There were aliens of various hues, thrilling late night movies, and exciting intergalactic competition. The Atons 2008 Gopher XVIII "Close Encounters" Run was an out-of-this world success. The Atons would like to thank everyone who attended and helped to make our 2008 Run a real blast.

A big thank you to everyone who hosted weekend cocktail parties and contributed in other unique ways to everyones enjoyment. The Atons 2008 Run was a success because of all the hard work and pleasure that you contributed to the weekend.

On February 17th, the Atons celebrated another year of brotherhood with our annual Officers Banquet. At this event we also inducted our new members, officers, and awarded our Friends of the Atons awards and Honorary Associates and Members.

Held at the relatively new bar, Pi, located in South East Minneapolis, we changed the event from an evening dinner to an afternoon brunch. This earlier schedule seems to resonate well with the 40 plus attendees.

Click the read more link below to see more pictures from the banquet

2007 was a great year for the Atons. Two wonderful men joined the club, another is currently a pledge, and we welcomed several new associate members to our ranks. We added new events to our schedule, such as the bimonthly Men's parties and our special MAUL party (in conjunction with the MN Storm Patrol) during the Leather Leadership Conference last April. We also had our biennial Campout, and of course we continued our Spring and Fall play parties and our monthly L&L Dinners.</p>

Of course 2008 looks to be as busy. Our first event will be our January 19th L&L dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory, immediately followed by our monthly Bar Night at the Eagle. The following week will be our first Atons Men's Party of 2008. And less than a month later will be our annual Atons Anniversary Banquet Brunch on February 17th at Pi Bar.

Skipping ahead to July will be our biennial Atons Run: A Close Encounters (think leather and sci-fi). We're expecting a great turn out for this run and expect all of you to fly your saucers and starships over to New Ulm for this other-worldly weekend.

So that you can plan ahead for the year, we've listed all of our planned events for the year on the Atons Calendar. Of course, some of this could change, but that's the nature of all schedules.

2008 is going to be another great year for the Atons and our fellow sisters and brothers in the Minnesota leather community. A warm kinky Happy New Year to all of you!

Yours in leather,
Andrew Bertke
President
Atons of Minneapolis

The Atons had a great time at Duluth/Superior Pride over Labor Day weekend! It was a great honor for us to be the Grand Marshals of the Duluth/Superior Pride Parade on Sunday. Thank you to the Duluth/Superior Pride, the Main Club, and everyone to gave us such a warm welcome!

Here are a few picture from the pride parade on Sunday, followed by the Fruit Float cruise in the afternoon.