admission and held on Harriet Island in Minnesota. Dancing, food, beer, merchandise and plenty of activities for all ages.
Irish Fest LaCrosse - 8 - 10 August 2008 - Good food, music, dancing, a marketplace, a culture tent, and much more
Irish Gazette - All the news that’s fit to print for Minnesota’s Irish community. And then there’s that Seamus guy…
Irish Indeed! - Irish jewelry, clothing, and much more.
Irish Music & Dance Association - Wonderful group. IMDA supports, coordinates, encourages and promotes high quality activities and programs in Irish music and dance in the Twin Cities.
Irish on Grand - Gifts, groceries, music and more!
Saint Paul Irish Dancers - Eileen Dahill’s dance school. They perform around the cities, study Irish music and culture, and present an annual show at the O’Shaughnessy Auditorium at the College of St. Catherine.
Scoil na dTrí (pronounced skull-na-dree) - one of the premier Irish dance academies in the Twin Cities. The company name means “school of three” (which is related to the original three founders from 1994)
The Session - Celtic session musicians unite! And thank you, Sessions, for listing Merlins. We appreciate you!
Traditional Singers Club - Brilliant stuff that has filled a void in the Irish music scene in Minnesota. This club helps teach people how to perform traditional unaccompanied music–and, perhaps more importantly, helps the rest of discover it.
NEWS
The Bridge - Neighborhood news spanning the River here in the Twin Cities
City Pages - A weekly Twin Cities nightlife and issues paper
Irish Gazette - Jim Brooks and company are on the case
MNspeak - As the site says, “Twin Cities: all day, all night.” And they even gave us a nod here.
MinnPost - A new and engaging news publication. Great online resource for the Twin Cities.
Pioneer Press - St Paul’s paper
The Rake - A monthly news mag of Twin Cities news and entertainment
Sphere - The blog of a service that connects news agencies and blogs with shared readers. Like the old commercials used to say, “We’re all connected!”
Star Tribune - Minneapolis’ paper…and you can find Merlins listed in their music venues pages.
VitaMN - Great source for local events, reviews, music news and more. And check out (and contribute to) the VitaMN info on Merlins Rest.
Yahoo! Local - The Merlins listing at Yahoo!. If you had a good time, hey: add a review!
RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL
Minnesota Renaissance Festival Friends - Mad crazy links for the mad crazy (talented and fun) MRF crowd
Renaissance Festival - Summer ritual? or way of life? Either way, it’s a joy
SCOTTISH
Celtic Croft - Kilts, haggis, books, and so much more!
Clan Tartan - A Scottish-living history group
Minnesota Scottish Fair & Highland Games
Minnesota Tartan Day - Believe it! In addition to the many tartans we honor on this day each year, we honor our own: Minnesota has its own tartan. Also, the Minnesota Tartan Day Cooperative publishes a regular Scottish News in Minnestoa (SNIM) Newsletter. Read the current issue online.
Royal Country Scottish Dance Society - Twin Cities Branch
St. Andrew’s Society of Minnesota
A Scottish Ramble - Wonderful festival in downtown St Paul each February!
Twin Cities Scottish Club - Non-profit organization that promotes Scottish cultures, tradition, history and entertainment. Sponsors many events and encourages Scottish dancing, piping and drumming.
SMART THINGS
Minnesota Mensa -Let’s hope they don’t find out we have a pub quiz!
U.S.S. Nokomis Star Trek Society
SPORT & RECREATION
Canterbury Park - Live horse-racing right here in Minnesota! The track is located in Shakopee and runs each weekend from May 5 - September 2. Thursday and Friday night races happen most weeks in June, July, and August.
OpenMikes.org - Great resource for those looking for OpenMike (or is that Mic?) events. They also list us.
TRAVEL
IgoUgo - And they even list Merlins Rest.
WELSH
St. David’s Society of Minnesota - Events, a book club, a geneaology group, a quarterly newsletter and much more
BLOGGERS
(Note, some blogs contain vituperative entries, political screeds, and the occasional foul burst of language.)
Aaron Landry - Wide ranging in subject matter, plenty of sharp photography, and all in all some fine writing and experiences
Afterglide - A North Dakota-born, Minnesota-living computer programmer who makes claim to a firm handshake. Fiar enough. He’s got a fun blog too.
Anatomy of an Armpit - From the Isles to America and all the art between
Beer Musings from Minneapolis-St. Paul -
Birdchick - Sharon Stiteler’s birdwatching adventures. Great stories and photos.
Bloated Belly - Mmmmmm. Notes on meal & drink in the Twin Cities.
Dharma Blog - Fishing, hiking and the zen of the outdoors
East-Lake.net - Brian Moen’s accounts. Solid discussions crop up between the readers of this one.
Free the Reeds! - Keeping the kids informed on the Celtic music scene
Freedom and Whisky - A provocative political blog from Scotland–and David Farrer is also a fine photo chronicler of life in Edinburgh!
From a Farther Room - Grand photography. Good writer’s resource too (for he actually sends things out and publishes!)
From the Groomporter’s Ledger - A good guy, this Groomporter.
Geal Darach Grove - A resource for druidry.
The Life and Times of an Ex-Pat Yank - A dizzying array of subjects from an avid web reader and blog writer in Saint Paul
Life Bikin’ - Snake Bite rocks hard and rides free.
Midwest Music - Calendar info, venues and more
Mips, the Skyylark - An accordian player and singer. Perhaps we’ll see her perform at Merlins Rest soon, hmm?
Night Editor - Great stuff about life and work from a publishing professional and writer
North Country Druid’s Grove - Scratching the inner bark of his brain. And a related forum at Yahoo Groups.
Positively Elizabethan - One sweet soul
Restroom Ratings - I really wish this hadn’t been posted right after we opened! Things are cleaner and we have more upgrades planned. Seriously.
Sassmaster - An absolute cinnamon in this world
Sam Bands - Sam Fiske’s music calendar
This One Time I Went On This Camping Trip - Karaoke diva, bike rider, quiz player, and now a resident of Madison, Wisconsin. We miss her!
Two Knives - The L-Ray’s take on parenting, politics, corporate takeovers and much more. It’s a fine read.
** Disclaimer: inclusion of a link on this site does not constitute endorsement by Merlins Rest of any products, services or opinions expressed at these sites.
Congrats on the new pub. Can’t wait to visit the new place. In the meantime, might you post a link to our Irishfest-La Crosse website at
www.irishfestlax.org.
Slainte,
Pat
Will do. Thanks for your interest, Pat. We appreciate it.
Hey! Thanks a tonne for the link! I LOVE your pub! And I’m glad to promote you!
– Tucker
No problem, Tuckmac. We appreciate your good words about the pub and are enjoying your thoughts on other matters too!
Merlin, Thanks as well for the link. I sent your pub blog over to City Pages blog roll. . . . Hope to stop by the MR this summer.
Was down for the St Andrews party. It was a great time, thanks.
By the way, I vote your Brit fish and chips the best in the cities.
How about a link to the Twin Cities Scottish Fair & Highland Games. http://www.mnscottishfair.org/
Thanks
Andy
Hmmm…. would it better be called a dance link or a Scottish link?
At any rate, consider including the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society-Twin Cities Branch on your contact list. Of course we have a web-site: www.rscds-twincities.org
I’ve heard that there is an erstwhile Welsh Dance group in town as well!
Whoa! Am I bad! The Scottish fair is the Minnesota Scottish Fair and Highland games. Not the Twin Cities. I am even on the board!?
This year it is coming on May 17th.
No worries, Andy! Notation corrected. (I should have tested the link ahead of time and vetted the info.) Thanks for keeping this in the public eye. We’ll keep watch on the website and date for activities.
Happy days,
-cK
Aye, I would echo Andy McCracken’s request for a link to the MN Scottish Fair site and also suggest:
Scottish American Center: www.scottishamericancenter.org
and St. Andrew’s Society of Minnesota:
www.standrewsmn.org
Hurray for Merlin’s Rest, where everybody knows your name.
St. Andrews Soc. Website
www.standrewsmn.org
I can’t get this link to work. Is there a misprint or is the site deleted?
See the new link for the St Andrew’s Society of Minnesota under the SCOTTISH links above. They do have a new web address:
http://www.standrewssocietymn.org/
-cK
Thanks