For those in the encampment, the boundary provides both a symbol and a safety valve. While we are inside it, it reminds us of what we are doing. If we have to discuss something out of persona, we can always go out of the encampment to do it. We have not yet held an opening ceremony with a formal exorcism of the twentieth century, but I do follow a policy of not putting up the sign until the pavilions are up and the cars gone. Another thing that works is the bardic circle, which we try to hold most evenings.
Darkness hides a lot.
Poems, songs, and stories performed by medieval poets, singers, and storytellers help strengthen the illusion. Most important of all, the essence of the encampment is people not tents, and around the fire at the bardic circle we are interacting as medieval people. My first surprise was how few people chose to participate. The fundamental reason is not the difficulty of producing period tents and gear-there are many more authentic tents outside our boundaries than in. Nor, I think, is it the lack of people interested in being in persona-as witnessed by the number of evening guests at our bardic circles.