From: ds4p+@andrew.cmu.edu (David Schroeder)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Pennsic Update (End)
Date: 17 Aug 92 00:12:32 GMT
Organization: Doctoral student, Industrial Administration, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

Greetings good gentles,

After a rather dismal and rainy Saturday afternoon the sky stopped 
its lament and the weather was decent, if damp, for Great Court and
Saturday night campfires.

The final attendance count was just under 7300 (I think) and the
East "won" the Grand Tourney, taking both Champions' battles,
the Field Battle, the Woods Battle, and both archery points.
Some 640 archers shot for the East compared to about 520 for
the Middle.  Tibor heralded closing court for the East.
The Middle won the Town and Bridge battles.  Camilla de Capri,
the Society's A&S Minister, was made a Laurel, among other
peerages given.

The Dark Horde had contracted to guard the gates of the Eastrealm
camp...  And nothing in the contract said _where_ they had to guard
them...  So the gates ended up in Horde Camp, making them _much_ easier
to guard...

The main battlefield was marked off by (yep) yellow hazard tape...
But this time it wasn't quite so bad.  Instead of "Police Line --
Do Not Cross" this tape read "Caution -- Hard Hat Area."

Someone or some group constructed a picture of an early period horse
the size of a football field on the side of the hill overlooking
the battlefield...  It looked like the "lines" were drawn with
60"-wide white fabric of some sort and the effect was quite impressive.

There was a lot of good-natured foolery attached to the reading of
scrolls in court, since some circulocution was necessary to avoid
saying "at the Pennsic War."  Substitutions included "the Pennsic
Police Action," "the Pennsic Altercation," and "the Pennsic politically
correct interaction," among others.  In my opinion, "springing" the
"Grand Tournament" on attendees, rather than "publicizing" it was
not the best idea in the world.  Here on the Rialto we've had lots
of time to get accustomed to the notion of Pennsic as a Grand Tournament,
or a Great Fair, but many others were a bit confused by the change.

I found myself continually amazed by my lady, Eromene, managing this
war in fine shape, despite the fact that the "due date" for our first
child is Monday, August 17th.  We're just lucky Pennsic is only 50
minutes from our hospital and that her obstetrician said it was
okay to camp (on a nice, comfy bed).  There seemed to be hundreds
of children from babes in arms to pre-teens at this "War."  One
budding young entrepreneur with a wagon fetched ice for merchants 
and various camps and made enough money in tips to enjoy himself
quite well in the shopping district.  It was fun to watch the
Midrealm sovereigns' kids sit on the dias at closing court and
enjoy the festivities -- sometimes their little boy even sat on
the lap of the King of the East.  I'm looking forward to increased
attention to children in the SCA in the years to come.

The weather was bright and the clouds were disappearing as folks broke
camp on Sunday.  All in all, it was a wonderful war...

My best to you, good friends -- Bertram

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
Bertram of Bearington                                      Dave Schroeder
Debatable Lands/AEthelmearc/East               Carnegie Mellon University
INTERNET: ds4p@andrew.cmu.edu                         412/731-3230 (Home)
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