[MR] War of the Wings and encampments

[Bambi TBNL]

Congratulations, WOW, YOU ARE EXPERIENCING EXTREME GROWING PAINS! While there is no survivable cure , there is a way to survive.
1. Run your event as though a large portion were not Pennsic veterans. I realize a lot of us are, but so many are not and many things taken for granted like rope, sheetwalls and even paved roads in camps dont workout the way they do at Pennsic perhaps more extensive discussion or a virtual pamphlet on the web site mine be in order. The booklet this year was amazing with schedules maps and color. I am not sure how they could have afforded one more page , but the info should be somewhere . 
2. The fire safety thing is so serious and so big... D Mexico is right about us all being needed to help stay safe BUT  the autocrat really cannot double as the only fire Marshall.  Every larger camping event  needs to consider not only having but publicizing who they are and publishing somewhere like  on the event site the fire policies and safety tips. A smokey the baron campaign as it were ( some of us remember BAron D ur in the first 1/4 century of Pennsic  working tirelessly to accomplish this. )
3. There are never enough classes on SCA type camping skills at universities or other out door events.  It is another way to get the word out. On many different ways to have a safer and more enjoyable event. 
4 delineation of encampment boundaries is taken very seriously at Pennsic not so much at w1 day events and is still finding its way at 5 and up events. Sitting up an encampment take time and work and supplies. And knowledge and information. Where the streets are marked is helpful sheet Walls take a lot of time to put up when the bulk of the camp will be there for 2 days and the skeleton camp is the first in first out. And of course getting them there when they live in a shed at cooper lake can be tough.  We need to keep in mind that education of the all is ket and an honest mistake is nothing to beat yourself or anyone else up about. Clases on camping etiqueta and how to implement it might be a way to help others and an actual panel at the end of the class to share ideas and questions would help others. I always tell my students matter what class i am teaching " I MAKE THESE MISTAKES SO YOU DONT HAVE TO" 
i have to admit i am guilty of not communicating what has become second nature to me. ^I realized while making dinner on Fri night as one of my experienced campmates ran to get her extinguisher from her tent because she wanted to help and i did not have my extinguisher visible ( no not an emergency , just it should be near the firE in the kitchen) that i had never discussed the importance of having a personal  fire extinguisher in many locations in camp and ours were the only 2 i knew about.  A fire safety captains note could include stuff like that and remind us all of a better way. 
well Ive rambled on enough. I love this game, it has been my family for 23 years. AnY thing that can help keep my family safer makes me happy.
YiIS 

Lady Maria Beatriz la Mora CoP 
aka Khalillah bint Temur 
ya Bambi
   
   Monday, October 10, 
I had such an awesome time this weekend at War of the Wings. It was
well worth the drive down, and the hotel room was wonderful. Whomever
bribed the National Weather Service for such perfect weather deserves
some recognition.

 I was mortified to discover that I had unwittingly
walked right into someone's camp. I turned around to leave, turned
left down the road... and was perplexed... because it STILL didn't
look right. Not only had I wandered into someone's very large camp, I
had turned down a road within their encampment while trying to leave.
I had a nice chat with a lady who was sitting on the front porch of
her tent about how I was pretty sure this wasn't a road, and if it
wasn't, I apologize. She graciously confirmed that it was not, in
fact, the road, but didn't give me a hard time about it. If they
really wanted to make sure people didn't wander into their
encampments, they'd have had a rope wall or sheet wall up, I'm
certain. (For the record, I have a very difficult time getting around
in the dark, 
I feel this was an honest mistake, and I do apologize
profusely to whomever's camp I invaded that night.

But there were also people who were climbing over ropes to go through
encampments (near the gypsy camp), and complaining about tripping on
the ropes (including threatening to find someone to sue if they
tripped and fell while climbing over the ropes at the back of the
encampment where the woods were). People, those ropes are there
because that is someone's encampment - their private space at the
event. Climbing over those ropes is just like climbing over your
neighbor's fence - it's just bad form.

I implore you all to please keep these things in mind for future
events. I was absolutely appalled that I myself had wandered into
someone's camp uninvited, but I am even more appalled by the sheer
refusal of people to just "go around" someone's encampment.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled discussions.

Glynis Knibb
aka
~Lady Glynis Gwynedd, Finsterwald Pursuivant
Kingdom Clerk of Precedence, Atlantia
Webminister, Atlantia Pennsic page
Webminister, Deputy Herald, Thrown Weapons Marshall, etc - Barony of
Highland Foorde
"Have you hugged a harp today?"
--
"We accept that we cannot satisfy the mentally deranged, those
experiencing dementia or hallucinations, the chemically imbalanced,
those under the influence of alcohol or mind altering drugs, genetic
mutants, those possessed or hearing "the voices," those seeking
government surplus or inferior quality, chronic complainers, the
illiterate, former spouses, and the IRS." C. Rake 1995
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