Big event, small numbers

[Wounded_Zouave]

Boaters don't go out and do demonstrations - they go boating. Sometimes with other people who also own holes in the water filled with money. I think reenacting is most satisfying, and ultimately most attractive, when we're doing our hobby for ourselves.

Boaters don't pour all that money into their holes in the water so nobody will ever see them. That's part of the package: "Hey, look what I got!" But it isn't all for selfish reasons. Boaters also do "demonstrations"; they are called "Boat Shows". They also give quite a bit back to their communities as volunteers for the Coast Guard Auxillary and as members of the U.S. Power Squadrons, teaching boating safety, etc. Gardiners have flower shows. Stamp collectors have displays and gathering that are often open to the public. Very few hobbiests do what they do in private so that ultimately only they will see it.

Reenacting, living history, whatever you call it, you do for your own pleasure, yes, but you seem to forget what we do involves firearms and explosives which can creep the public out a bit. Better to have it out in the open and done as a public service to educate about history and heritage. Otherwise, its becomes a kind of porn.

[RJSamp]

Boaters don't go out and do demonstrations - they go boating.

Sounds like someone has never been to the Aquatennial, a 4th of July boat parade, Christmas Light show off of Balboa \ Lido Island.....never attended a local Power Squadron's Boat Show \ water safety public demonstration..... and I agree with you: I reenact primary for me\ourselves....and the public benefits from a good show.

[Pvt Schnapps]

Yeah, I'd rather see events where the participants are self-motivated in what they do. I think reenactors familiar with these kinds of events can be trusted enough to figure out ahead of time "who they are" in the period and react and interact accordingly, without that much artificial input. Things seem to happen logically and naturally, and one can focus on the situation at hand and react to it as necessary, rather than thinking, sometime today I need to do X because I was given a card that said so.

It may be necessary to have a few key people do specific things to start a chain of events, but after that, things seem to fall into place on their own, if everyone stays focussed on the period.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

I think that's true for the events you prefer, which you're pretty wise and scrupulous about chosing. But I could see how Rob's idea would work pretty well in tacticals with small numbers. In a sense, it's a much simplified version of the scenario planning that goes into an event like Westville, where everyone had a specific role with certain objectives. As for the cards, remember Recon III? One of the cards given out at the beginning instructed the bearer to, at some moment during the fighting, panic and run away. For some reason a fairly high percentage of corporals got that card, which made it interesting to watch what happened when the color company was attacked Sunday morning.

But I'm interested in any ideas pertinent to smaller military scenarios. In a few weeks I plan to start sewing on my 1812 togs.

[hanktrent]

As for the cards, remember Recon III? One of the cards given out at the beginning instructed the bearer to, at some moment during the fighting, panic and run away.

That's a perfect example of how such things place an upper limit on accuracy, or on an individual's experience.

Let's say that by luck, I've chosen either a real person or a fictional/typical person to portray, who for whatever reason simply wouldn't panic and run away. Let's say I've spent a fair amount of time researching him before the event, thinking about how he might see the world, how he'd react to various period situations. In a smaller, more dedicated hobby, there will be more people who do that.

Let's say I show up at the event, and am suddenly handed a card informing me that I should panic and run away at some point. Clearly, all my pre-event thought is unwanted, unexpected and unnecessary, because the organizer expects everyone can change their portrayal at the drop of the hat, at the start of the event.

If that happened, I wouldn't be interested in attending that sort of thing a second time.

If organizers need or want to arrange certain situations, and want to also support participants who like to put in more effort, the simple solution is to contact those people well ahead of time and let them know. In my experience Jim Butler, for example, has always been excellent at letting people know what's up for Westville well ahead of time, if they care, and letting them plan who they'll be to match.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[CheeseBoxRaft]

Big events are mostly for officers and NCOs. They get to see it better than the guy in the rear rank who mostly just sees the back of the guy's head in front of him. All the wheeling around on the field just means work, work, work to the private in the ranks.

[RJSamp]

Big events are mostly for officers and NCOs. They get to see it better than the guy in the rear rank who mostly just sees the back of the guy's head in front of him. All the wheeling around on the field just means work, work, work to the private in the ranks.

Sounds like the eyewitness accounts....

[Craig L Barry]

I usually avoid these discussions but here goes...The recurring theme here is a smaller turn out means
the death knell of "the hobby." In the end, this is not necessarily the case at all. I wrote something called
"The Death of the Mega-event" about five years ago, and it turned out to be more or less spot on. The
conclusion was (in summation) that the hobby was shrinking, but it was not "dead." The Woodstock-sized
events probably are dead, which is a good thing. If so, good riddance.

How many people around do you need to enjoy yourself for the weekend?

[Rob Weaver]

That's a roll-playing game, Rob. Its neither a reenacement or living history.

Yep. Busted. I borrowed the concepts from gaming. I came at the event planning as "live action wargaming." It was a judged tactical, and part of the judging was on how period the activity and response was, not just whether the "mission" was accomplished. Now the site we were using was not a historical site, nor was the event tied to a single historical event (other than that the timeframe was the fall of 1863). Actually, each scenario was a "reenactment" in the sense that winning involved doing at least as well as the unit in the original scenario did, and was "living history" in that the period reactions of participants were strongly encouraged. With small groups, scenarios are short. If you want to do exactly what happened on x day at x time, at x location with 8-10 guys, you better be prepared to do it about 8 times that day, because it's going to be over quickly.
There's a little RP in all reenacting. Perhaps we're straying into philosophy of reenacting here, but what we do is rarely an exact recreation of the conditions and results of given circumstances. The best we can do is put ourselves under vaguely similar conditions and encourage a result which we call "historically accurate." It's not a theatrical production where each line and action are carefully rehearsed. At best, it's improvised theater. Not muchof a step to RP at that point, is it?

[Curt-Heinrich Schmidt]

Hallo!

We shall see whether the Power of Anniversary dates holds magic any longer. The 100th of WWI comes up in a few years, but I am thinking that the aging and graying CW community will not follow in any numbers.

On the other hand, some 5,000-6,000 Furries showed up for the Anthrocon event in Pittsburgh this week.



Seriously, as if declining CW numbers is not serious... IMHO there has been, is, an evolutionary path some lads take where as they climb up the historical Pryamid out of reenacting, the layers get smaller and smaller until one gets to the point. At the point the choice is extinction, migration to other eras or hobbies, and turning around and climbing down to previous levels.

Looking "up" the pyramid, always being a two or four man "squad" lost in the Wilderness and separated from the army seems doable and attractive, and works for a while. But I have found many lads eventually grow tired of it, especially if they are the only man left time and time again.

Some things are cyclical. At the end of the Buy-centennial, a guestimated 3,000-4,000 folks split with about 1/3 going into the Civil War, 1/3 into the F & I War.. and Rev War turn out dropping around here to events with 12-15 men total. At the end of the 125th Anniversary series, with a questimated 30,000-35,000 folks once in the game, lads were worried whether a national event could be held that would draw.... a thousand participants.
But I think the greatest factor is not the Economy, but the graying and aging out of the Baby Boomers, who invented.. "reenacting." And whom are not being replaced by the next generations of Generation Y'ers and Generation Z'ers who are not replacing the "slowly getting older" Generation X'ers.

Every Once in a While someone talks about forming a reenacted GAR and reenacting parades and reunions...



Curt

[Rob Weaver]

I agree with you. The impact of graying Baby Boomers is the single greatest stressor on the hobby. I don't think the anniversary numbers are a draw anymore, and we have ourselves to blame for that. We've been commemorating the "127th this," and "134th that" for a long time. We've worn it out.
On the other hand, I went to "Lee Takes Command" this weekend and had a great time. I was surrounded by good reenactors and good friends. Got some things to think about and my own enjoyment of the hobby gets a little bounce. Maybe sometimes all we can do is take care of the present. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."