[Sca-cooks] Pennsic Question

[Elise Fleming]

Aislinn wrote:

>You cannot daytrip, and you cannot pay for only the days you 
>attend. 

True.

>Personally, I
>wish the SCA would hold Pennsic during July, and all the other fringe
>groups who come to our war could attend their own event in August. 

Next year Pennsic will start a week earlier in July.

>It would be the best of both worlds for the mercenary Coopers 

The term "mercenary" sounds derogatory.  They run a business just like any
other business.  They do not gouge the SCA nor the people who attend
Pennsic.  They don't raise the prices in their store.  They have gone out
of their way to add facilities (such as an ATM, an on-site bank and post
office), additional water lines, etc., to benefit our event.  This has
caused their taxes to be raised and they pay much more each time they
imnprove their property so that we can get to the far parking lot, have
camp sites, and so on.

> (snip) It was okay when we shared the site with the Tuchux (it was 
>originally theirs, after all),

Actually, I believe that this theory has been disproved.  They did not find
the site first.  I think there's a web article somewhere that explains what
really transpired.  Stefan might know where it is.

>but I've heard Pennsic has gotten very fringe element and less
>medieval-oriented over the years. 

Much of this has happened because of the increased attendance.  The more
people who attend, the greater the chance than non-medieval-enthusiasts
will be part of the group.  I'm uncertain what groups you might mean by
"fringe element".  There always has been a certain percentage of folk who
wear minimal attempts at medieval clothing.  I don't think the percentage
has changed.  But, 20% (say) of 900 people is a smaller number than 20% of
13,000. 

What I have noticed (from my first Pennsic in 1987) is that there is a
greater number of period pavilions.  There is a greater percentage of
"medieval merchants" than "schlock merchants" and those with schlock are
sequestered away from the period.  There is an exponentially greater number
of classes on diverse topics than there was at Pennsic 17 (my first).

> I just wish Pennsic was only SCAdian, but as long as the Coopers own the
site, that'll
>never happen.

I don't believe that this is a Cooper decision but an SCA decision. 
Restricting the event to card-carrying/paying members of the SCA has been
discussed and was decided against.  I think the substitute was to place a
surcharge on those folk who weren't actual SCA members.  Keep in mind that
the SCA has never required paid membership to attend meetings or events. 
So, allowing non-paying "members" to attend Pennsic isn't something that
the Coopers are stipulating.

Alys Katharine

Elise Fleming
alysk at ix.netcom.com
http://home.netcom.com/~alysk/