Howdy, ya'll!
I've been getting conflicting answers from a great many folks so I thought I'd ask the question here. I am part of a group out of Brenham that practices historical European fencing. Last month the group thought it would be a good idea if we all went to Refest and camped out the last weekend. I've never been to Refest and am generally clueless about the rules there. We would like to bring our fencing equipment with us and do some light sparring over the course of the weekend while we camped. Our gear consists of masks, gloves, synthetic wasters (fake training swords- no steel or sharpness to them). What are the rules as far as this goes? Obviously the gear is too cumbersome to take inside the festival and we were primarily wanting to have fun around our campfire at night. We're not buffoons or drunken idiots and we want to remain in good standings with the officials throughout the weekend.
Thanks for your help! I do appreciate it.
Nathan
As far as the rules go, they simply state :
Weapons: We do not allow concealed weapons on Festival grounds. Any swords, rapiers, edged or pointed blades worn as part of your costume MUST BE SHEATHED AND PEACE TIED. You can secure them with leather straps or zip ties.
My interpretation: Wasters, though often worn as part of a "costume", are not edged nor pointed and will not be part of a costume if used during sparring.
Your main concern will be how well you can sell your story to the local sheriff that will be driving around the grounds. I bet if you can get a spot out away from many people, I'm thinking the quiet camp ground which is fairly sparse, then you probably won't draw the attention of the lawmen. If you haven't camped at TRF before, you may want to take some time and look back through the history of this forum and look up some of the great camping info stored here. The TRF camp ground has been frequented by intoxicated individuals in the past, and you don't want to draw their attention either.
I am a retired member of ARMA and many ARMA members have come to the camp ground, but honestly, we've never played in the camp. We are usually exhausted from the day at faire and prefer to sit around the fire with our adult beverages of choice and chill out.