Folcland Fest: A Quick Recap

Over the weekend of 28–29 May of 2011, Micel Folcland held its sixth Folcland Fest. In many ways, it was a typical event, so I feel justified in speaking about it here.

The event was held at Forest Glen Preserve, which I praised last week. It’s a beautiful site, staffed with constructive and helpful people. We arrived on Friday and took out time setting up, rearranging things a little. Our conceit is that we are an Anglo-Scandinavian village (unfortunately with tents and not with houses). Everything is a small angle, so it is not lined up with military precision but more resembles villages from the time. We set up te textile corner first, beneath a hemp canvas fly. Julie, whose shop it is, hs a mini-warp-weighted loom, two card-weaving loom, a swift and a display of the various types of fabric that was available during the time. Julie likes to set up the fly over the ropeline, so that MoPs can stand under the shade if necessary. The library cupboard–contadino hand-out literature and the cookbook wesell, along with an introductory placard on a stick is placed at the edge of the shopc so that it’s the first thing MoPs see..
Next to it we set up a getald where we sleep at nights, in front of a gaming and kids’ table. The kids in the group could no show up this weekend, unfortunately.

We set up a pyramidal Panther fly next.. At one edge, we had the mint and the laece office, while the back was reserved for the cooking preparation area. A cooking pit was dug next to the fly.

Jeff, a new member, arrived with an A-frame before the end of Friday and set it up with a display of adzes and weapons a little back, glorying in the fact that he didn’t have to set things up in a straight line. The fact that this second street gave a depth to the village was great!

Sharon, Margaret an d Babette arrived later on. Babette’s car was having troubles, so she hooked up with them nd couldn’t bring her kids, her tent and food prep table (she is our chief cook). They stayed at the modern center we have access to and cheerfully admitted they were wusses in the face of the thunderstorm that was predicted! 🙂

In the morning, MoPs did not show up (but neither did rain), a great difference from previous years, where we had a continuous stream of visitors. Probably because of the weather and because of a weekend filled with graduation parties and other things. They missed Babette’
s great food-preparation display, though we did enjoy the beef stew she made that day and the lam stew she prepared on Sunday. We spent the time talking and making plans. Finally, a few people showed up. People did show up–some from over an hour away and coming specifically to see us, and they had plenty of time to talk with us. Chuck shoed up and engaged in a game of Bacche spear to the delight of MoPs.

The rain poured down later on, effectively killing the day, and we retired to the cabin, ordering our traditional Anglo-Scandinavian pizza and sitting around talking, eating and drinking until late!

More MoPs showed up the next day, including a continent from the fourteenth century, and it was a nice day. Folk were interested in the exhibit and in the textile production, and we had a park ranger stop by and tell us that it really torked him of that we and other reenactors go to such extent to make a great display and people don’t show up! A photographer from a local paper did show up and, I think, was enchanted by the display. He spent a much longer time that necessary talking to and taking photos of us, and will be publishing a story about us in the paper.

We tore things down finally and left to get ready for Memorial Day activities. It was a fun and informative weekend with new members and plans to show up at Swedish Day next month. We probably disappointed the folk who stopped by just to see the violence and people in horned helmets (we did have a few horns and a few helmets, so hopefully they were not too disappointed). We had a lot of fun and educated a lot of people in the everyday life of the time, so the weekend was not a failure despite the low number of MoPs!