[Ansteorra] This weekend's demo at the Texas Renaissance Festival (long)

[Gerald L. Norris Jr.]

Greetings unto Ansteorra from HL Gerald of Leesville, liaison for the 2001
season of the TRF demo.

Last weekend M'lord Eldrik was the steward (and head cook) for Bordermarch's
sponsored weekend.   Saturday's rains didn't let up until after 1 p.m. and
yet our fighters were able to draw a crowd in the scattered drizzle and
amaze them with their battle prowess on the field.  There were no injuries
reported to me concerning the fighting on Saturday or Sunday.  Our artisans
did what artwork they could within the gatehouse on Saturday as bards
performed for the public that passed by.

Sunday's weather was glorious.  More fighters showed up for both chivalric
and rapier, including a certain knight (Sir William, please help me with his
name) who came from Meridies.  As a matter of fact, I remember hearing Sir
William and the knight in question mentioning (loudly) how they had not
fought together for almost 16 years.  It was a sight to see.  Our artisans
took advantage of the weather, as did our bards, and there was much traffic
through the compound on Sunday.

As I've mentioned in the past, this weekend (and the weekend of Nov. 17th -
18th) has no sponsor.  And I write this letter on the Ansteorran list rather
than the coastal list for a reason.

I do not expect, at this late stage of the game, for a group to pick up this
weekend (though, if your group is so inclined, I will be happy to have you
do so).  I can hope that someone will take the last weekend, even though it
is against Autumn Melees in Bordermarch and Hunter's Moon at Emerald Keep.
It is a chance to help participate in the largest SCA demo in the world.  I
can't think of hearing of another demo that runs longer or has the potential
of being seen by so many people.

I know that we have changed much of what we do at TRF, but I'm not sure of
how many people truly know what it is that we've changed.  Some of it
remains the same; we still do fights on the mound (three times per day
instead of four), we still require that everyone do their fair share of work
which comes to three hours (and each fight-demo on the mound (30 minutes)
counds as an hour), we still have camping area behind the compound, we still
have an area that are big enough to run a small tournament.  Some things
have changed:  We no longer have the games to hawk (nor the income that
helped to maintain the buildings), we have a more central approach to obtain
passes, we have a covered stage for musicians and artisans to work under,
our information booth contains several different forms of information and
(with a very little effort from the baronies/cantons/shires/colleges)
willing to give out individual fliers/handouts to people who are from a
particular area, the compound is decorated to provide more of an atmosphere
of what we do and what we are.

I say this every time but I never really know if anyone ever gets to this
point.  Last year, some time, the kingdom hospitaler sent a message giving
the number of contacts we received at last year's demo and where they were
from.  The numbers for the coastal region were beaten by the numbers for all
of Ansteorra, and we also had several from outside the country (at least 1
from Australia, if I remember correctly).  The point is that this is not a
demo for the coastal area but potentially for all of Ansteorra (and if I had
my way, the knowne world).  Each weekend is a chance for a different area to
try to get new members, educate people, and have a good time, all in a two
day stretch.  Most people who work the demo have a good time.  Those few
that don't we ship off to foreign countries without answering machines ;).

So.  If you've made it this far (you happy few), please think about coming
out for a day or the whole weekend and participate in the demo. (I probably
could have said that last line at the front and saved some people a lot of
bandwidth, but from time to time things just need to be said).

I thank you for your patience and your time.

In service to the dream with a song in my heart, I am
HL Gerald of Leesville
A bard of Stargate
Kingdom Ansteorra
http://home.houston.rr.com/scaattrf/