Florida Estos

Dear KLENK 2011 Registrants,

Happy New Year! Head uut aastat!

The KLENK 2011 Planning Committee and program presenters are looking forward to your arrival at the Magnuson Hotel Marina Cove, St. Petersburg, Florida, this week. Here is some information you may find helpful.

1. Some of you will be checking into the hotel Thursday afternoon, January 5, 2012. The KLENK 2011 Planning Committee would like you to know about the following two opportunities on Thursday evening.

a. The Salvador Dali Museum, located in downtown St. Petersburg, is open late on Thursday evenings and offers a reduced admission ($10) after 5:00 pm. That is quite a good deal.

b. Some of us will be having dinner at The Hangar Restaurant and Flight Lounge at 5:00 pm on Thursday. The restaurant, with free and ample parking, is located across the street from the Dali. The menu is varied and reasonably priced, so it would be easy for you to have a quick dinner before going to the museum if you decide you would like to do so. Please send us an email–KLENKFlorida@gmail.com–to let us know if you would like us to keep an eye out for you in the restaurant.

2. The KLENK 2011 Planning Committee will look forward to welcoming you after 3:00 pm, Friday, January 6, 2012, in the Nautilus Room in the Conference Center, Magnuson Hotel Marina Cove. We will have name tags and songbooks/lauliks with the KLENK program/kava. Our program will start promptly at 5:00 pm in the Sand and Sun Rooms next to the Nautilus Room.

3. If you are bringing something for the loterii table–such as a book, CD, DVD, chocolate, eesti pärase asi, easily packable item, etc/jne–please pass it on to Ms. Ingrid Shipotofsky or Ms. Monika Orumaa when you arrive in the Conference Center Friday or Saturday. We are grateful for every donation to the loterii table; we will conduct the loterii on Saturday night.

4. If you are arriving on Saturday, please pick up your materials after 8:15 am in the lobby of the Conference Center. We will start the program promptly at 9:00 am. If you are arriving for the Saturday evening dinner program as your first event, please arrive at 6:00 pm.

5. If you are still in the hotel on Sunday morning, we hope you will join us for the KLENK annual business meeting. Plans for KLENK 2012 and future KLENKs will be discussed and your input will be valuable.

6. Weather: Well, the northerners sent a frigid jet stream down our way for the first time this winter so this week is off to a windy and chilly start. Weather forecasters are telling us in the 7-day forecast that we will have sunny days and be warming up 64 degrees on Friday and 69 degrees on Saturday. You can stay tuned to our extended weather forecast through this link: National Weather Service.

7. Clothing: Please feel free to wear business casual attire. That means men’s suits and ties are optional. Because of air conditioning and the cooler weather, men’s sports coats and ladies’ sweaters will be comfortable in the hotel. When the sun goes down, an overcoat will serve you well. Some KLENK members like to get dressed up on Saturday night, so feel free to follow that tradition if you like.

8. Photographs: We will be taking photographs throughout the conference and posting them on the web and sending them to Vaba Eesti Sõna afterwards. If you do not want to be included in any photos, please be sure to let us know.

9. For your convenience, the KLENK 2011 Program/Kava, updated January 3, 2012, is available here: KLENK 2011 Program/Kava, updated January 3, 2012. While nearly all Saturday lecture sessions are in English, Estonian may be spoken in Prof. Ain Haas’s lecture and the theatrical skit.

You may be breaking a record in attendance at KLENK: Over 140 individuals–from across the US and Canada–are pre-registered! Thank you so much for your overwhelming positive response to the KLENK 2011 program and location. We hope you enjoy the conference as much as we have enjoyed making the preparations.

Please feel free to send an email to KLENKFlorida@gmail.com with any questions you may have.

Safe travels! See you soon! Nägemiseni!

KLENK 2011 Planning Committee

KESK-LÄÄNE EESTI NOORTE KOONDIS (KLENK)
(Estonian Society of the Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Ontario, Wisconsin)
KESK FLORIDA EESTI SELTS (KFES)
(Estonian Society of Central Florida)
LÕUNA FLORIDA EESTLASTE KOONDIS (LFEK)
(Estonian National Association of South Florida)

invite all who share a love of Estonia and Estonian culture to KLENK 2011, which will be held Friday-Saturday, January 6-7, 2012, in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Registrants may pick up their nametags, programs and songbooks/laulikud after 3:00 pm Friday afternoon in the Nautilus Room of the Conference Center. We will start our program at 5:00 pm Friday afternoon and continue all day Saturday and Saturday evening. The annual KLENK business meeting and planning session will be held at 10:00 am Sunday morning, January 8, 2012; the results of the recent ERKÜ survey will enlighten that conversation. View the KLENK 2011 program by clicking on this link: KLENK 2011 Program/Kava, updated January 3, 2012.

Come a few days early or linger a few days longer, we have lots of area attractions to offer KLENK participants (please view our link to area attractions on this web site). Need assistance? Former KFES President Henn Rebane is offering “concierge services.” Send Henn an email at henn@rebane.com.

(Shortcut to the KLENK 2011 Registration Form).

Founded in 1958, this will be the 54th year that KLENK (Estonian Society of the Midwest) hosts its annual conference on Estonian culture and fellowship. By popular vote at KLENK 2010 in Chicago, KLENK members decided to host KLENK 2011 outside its traditional Thanksgiving weekend midwestern region. For the first time, KLENK will be co-hosted by the Kesk Florida Eesti Selts (Estonian Society of Central Florida) and the Lõuna Florida Eestlaste Koondis (Estonian National Association of South Florida).

KLENK 2011 Location
To take advantage of the sub-tropical Florida setting, the conference will be held in the Magnuson Hotel Marina Cove, 6800 Sunshine Skyway Lane, St. Petersburg, Florida 33711, which is located on beautiful Tampa Bay at the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. With its sandy beach, heated swimming pool, children’s playground, and setting on Tampa Bay, we hope KLENK participants will find the favorable nightly rate of $79 enticing ($88.48 total per room per night including taxes, up to four occupants at no additional charge). Parking and resort fees are included in the hotel rate. The rate applies up to three days prior to the start of the conference and may be continued up to three days after the conference. Check-in is 4:00 pm; let the hotel know if your travel plans call for an earlier check-in. Call the hotel directly to make your reservation; telephone toll free 800.227.8045; direct 727.867.1151. Let the reservations agent know you are attending the “Estonian Conference.” Hotel reservations must be made by December 16, 2011 to receive the favorable rate in a block of rooms reserved for this conference.

If you would like assistance planning activities before or after KLENK, former KFES President Henn Rebane is offering “concierge services.” Send Henn an email at henn@rebane.com.

PROGRAM: Our Estonian Heritage, Our Future
Lectures, music, dance and theatre: All those are the elements of the KLENK 2011 program. We will celebrate our Estonian heritage, hear from Estonians and Estonian Americans at work in the US and Eesti, and look to our future. To welcome all comers and Estophiles, most lectures will be in English as we honor the Estonian language in our conversations and celebrations.

To remember KLENK founders who passed away in 2011, a special memorial service will initiate our weekend.

KLENK 2011 will also provide an opportunity for friends to renew old acquaintances. We hope those who shared their childhood and early adulthood in places like Augsburg, Geislingen, and other post-war locations will join those organizing reunion tables around this meeting.

KLENK SPONSORS: We are grateful to these association sponsors of our meeting: Estonian American National Council (ERKÜ), Estonian Society of Central Florida (KFES), Estonian National Association of South Florida (LFEK), Eesti Abistamiskomitee for their support of Saare Vikat, and the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church-Central Florida (E.E.L.K.-Kesk Florida). Individual sponsorships have been provided by Jaan and Maare Kuuskvere, Lisa Mets and Erkki Taada, and Sigrid Bratic (Little Greek Restaurant).

REGISTRATION: Please complete and mail the KLENK 2011 Registration Form. To be included in meal counts, registrations must be received by January 2, 2012. No refunds can be given after January 2, 2012.

Questions? Email KLENKFlorida@gmail.com.

KESK-LÄÄNE EESTI NOORTE KOONDIS (KLENK)
(Estonian Society of the Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Ontario, Wisconsin)
KESK FLORIDA EESTI SELTS (KFES)
(Estonian Society of Central Florida)
LÕUNA FLORIDA EESTLASTE KOONDIS (LFEK)
(Estonian National Association of South Florida)

invite all who share a love of Estonia and Estonian culture to KLENK 2011, which will be held Friday-Saturday, January 6-7, 2012, in St. Petersburg, Florida. We plan to start late Friday afternoon and continue all day Saturday and Saturday evening. The annual KLENK business meeting will be held Sunday morning, January 8, 2012.

Founded in 1958, this will be the 54th year that KLENK (Estonian Society of the Midwest) hosts its annual conference on Estonian culture and fellowship. By popular vote at KLENK 2010 in Chicago, KLENK members decided to host KLENK 2011 outside its traditional Thanksgiving weekend midwestern region. For the first time, KLENK will be co-hosted by the Kesk Florida Eesti Selts (Estonian Society of Central Florida) and the Lõuna Florida Eestlaste Koondis (Estonian National Association of South Florida) since many KLENK members now live as year round residents and snowbirds outside the Midwest. The Florida Estonian associations welcome this opportunity to co-host KLENK 2011 in the southeast and invite all KLENK members and Estophiles beyond KLENK as we hope to make even more new friends in this new setting.

KLENK 2011 Location

To take advantage of the sub-tropical Florida setting, the conference will be held in the Magnuson Hotel at Marina Cove, 6800 Sunshine Skyway Lane, St. Petersburg, Florida 33711, which is located on beautiful Tampa Bay at the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. With its sandy beach, swimming pool, children’s playground, and setting on Tampa Bay, we hope KLENK participants will find the favorable nightly rate of $79 enticing ($88.48 total per room per night including taxes, up to four occupants at no additional charge). Parking and resort fees are included in the hotel rate. The rate applies up to three days prior to the start of the conference and may be continued up to three days after the conference. Check-in is 4:00 pm; let the hotel know if your travel plans call for an earlier check-in. Call the hotel directly to make your reservation; telephone toll free 800.227.8045; direct 727.867.1151. Let the reservations agent know you are attending the “Estonian Conference.” Hotel reservations must be made by December 16, 2011 to receive the favorable rate in a block of rooms reserved for this conference.

Airlines flying to Tampa International Airport have competitive rates in early January. Some airlines fly to the St. Petersburg Clearwater International Airport, too. Easy car rentals are available at the airports. Super Shuttle at the Tampa Airport offers good round trip rates.

The Program

The KLENK 2011 planning committee is working to complete KLENK’s program. Once again, we hope to offer an engaging program of music, theatre and lectures on Estonian culture in addition to all the wonderful fellowship that takes place in our free time. This year, too, for the first time, acknowledging that English is the language of currency around the world, most lectures will be given in English. Of course, Estonian will be spoken here! Music to our ears, we encourage Estonian, once voted the second most beautiful language in the world (sõida tasa üle silla)!

If you have an idea for a presentation (lecture, music, dance, theatre, visual art exhibition, etc.) that you would like the planning committee to consider for the program, please send an email to KLENKFlorida@gmail.com by October 24, 2011. Please remember that traditionally participants in the program register for KLENK and cover their own travel expenses. This way, we can embrace the many talents of the members of our community on the KLENK program and hold down registration costs for everyone.

The registration form is forthcoming in early November and will be posted on this site. Remember: The deadline for hotel reservations is December 16, 2011.

We hope you will join us at KLENK 2011 Sõpruspäevad, January 6-7, 2012 (and annual business meeting Sunday morning, January 8, 2012), St. Petersburg, Florida!