[Elfsea] Northern Tarrant County (was: A list of questions)

[Stefen and Rhonda Hays]

Note:  Their Excellencies' house is NE tarrant county.  I was referring to
the sea of housing that now extends from their house and beyond.  NW tarrant
is starting to seriously boom, especially in the Lake Worth area, which has
recently gotten a couple of new developments along Marine Creek Lake  (okay,
it is acutally a really really big pond) and Saginaw has busted all of its
seams.  I went to high school at Boswell and had to drive the backroads home
one day and couldn't believe the growth.

What those area's don't have is a really good parks system like Arlington
does.  There are parks, but very few have good lighting or restrooms unless
you count the horse arenas.  So, I am not making the argument that we need
to move fighter practice.  (Although better parking would be nice.)

And, just to make a note...Springtown was not always a LR stronghold.  We
were a part of Elfsea up until a few years ago and a fair portion, but not
all, of the people who lived up here played primarily in Elfsea until their
either moved or work schedules changed.  Of course, once our zip codes were
changed, well then we became more of an outpost.

We also had a few Lindenwood folks up here as well.  One moved and I am not
sure what happened to the other one.  At least one still remains.

And, it is actually closer for us to drive to Elfsea Moot (45 minutes, hour
if we hit the drive through) than it is to drive to a LR populace (hour min
and plus that if we have to stop for gas).  And we live further out than
Polydore does.  Oh, and hitting a Glasyn figher practice takes as long as
going to Bedford or Arlington from where we are, and when we have had to get
to Lewisville on the quick for football games, it took an hour and 10
mintues...not much longer that getting to LR populace.

So you see, Elfsea is not the only SCA group in the area that is a
reasonable drive for the NW quadrant of Tarrant county.  The question is,
who is going to start working the area?

For many of us, driving past 377 on Loop 820 north is no longer a needed
thing.  We have our Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, and enough restaurants to
make the traffic in that area no longer a necessity.  And by us, I don't
mean SCAers but just the average person.  People in small towns still talk
to each other in the grocery stores and this is what I have heard in Azle
and Springtown.  We are not going to recruit many people if we expect them
to drive weeknights to the congested eastern parts of the county.

It would be a great loss to not look at some future venues for recruiment
out in those areas.  One War practice at Casino Beach Park would draw a huge
crowd, and so would a mini-tourney if we showed up with all of our bells and
whistles.  Passage at Arms would be a good thing over there.  The last time
I checked with FW, combat archery wasn't an issue.

The drive by traffic on 199 is massive and alot of those people live in
really nice gated communities and mid-range housing, much like the rest of
us.

We could explore Saginaw and see if they have some cool parks where we could
do a mini-tourney or war practice.  That is another area where we could
actually get some equestrians involved.  They have almost as many horsey
people over there as Weatherford does.

We have had activities more northerly, but we can't afford to stop.  There
is more growth out here than I would have ever imagined (or wanted for that
matter).  With the race track and the improved highways extending more
westerly, it isn't poised to stop.

medb liath, who used to be able to see the Milky Way on a clear dark night,
but not no more....

----- Original Message -----
From: "Timothy Rayburn" <timothy at elfsea.net>
To: <elfsea at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2003 5:24 PM
Subject: [Elfsea] Northern Tarrant County (was: A list of questions)


Quoting Medb:
>First you have to have some....we need more extensive recruitment in areas
>other than Arlington.  N and  NW Tarrant county are exploding with growth.
>What can we do in that area, besides moot?

Actually ...

Moot as you noted is held in this area.
Most A&S Nights are held at Tomas & Rixende's in Bedford
There is an unofficial gathering of fighters every week at the Bedford Boys
Ranch
MANY gatherings have historically been held at Their Excellencies home.

Elfsea has perhaps 5 demos that we repeat every year :

Highland Games - Held in Arlington, but not an 'Arlington' event by a long
shot, we often see people from almost every adjoining state to Texas at this
event.  Our biggest demo, true.  In Arlington, true.

Keller Library Demo - Quickly becoming our second most important demo every
year, held firmly in Northern Tarrant County.

UTA Activities Fair - Technically a Three Bridges demo, but pillars such as
Stella have been there year after year to support the College.

Fort Worth Library (Seminary Branch) - This demo is small, but the offer
comes back year after year (or has ... when did we last do this one?)

Southwest Arlington Library Branch - VERY small demo (room holds about 10
people total) occasionally with fighting.  It's been a while since we've
done this one I believe.

Now, could we do more?  Sure.  And we do have many monthly Arlington based
activities (such as Fighter Practice, Heralds Scribes & Illuminators, and
Game Night).  Business Meeting moves around to different homes, but again
has been in Northern Tarrant County quite often (hosted by Their
Excellencies usually).

How do we do more?  Those who do live in those areas host events for the
Barony, mostly.  Our membership in that area is somewhat weak (except of
course for Springtown, a firm Loch Ruadh stronghold) and that is why I think
the Keller demo is so important (and recently brought in Irina).

Timothy

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