[MR] event fees

[Jeff Smith]

Hi there,

There has been a huge change in the demographics of the SCA over the years and your email highlights in nicely.  

When I joined as a college kid, my whole group (a Freehold -- similar to a province) was about my age.  Now I'm middle aged, and as I look around the SCA I see many, if not most, people are still about my age.  This is not to say we don't still have young people, but not in the percentages we've had in decades past.  

This changes our events, what we do, how much we charge, and how much we attend.  I frequently (OK, usually) can't attend events due to work or family requirements that I didn't have when I first joined all those years ago.  I have the money, but not the time.  Many young folks, I suspect, have the time but not the money.  The middle group (those with young families) may get squeezed from both ends.

I wish I had an answer to all this, but I don't.   This is, as far as I can tell, a Society-wide problem.  Perhaps the solution is to have events geared toward (but not exclusively, of course) one group or the other.  Ideas?

Barcsi Janos
 
JEFFREY C. SMITH 
 
"I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is a disgrace, two are a law firm, and three or more become a Congress."  -- President John Adams




________________________________
From: Allegranza/Cathy <allegranza at roanwoulfe.com>
To: Becky McEllistrem <bmcellis at yahoo.com>; atlantia at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org
Sent: Sat, June 26, 2010 3:29:15 PM
Subject: Re: [MR] event fees

I know that for us there are many reasons that event attendance has dropped from 2-3 events a month to 1 event every two months.  Part of it is financial, we simply cannot afford to go that often. Part of it is our family dynamic has changed.  4 years ago, my son was little and it didn't matter if an event offered Youth Combat or not.  Now it matters.  I will be honest, I am not going to put out money to go to an event if my child is going to be bored out of his mind all day, and most youth activities don't appeal to bigger kids.  As it stands, we get the most bang for our buck at War of the Wings, Sapphire Joust and Pennsic (haven't ever been to a Gulf Wars, so I can't say there).  I can justify the expense since they are several days worth of entertainment, otherwise, I usually daytrip and try to carpool with others to bring down my costs or leave the kiddies at home.

The other factor that affected our rate of attendance is the increased involvement my children have had in other activities.  My high schooler is a Marching Band nut, so I sit on bleachers most weekends from August to November, my middle boy is involved in BSA (yeah, let's not beat that dead horse), but realistically, for the same price as an event, he is entertained all day on a Saturday camp.

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