Minnesota Tartan Day Celebration

The Senate Resolution

Item! Senate Resolution #164 officially adopts Minnesota tartans!
At precisely noon CST, February 4, 2002, the Minnesota Senate approved Senate Resolution No. 164 designating the Minnesota Tartan and Dress Tartan as the official tartans of our state. Sen. Gen Olson, the chief sponsor, asked for a roll call vote and the vote tally was 60 (of 67) for, 0 against.

The senators were in a jolly mood as they filed into the chamber. Corsages and boutonnieres with sprigs of heather and thistle were pinned onto the senators and they were each given a commemorative Minnesota Tartan, Feb. 4, 2002 button, along with information about the Minnesota Tartan Day Cooperative members, how to order the tartan, and the legend of the colors.

Pictured at right: Resolution sponsors Sen. Gen Olson, Sen. Ellen Anderson, Sen. Jane Ranum, and Sen. Sheila Kiskaden, with representatives from the Minnesota Tartan Project.

In a fitting tribute to designer Mark Osweiler, Sen. Roger D. Moe, Senate Majority leader, commented as he looked at a sample of the tartan, "It's beautiful. Oh, I'm so glad it's not ugly." No, Senator Moe, far from it. It is gorgeous! Thank you, Mark.

It was a great day for all Minnesotans and particularly those within the Scottish community. Special thanks to Jackie Johnston, Minnesota Tartan Project Coordinator—she knew how to get the job done. Not bad for a Norwegian/Polish lass with not a drop of Scottish blood.

Thanks must also be extended to Mark and Nydia Osweiler, Mary Libhardt, and Kelly Bray for producing the floral arrangements and the buttons. Along with Richard Cady, they were the tartan design team. A friend who watched the proceedings at home commented on what a nice touch the heather was, "You guys are a class act," he said. Thanks also to Stuart Hoarn, whose family's foundation funded the development of the Minnesota Tartan.

Pictured at left: Babs Humphrey, Mary Libhardt, Jackie Johnston, Mark Osweiler, Nydia Osweiler, and Stuart Hoarn of the Minnesota Tartan Project.

And last but not least, thanks also to piper Sean McRoberts (who piped where no man has piped before), for bringing that extra touch of Scotland to the Minnesota State Capitol.