Larger events no-more?

[Johnny Lloyd]

To all:

I have been reading the interesting discourse on this thread about logistics of an event, and it got me to thinking... where is the future going in respect to authentic events sizewise?

Are we slowly getting larger with events due to popularity, or are we headed toward smaller events due to things like liabilities, control, etc. Has anyone noticed any size change in events on the progressive size in the hobby, plus or minus?

I personally don't know... Not to be a doomsdayer, but I got the gut feeling there will come a day where larger events will become more difficult to do due to liabilities and possibly losing of needed space near battlefields, etc.

This above is why I (yet I say it, we) support small events anyway- people know what they are getting themselves into and are dedicated at doing it right.

For the life of me, I can't seem to figure out what the trend is on this topic for the future, but it does intrigue me to see the look ahead if we wish to continue in "this, our peculiar institution".


Thanks- Johnny Lloyd


PS- If you've been to a mainstream event recently a la "carpe eventa", what are the trends there? I haven't been to one of them in awhile.

[Clsinclair]

Re: Larger events no-more?

PS- If you've been to a mainstream event recently a la "carpe eventa", what are the trends there? I haven't been to one of them in awhile.[/QUOTE]

Johnny, since you asked, the reenactor attendance for the Palmetto Battalion has been on the rise for three years in SC. Today I had the honor of including a Company of Citadel Cadets to our Battalion (2nd time this year). They now have an infantry company including an artillery battery that attends many of our instate events. As for the authentic events that I have attended, I have had a good time at those also. I guess it is a good thing to enjoy both sides of the hobby. At least for me it is.

Regards,
Claude Sinclair
Colonel
Palmetto Battalion

[Spinster]

Re: Larger events no-more?

What I'm seeing down in this part of the country, on the mainstream side, is a large bias for the 'close to home events' .

I would have expected a miserable turnout for a small event about an hour south of my home this weekend--Friday saw a fine sleet, all day, with projected nighttime temperatures in the 20's to teens, and this on a site that is known for easily filling with water.

Since I'm grounded from 'sleeping out' right now, I did not go Friday evening, and awoke Saturday morning to a fine light snow. Once the bridges were sanded, I went on down---and found a site slam full of folks, and a whole lot of stuff out on the drying line where water had gotten them in the night. Still, nobody was making 'going home' noises. More folks arrived as the morning progressed, and more tentage went up. Sum total seemed to be more folks than in previous years.

At the same time, I heard unit discussions making specific calendar revisions---choosing what events they would drop off if gas went to $4, or $3.50. And, they had reached the 'fish or cut bait' moment on Gettysburg this summer- they were shaking their heads 'no' on that one--and it did not matter which Gettysburg event was being discussed.

Now--that's not this end of the hobby. Personally, I'll still choose to fly to quality events as needed. More and more though, I will have less and less interest in the weekend wonders if a day long trip is required to get there. Since I'm already doing long events in the 18th century, I'm much more interested in them for the 19th century. Its just as much work to get ready and set up for a short event as a long one.

[davidf]

Re: Larger events no-more?

From my research for my history of Civil War reenacting, I have observed that thanks to the increasing number of events being offered overall, there are many events that are orientated towards authentic minded reenactors that draw said reenactors from other events with reenactors not on the same level, and the kind of organizations that were able to centralize reenacting community efforts are not as strong/aren't around anymore. I think the big factor is that there is no centralization/efforts to draw the whole community together strong enough anymore for big events.