Would like some information about Pennsic, please. While we love Faire, several faires in our area have been referred to as " Renaissance themed amusement parks" in their advertisements. While we are not historical snobs, we've been going to faires for over 37 years and they certainly have changed from being pretty historical to an anything goes costume party. Although we would never be snarky about anything a person does or wears, we are getting tired of furry bunnies and tigers. And Dr. Who or Steampunk at Faire.
We go to the Faire for the excellent music and the demonstrations by artisans, as well as hoping to learn something. One of the musicians at our local Faire tells about the songs before he sings them, which we really enjoy.
We don't want to join the SCA, and there isn't even one around us in the boondocks, but I was thinking maybe Pennsic would be more of what we are looking for, like the faires of 30+ years ago. So here are my questions.
Do you have to be an SCA member to go? When is it, and how much does it cost? Is it like the Faire atmosphere with music and vendors? I see that a lot of you post that you camp. Is there anywhere else to stay besides camping? Like a hotel.
Our garb is what I call "hysterically inaccurate." Think, like peasant garb (Moresca and Pendragon, etc.) pirate garb, typical Ren Faire garb. I have enough garb for the rest of my life, and I can't sew, so more or different garb is out of the question.
And if there are any other events like Pennsic, we would like to know about them, too. Thanks!
Good Morrow, My Lady,
If you haven't, I would suggest that you check out the Pennsic website. I think you should be able to answer most of your questions there. It seems to be a two week event with the first week dedicated to education and the second to the Pennsic War. If you do go, I would love to hear about your experiences. I have considered trying to attend but like you, I am not a member of SCA. I do know they allow mounts like StudMuffin but the size of the site is mind boggleing.
Also check the their website http://sca.org/geography/kingdom_lookup.html (http://sca.org/geography/kingdom_lookup.html) to figure out what SCA kingdom you are in, from there you should be able to track down some smaller local events to check out especially if you are near a college town.
We occasionally peddle our wares as non-members at an event called "Warriors an Warlords" in Wisconsin. While it doesn't have any performers like a renfaire there were some decent merchants as well as a dozen or so blacksmiths giving demos and hands-on lessons this year plus a pretty full schedule of workshops for learning things. There's also an event called "Poor Man's Pennsic" in WI for people who can's afford take the time off to go to the real thing, although we haven't been to that one since it's just before MNRF.
As far as clothing, yes there are occasional snobs, but you have them at Renfairs occasionally too. In general you wouldn't look out of place wearing basic Renfaire garb, although the they lean more to Medieval than Renaissance they go up to 1600 or so.