This morning our lawyer's office informed us that the IRS has granted our 501(c)(3) status and we are officially a recognized tax-exempt public charity in the United States!We formed a corporation to put on the Left Coast Eisteddfod, the Meriwether Lewis Memorial Eisteddfod Foundation, which will also create and support artistic and educational activities, events and programs on Welsh culture and heritage. For Americans, this means that donations they make in support of the Eisteddfod or any other program by the foundation will be exempt from US taxation.We retained attorney David Atkin and his staff, paralegals Lynette and Elizabeth, of Non-Profit Support Services of Eugene, Oregon and they made this happen. They have decades of successful experience doing nothing but non-profit law and we can't recommend them highly enough. Their rates were reasonable; they were competent, honorable and professional and we're very grateful for this resolution.Phew! Now back to the regular event planning....

We are closing comments in the Left Coast Eisteddfod Submission groups this week in order to streamline procedure. All contest submissions are still open.If anyone has entries posted on comment walls please repost as discussions in the appropriate group.If anyone has any problem with this please let us know. Email americymru@gmail.com .We will move any remaining entries on comment walls by Sunday and credit the authors in the new discussion group posting. Diolch!

The Ace Hotel is a unique art hotel in Portland, two blocks from the Crystal Ballroom and within easy walking distance of downtown Portland bars, restaurants and attractions and Portland's excellent public transit system. Each room in the hotel is unique and unlike any other hotel you've stayed in. The hotel lobby is open to Stumptown Coffee, a local chain of coffee shops in a town of bone-deep coffee connoisseurs famous for its fine, custom roasting. http://acehotel.com/portland

The Ace Hotel is making a small number of rooms available to our members while they last at a special rate, so if you're planning to come for the Left Coast Eisteddfod, book now before they're all gone. If you're not lucky enough to manage to get one of these rooms, the regular prices are still very reasonable as well.For more details, email americymru@gmail.com

I've created a Cafepress store for the Left Coast Eisteddfod and I'm mid-designing it. RIght now there's just a grey template up and some designs in it.Please give me feedback on what you think about it and the stuff in it, what would you like to see in it, what should be there, etc. http://www.cafepress.com/pdxeisteddfod I was thinking of doing t-shirts of some the other flag dragon designs I did for the Welsh List group - the Canadian flag, etc., (like this one for Australia/New Zealand):

Those of us who are in Canada, Argentina, Australia, etc, would you want a t-shirt like this with a dragon of your flag?