[Sca-cooks] Pennsic Question

[Bronwynmgn at aol.com]

In a message dated 7/28/2006 12:28:37 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
hlaislinn at earthlink.net writes:

<<My lord and I are making plans to attend next year also. He  says that you
have to pay from whenever you hit site until the end of the  war. You cannot
daytrip, and you cannot pay for only the days you  attend.>>
 
This is correct, and since there is no way to be sure that the person who  
paid for two days actually left after 2 days, it's necessary.
 
<< 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. It would
be the best of both worlds for the mercenary  Coopers - they could double
their profit while halving attendance at each  event and reducing the stress
on their utilities.>>
 
To a certain extent I agree with you about some of the fringe groups being  
better suited to their own events rather than Pennsic.  But at the same  time, 
considering that Cooper's Lake is already closed down for us for at least  the 
last entire week of July  for set-up and the whole month of August (it  takes 
the rest of the month to clean up the mess we leave), it would adversely  
affect their ability to be open as a mundane campground during the height of the  
camping season.
 
<< I've just become such a snob over Pennsic. It was  okay
when we shared the site with the Tuchux (it was originally theirs,  after
all), but I've heard Pennsic has gotten very fringe element and  less
medieval-oriented over the years. I cannot say I had a fantastic time  when
I attended in '86, so that may be clouding my judgement.>>
 
If you have not attended since 1986, how can you make any judgement as to  
what Pennsic is like 20 years later, or be able to be a snob about it???  I  
have been attending for 16 years and I can tell you that the number of period  
tents has increased hugely; the overall look of camps has improved; the overall  
number of people in relatively authentic garb (most of it 14th century, 
because  that's what is easily available from the merchants, but at least it's 
available)  has increased greatly, and the number of classes on authentic 
techniques and  tourneys fought in period style has increased greatly.  Overall, 
Pennsic is  far MORE authentic than it was when I started in about 1990.
 
Mind you, I also think some of the fringe elements have gotten wierder and  
therefore more noticeable, but my overall view is a huge improvement from when 
I  started.
 
<< I just wish
Pennsic was only SCAdian, but as long as the  Coopers own the site, that'll
never happen.>>
 
I'm not touching this other than to say that I think you have a very  
unbalanced view of the Coopers.
 
Brangwayna Morgan