News Archives

Congratulations to the "new" Heronter officers!

Seneschal: Antonio de Luna
A & S: Caterina di Zaneto Rizo
Chronicler: Keinven Ragnarsdottir
Chiurgeon: Gwenhwyvar verch Llwelyn y meddyg
Exchequer: Laurette de Montslavy
It's nice to see some new blood... I mean, some fresh faces... I mean, uh, y'know, you guys look kinda familar somehow! :D


The Rising Waters Grape Festival
by Dagonell the Juggler
(October 26th, 2002)

I arose at dawn, packed the car and drove to Otter's Keep in the Hael. Instructions on what to wear had been confusing and contradictory. Wear court garb. Wear something you can walk three miles in. Wear grape colored garb. I asked for clarification on the latter, grapes come in green, red and purple. I wore green mongol pants, a red AEthelmearc T-shirt and a red tabard over long winter woolies. It was threatening to be cold. Mother Otter had prepared a small breakfast to tide us over. I've seen less food at all-you-can-eat buffets. :) We car-pooled to the parade site because we had been told parking space was at a premium. It was. Fortunately, the mother of one of the parade walkers lived a block away from our starting point. She and a neighbor let us park in their driveways. We was a much smaller attendance this year. By a bad stroke of timing, this was also the same weekend as Crown Tourney for both AEthelmearc and the Middle.

The Grape Festival parade is the third largest in North America. Over 120 groups participate each year. In addition to the parade route itself, several blocks of side-streets had been closed to traffic so parade walkers could be organized by the parade committee before starting their march. We wound up in front of "Young Jedis of Niagara", a Star Wars fan club. They amused themselves by taken photos in various combinations. "Okay, everyone from the first movie", "Now, all the Jedi.", "Now all the Darth Vaders." etc.

The parade was scheduled to start at ten. It finally got underway around noon. It was cold and windy. So windy in fact, that it was nearly impossible to juggle my clubs. While I did do some juggling during the calm moments, I spent most of my time weaving back and forth to the crowds on either side, shaking hands with the children, doing close up tricks with a few bean-bags, taking their hats and putting it them on my own head while juggling, etc. Everytime I spotted an empty lawn chair, I'd run ahead and sit down in it. Baroness Genvieve played right along with me. She'd glare at me, cross her arms, stamp her foot and yell, "Get back to work!" and I'd run back into the parade formation. People found this incredibly funny so we did it a number of times.

The camera crew picked just about the worst possible spot to film us. We had just turned the corner so we looking directly into the sun and the wind was funnelled down the street directly towards us. We found out after the parade that it didn't matter. They focused on our banner for a few seconds and then zoomed in on the wagon that all the kids were riding in. None of the rest of us were on camera at all.

The judges' stand, on the other hand, was perfectly located. We turned another corner and the buildings were now blocking the wind instead of funnelling it towards us and the buildings were tall enough to put the street into shadow. I grabbed my juggling clubs off the top of the kids wagon and did about five minutes of club juggling, tossing in as many high throw triple spins as I could manage.

A few blocks later, we reached the end of the parade route. We all hiked back to our gathering point to rest, drink water, and enjoy the quiet. In addition to being out in a sweltering sun, we had been placed between a rock and roll band on an flat-bed, and a fire engine that kept sounding it's siren. When we were recuperated, we changed into mundanes and went out for lunch.

We toured the Wine and Grape Festival in just over an hour. The wine garden where all the vintners were set up, was packed like a mosh pit. They were offering samples and selling bottles, but it was just too crowded to be enjoyable. The food building was also giving out free samples, but none of us found anything interesting enough to buy. The last portion of the festival was the crafts booths. One of the merchants was selling drums and had a few demo pieces out for customers to try. A few of us 'tried them out' together and actually got a nice rhythm going for a few minutes as we played off each other.

On the way back to our cars, we found a used book store. There was a sudden gust of gravity, sideways!, and we were inside! I had picked up a couple of mysteries when I spotted a book on life in an English castle. When I opened it up, my jaw nearly hit the floor. Inside was a book plate that said the book belonged to Avril Brass. Avril was Mistress Fiona of Maidenhead, a former Kingdom Herald for the Middle who had died last year. I bought it.

I had a lot of fun, and I intend to go back next year. Anyone care to join me?

Pumpkin Chunkin' by Dagonell (October 13th, 2002)
It was a perfect day for Pumpkin Chunkin'. Unfortunately, perfect weather for an tenne oblate spheroid Cucurbita Pepo of the airbourne variety is cold and raining. The moisture lubricates the pumpkin in mid-air and cuts down on air friction. The cold makes the pumpkin contract and become denser. Fortunately, the perfect weather for pumpkins gave way to perfect weather for people around noon.

I set out bright and early for the demo. Unfortunately, I set out so early, that they hadn't yet put up the sign for the last turn off. After driving around aimlessly for about five miles, I swallowed my manly pride and asked for directions. Antonio had arrived mere moments before. We set up the sunshade for a rain shelter and I changed into harlequin garb.

The announcer's booth was not far from our assigned station, so I walked forward a bit until I was in his line of sight and began juggling. He was keeping up a steady stream of chatter about the history of the event and the various teams that had come to compete. He made a few comments about the expected weather and how it would affect the competition and then announced that the Society for Creative *Anarchism* was onsite today. I yelled back, "A-na-chro-nism!" He responded, "You mean you're all giant spiders inside those costumes?" After a few seconds, he corrected himself and continued to explain who we were. Apparently, he visited our website after we asked for permission to do a demo at this event. He finished by asking us, "Are you sure you're not here to overthrow the United States government?" I replied that we were still working on overthrowing Richard the Third. This back and forth banner would continue all day.

The local Boy Scout troop ran the opening ceremonies including a pledge of allegiance. There were two divisions to the competition, catapult and cannon. Both had the same set of rules.
1.) No explosives of any kind. (e.g. no gunpowder, etc.)
2.) No part of the mechanism may cross the starting line.
3.) The pumpkin must leave the mechanism intact.
4.) Three attempts, the farthest toss is your score.

The catapults were first. They fired across a soccer field. Entries ranged from children's toys that literally fit in a 'red flyer' wagon to working models of medieval catapults to spring propelled muzzle loaders. The winner in the catapult division was "The Patriot", a trebuchet with a curved throwing arm that tossed a pumpkin 1,004 feet.

After the catapult division was over, there was a break while they computed final scores and set things up for the cannons. Our demo booth, which had been nearly unvisited all morning, suddenly had a throng of visitors. We had the announcer say the Antonio the Black Knight was on site to challenge all warriors under four feet tall. We then let the children take turns trying to get past Brian's shield as he knelt in the grass. We gave out every business card and flyer that we had with us. We answered a thousand questions.

When the cannon division started, our booth was abandoned again. We decided to break the sunshade down halfway through the competition. The crowds were already starting to thin out. I changed to mundane clothes and hung around for the rest of the day.

The State Troopers had closed off two miles of road. The cannons fired down the road and folks in all-terrain vechicles with GPS markers and cellphones reported each shot. I tried several times to photograph a pumpkin leaving a cannon, but it was impossible. The cannons were impressive. The pumpkins were literally punching holes in low-lying cloud cover. Average ranges were about half a mile. One cannon was putting consecutive shots within ten feet of each other at that distance. The winner was a team of college students up from Delaware whose cannon, "Young Glory" propelled a pumpkin over 3200 feet. That's six-tenths of a mile on your car's odometer.

Despite our being short-handed, I think it was an excellent demo. We got some good publicity and gave out a lot of flyers. Next year, I'm going to enter my own trebuchet.

The Scandinavian Folk Festival
The Scandinavian Folk Festival was indeed a lot of fun! Originally I thought our "village" would up front with the main part of the event but it ended up back with the thrown weapons. In the end this arrangement turned out to be the best. We has a steady flow of people from about 10:30 am until about 4:30 pm or so. It was enough to keep all of us busy but not overwhelmed with people. We met all kinds of people. Some just politely interested and some very genuinely interested in what we are about. Some hung out for quite a while others kept coming back. I know for sure that we will be seeing at least one new family at Harvest Raid this year! =)

I think one of the most memorable moments for me (aside from my sunburn!) was when an older gentleman with his children and grand children came back. He was very interested in the chainmail. So I asked if he'd like to try it on. His face lit up and said you bet! So he put on Malcolm's chainmail and we provided him a spear and a shield. We're explaining to him about how the weight is dispersed across his body & etc and how a belt helps. Dagonell provided him with a belt at this point. Everyone is really into this, he's posing for pictures and then he starts running all around the area. Mind you that it was very hot yesterday and we didn't have any shade! I took at least one picture of this (hope it turns out!). I will remember this for a long time and I'm sure he and his family will!

This demo was really an awesome opportunity for us in many ways. 1) The timing couldn't have been better being just before Harvest Raid. 2) The event was well attended and we had lots of visibility. and 3) This could turn into an annual event for us and we could easily do a lot more and fill out the entire space behind the gym and cafetoreum.

I'd also like to thank Cynwyl for coming down from Buffalo to join us. His hands-on display of all kinds of goodies was a big hit with everyone of all ages. I think he aquired several young tool maker apprentices through out the day! We had the tents & throwing range and 18 of our own shire members but he was clearly 1/2 of our demo all by himself!

And last but not least, thank you to all the temporary "Vikings-for-a-Day"! Thank you for your support and willingness to make Viking garb and step outside of your regular personnas for this demo. It was much appreciated. *Everyone* looked fabulous and we have pictures to prove it! =) I'm still hoping for some converts... =) So hold onto the Viking garb, at the very least you can use it next year! Or maybe Heronter needs to have a Viking event of somekind? Hmmmmm....

In Service,
Keinven

The Scandinavian Folk Festival ~~ September 7th, 2002
The Scandinavian Folk Festival was a lot of fun this weekend, and I send my thanks to Lady Keinven for inspiring us to be Vikings for at least one day! (But don't think this will be habit forming!)

The front section of the festival was filled with tents and caused me to think of "Pennsic invaded by the elderly." They had a large performance tent filled with chairs where they held folk dancing, musical performances etc. Right outside this tent was the Viking Ship - a reproduction ship about 40 feet long. I would tell you more about this but I stuffed my brochures into Keinven's canvas bag for safe keeping and forgot to retrieve them, so you can ask her. But it was neat. Around the edge were tents with jewelry merchants, food merchants, other merchants (including Ragnar from the SCA) and a "video and lecture" tent (which looked like an A&S tent to me!). They also had a large tent in the middle filled with displays from wood carvers, needleworkers etc. (Artisan's forum??) Yep, just like Pennsic.

At the back of this was the school, and they had opened the gym for displays that primarily appeared to be groups that studied Scandinavian history or tracked family lineage and so on. But out the back door of this, was . . . us! (Although we were in back, the gym was the locations of the restrooms so traffic tended to flow that way most of the day anyway.)

The "Viking Village" consisted of two Viking tents and the thrown weapons range. Malcolm and Keinven brought their tent and filled it with a low bed, clothing, jewelry, weapons, chain mail etc. They also set up a table outside with games and eating utensils. Dagonell and Cigfran set up the other tent complete with rope bed, wool blankets and deerfur pillows. Lord Cynwyl McDaire came down from the Rhydderich Hael with folding table and chairs, carved horns and bowls, a fire starter, wool socks, fur pouches, and a "Viking Hygiene Kit" that reminded me mostly of a set of nail clippers except for the ear cleaner. (Ewww.) He spent all day (literally all day!) talking with people about the things he had brought. Baron Malcolm manned the other tent most of the day (in his traditional Viking garb). Lady Cigfran held court at the center table in her stunning new red and gold Viking outfit, complete with braided hair. (This may not seem important to many of you but as there was at least one spectator running around checking to see that the Viking women did not have fake hair, this authentic touch was actually quite important.) She spoke to pretty much everyone that came by and she also provided pickled herring for those of us who missed the "herring breakfast". Even Keinven tried some but she made a face. (Are we *sure* she is a Viking??)

THL Rendell and Lady Eleanore ran the thrown weapons range where Lord Gawin, Gavin, Siobhan, Catarina (with a cute little Viking hat to go with her new dress), Lord Antonio, Leonor, and Lord Dagonell spent the day entertaining the crowd with their skills on the range. In fact, I believe it almost got to the point where the crowd could recite the "Heronter Thrown Weapons Chant" as led by Dagonell and Rendell. For those who don't know it, it goes like this:

Dagonell (holding axes): Want to watch me juggle three of these?
Rendell and Crowd: NO!!!!!!!

[Webmaster's Note: The crowd was begging me to juggle, either because they wanted to see a demonstration of superior skill or they were hoping for blood. In either case, I had to heed Rendell as Weapons Marshal and not juggle, not throw two at once, not throw underhanded, not throw with my back to the line, not ... ]

Master Charles, Keinven, Catarina and myself went out front to "work the crowd" and try to convince them to come back to the display and then join us! Kit, Gawin and Catarina played games for the crowd. Everybody just wandered about, talked to people and had fun.

I am sure I missed someone who came to help out, but it was very hot and that is all I can remember this fuzzy morning. It was a fun demo and I think it was great for us to be a part of the community this way. Thanks for setting us up Keinven!

-- Dorinda (reporter)
-- Dagonell (editor)

Back from Pennsic ~~ August, 2002
Our "Viking Village" was quite the tourist attraction, and next year we are charging admission as a fund raiser. You 14th century people our there all need to get bell wedge tents for next year, because the Vikings are starting to outnumber us!

On a more serious note, I would like to thank everyone who helped make it possible for us to have another great Pennsic encampment. (And I apologize to anyone I left out - people did far more than I could possibly remember). Thanks to Lord Timujin for driving down and helping me through land grab and for helping set up my tent and the Shire pavilion. Extra special thanks to Master Charles who also came down on Saturday to set up and stayed through the whole war! Baron Malcolm joined them on Monday to erect "Viking Village", and between the three of them, they put up the gate, put up the wall poles, dug the sump and fire pit and dealt with the trailer's broken jack and wood. Malcolm also carted the tables down to camp for us. Thanks guys!

Tronose drove down for just one evening (the first Sunday) just so he could install the shower. Everyone who got a nice warm shower (or was close enough to smell others who got to shower) owes a big thanks to Tronose! He also provided the pavilion's lantern and propane, brought a great deal of wood, and invented a special stake puller for us!

Duchess Anna, Lady Maeve, and Emma helped watch the camp through the week and tied up the walls.

Lord Lothin and Lord Ciaran came in and decorated the camp, including installation of the two new walls made by Lady Laurette with help from Lady Felicity and others. Many people helped bring back ice and water for the camp including Laurette, Lothin and Malcolm and probably many others while others shared their suntan lotion, sunburn remedies, chairs and more.

The tear down went much faster than I had expected as Lord Ian, Duke Cygnus, Lord William, Lord Brocc, Lord Lothin and others made short work of the gate. Maggie, Chelsea, Rebecca and others helped fold walls and tabards while Ciaran and Tronose pulled the wall stakes. Brocc, Charles, Cygnus, Ian, William, Tronose and others loaded the truck and the trailer and helped some of us take down the tents.

Tronose, Charles, Rebecca, Maeve, Brocc and Ian were all still there when I left to finish it up and get the pavilion delivered to the maker for repair.

Others shared their food, brought in wonderful visitors (including some great bards), helped watch the children and much more. The garbage disappeared every day, visitors were greeted kindly, and the camp stayed fairly neat. Given that we had 30 people on a plot of land that was fairly small, most everyone was kind and courteous and tolerant.

Thank you to everyone who came to Pennsic this year and pitched in to help. Despite the heat, I had a wonderful time, and hope to see you all back next year!

Please feel free to add to this note as I am sure I forgot some people!
-- Dorinda