Yesterday was a small local event -- with fighting and archery being the main planned activities -- held at the baron and baroness' castle. Dani was in charge of reservations, so we were there at the beginning. (Actually, earlier -- the construction we had allowed time for was absent on the way up.)

Two weeks before the event, we had 15 reservations. A week before, it was up to around 30 or so. On Friday, there were 58 in hand and a couple dozen verbal ones (which technically don't count, but it was a hint). The cook planned for 80, but said selling more was ok and let him know if we went over 100. He was doing an all-day sideboard, not a sit-down feast, so some flexibility was possible here. The autocrat had arranged for someone to do a grocery-store run if needed.

People came... and came... and came. The cook said "ya sure, go ahead". In the end we cut off on-board at 140. There were another 20 or so people who came but did not buy the food. Oof. I talked with the (first-time?) autocrat about advance deadlines; as a barony we need to get a little better about this kind of institutional wisdom. Fortunately, the cook was prepared to roll with it, but there are other areas where it's helpful to have some idea how many people are coming, and I think everyone involved has a better appreciation for that now.

This was a free event (the fee was for food, not admission, and you didn't have to buy the food if you didn't want to). I've been trying to encourage donation-funded events; there's been a lot of push-back from the officers, but we've done it a few times at free or inexpensive sites with modest success. I think yesterday set a record (at least for this decade): $260. Everyone involved was shocked. There were $20 bills in the donations basket -- granted, some people made change from the basket, but I saw several who put in bigger bills and took nothing out. Before Shabbat I gave Dani $5 as a contribution -- I specifically wanted a $5 bill, not five ones, to go into the basket as a subtle hint -- and was surprised to see it dwarfed. :-) (It was still above average per capita; whether it was above average per donation I don't know. There were a lot of ones in the basket too, though from what I saw when I was sitting at the gate, they usually did not go in singly.)

I do my best to help with events that are free or donation-funded (I do not donate labor to events that unnecessarily collect the corporate tax). Helping in the kitchen on Shabbat is pretty much impossible; helping Dani with the gate was another obvious option modulo the Shabbat issues. SCA rules require that there always be two people at the gate; we agreed that I would handle the people who were pre-registered (welcome, here's a program, please sign the waiver if you need to, changing rooms are upstairs, etc), and he would handle anything having to do with money. Another person was also available for a few hours in the afternoon, so we kind of traded off (and I made sure that someone else was there when it was time to reconcile money so I wouldn't get pulled in).

The fighting included spear-fighting on the drawbridge and a rush-the-gate challenge with combat archers shooting down from the walls, both of which were a lot of fun to watch. (There was also target archery and a conventional fighting tourney.) Inside, the heralds were doing something in one room and two rooms were occupied with people doing sewing. One of the folks in the sewing rooms was Viscountess Judith, from whom I got Erik and Baldur when they were kittens, so we chatted about cats for a while. The mom-cat is still alive; Judith thinks she's about 17. (The mom-cat was a stray and already pregnant when Judith took her in.) It's good to know that longevity runs in at least one side of the family. :-) I asked Judith if she knows much about the other two cats from that litter, but the family who adopted them moved to Atlantia and she hasn't seen them much since then.

The event schedule included one class, on serving a 14th-century high table. (The event had a 14th-century theme.) I attended, and was pleasantly surprised to see that the instructor was a 12-year-old girl. At the end of the class she put out a blank book and asked people to give her feedback. Neat.

This site would be good for small schola events; there are several rooms that could be used without encroaching on the great hall and kitchen areas. I think the first event at the castle was a schola, actually; I was out of town and missed it. (Other events were Purim last year, 12th night this year, and yesterday's event.)

While there were 160 or so people at the event, a lot of the "usual suspects" weren't there and there were lots of people I didn't know. I assume most were local (and that the barony is somewhat fragmented), but since the king and queen came (this was a surprise to me) that might have caused some people to come from out of town. Not knowing very many people at the event triggered my shyness and introversion, so I was glad to have something to semi-do for a good chunk of the day. Sol la Cantor, who used to live here, came back for the event; it was nice to see her, though she spent a lot of time hanging out with the heralds so I didn't spend a lot of time talking with her. (The heralds were running a consultation table, and it was kind of hard to tell at any given point whether they were working or just hanging out. I wonder if every local event really needs a consultation table, but hey, if it makes them happy...)

There was a lot of meat at the buffet. The cook is probably a carnivore (and I do know the difference between carnivore and omnivore), so that didn't surprise me; I'm just puzzled by how he was able to afford it. Of the non-meat dishes, the chickpeas with garlic were especially tasty, and there was an interesting compote of assorted veggies flavored with fennel. (There were also the usual suspects -- bread, cheese, hard-boiled eggs, green salad, fruit.) There was a mushroom roll (wrapped in bread) that I ate even though I don't care for mushrooms; it went well with the mustard sauce that was probably intended for one of the meats.

On the way home we hit all the construction delays we had dodged on the way up. I guess that's fair. :-)