[Glaslyn] [Steppes] Radical Idea

[Jay Rudin]

Faelan wrote:


>I had an idea yesterday, and I'm trying to see if people would be 
>interested
> in helping with this.

<snip description of building permanent structures on somebody else's land>

> Thoughts?

Well, it's a great idea, with one serious concern.  Let me tell two stories.

1. Elfsea loved it when they were slowly improving the Diamond B ranch. 
Each year their site was better, with a beautiful list field and other 
amenities.  The shire, and then the barony, of Elfsea worked hard for many 
years to improve the land.  It was good for the owner, and good for the 
barony.

Eventually, the land was worth much more for camping events, and (quite 
properly) his price went up because of it.  The SCA was priced out of the 
market.  He raised his rates to something we just couldn't pay (over $10 per 
person, I think).

2. When Scarborough Faire first opened, we worked out a deal with them in 
which we would work their site (except for Memoral Day weekend), in return 
for use of the land a couple of times per year.  It worked well -- it was an 
excellent site for us.  But after a couple of years their lawyers said they 
couldn't do it.  They couldn't accept the liability of our events on their 
land.

So I'm sure that we could get people together for work weekends.  We've 
certainly done it before.  But we would need some way to *guarantee* use of 
the land for *many* years in advance before I will commit to work somebody 
else's land again.

Robin of Gilwell / Jay Rudin