[SCA-BMDL] Possible niche events

[KaziBrionSCA]

 Raven asked:

<<What kind of niche events would people like to attend?>>

My first impulse would be "I don't care as long as it's not a stew", but
that wouldn't be fair to many a good stew.  At stew events, however, I end
up running around like a chicken with the head cut off.  There is so much to
do, and then add the kids into it.  Smaller events are more manageable with
children even if there are not children's activities.  

Here are some of my off-the-cuff ideas for a niche events:

1.  Any cultural focus event

Like Purim and Vetr Thing or Hafla, pick any culture and time period and
explore it in depth.  Give people some information about what would be
expected in terms of garb, and maybe some links to find out more.  Food,
dance, music, games, language or other instruction, martial arts, and the
format of any court would conform to the culture under the microscope.  

2.  Messy event

This event would be great for a specific activity, such as the building of
clay bread ovens Myfanwy talked about earlier this week.  Or making felt.
Or cooking hands-on.  Or silk painting.  Or horn carving. Or hide tanning
(don't tell Brion...I have a smelly history of hide tanning) There are
activities that we do at home because it would be rude to inflict the mess
on the rest of the barony.  However, suppose the messy activity was done at
an appropriate site and the site owners were OK with it.  Suppose an
organization would let us make a clay oven on their property if we keep it
up and later visit and teach their youth group to use it.  

3.  Active play events

This event would cover activities that are not necessarily rattan fighting
and fencing, but involve people getting sweaty and messy while running
outside.  Some time ago I suggested a naval battle event with combat
archery, where people dressed in fencing masks would shoot at one another
from rental boats, or where boaters would shoot at floating targets.
Designated kayakers would kayak around and retrieve the floating arrows.
That would have to be a single-mission event.  It's messy because it's wet.
We could do it at the North Park, they have new boats, too (it's now run by
Venture Outdoors). 

Another active event:  period fishing.  A whole group of us with a group
one-day license, making our own period fishing gear, and using it to see if
we actually catch anything. Ross Township has a nice park with a shelter,
kitchen access, and a catch-and-release pond full of carp which might be
good for this.  And a big playground/running area for kids who are done
fishing.

Another active event:  period games.  Think Ren Fair type games.  Caber
toss, rope pull, juggling contests, tossing a ball into a hole in a target,
a thrown weapons range.  Balancing games. This would make a good fundraising
event.  And because it's so active, it would balance well with a merchant
area and some bardic activities and a nap area for children ages 0-100.

4.  Dress-up event

Now that I have covered all the wet, muddy, slimy stuff, a nice dress-up
ball with dance instruction and civilized board games on the side would be
fun.  We had St. Julians, which I didn't make because Eleanore had strep and
was still running a fever, but if we had something like that again, I would
be happy to get away from my usual messy predilections and try being a lady
for a change :-)

5.  Period martial arts event

Not rattan or fencing as such, but looking at fighting manuals, talking
about what they were trying to do in there, and maybe trying it with rubber
daggers or foam swords, no armor required.  Then a bunch of people could
write it up as next year's Ice Dragon group entry research project. I can
see myself spending an afternoon doing this and then having a nice potluck
dinner (we could rent a shelter at the North Park)

6.  Instrumental and vocal music event

A series of various class-style jam sessions, a chance to pet real
instruments and try them out, a chance to bring oddball instruments in and
see if anyone knows what to do with them.  Vocal instruction, singing
rounds, trying instrumental rounds, that sort of a thing.  For instance
parts of this was great at the Cooks and Bards event last year - I got to go
to a harp class for beginners.  And since my harp was warped (I am fixing it
now...) I got to try other people's instruments, and we got onto the topic
of instrument construction and repair and such.  It was REALLY INTERESTING.


If the rest of you are interested and want to come up with other event
ideas, would it be possible for someone to set up one of those Yahoo voting
sites, so as a barony we can prioritize the interest level in these kinds of
ideas?  

Kazi