As most of us know, a project of this scope takes a lot of cash to create properly; either that, or it takes many years with many small steps of improvements.

Camlann had to make its start as a semi-permanent 'faire' based on the support of countless volunteers. That, of course, meant that the strictness of historical accuracy was not possible to enforce, though it was constantly requested. As well, the information that is available today as compared to 25 years ago is better.

As of last year, we began weekend living history presentations, and the people involved in these must attain a much higher level of authenticity than we can hope to receive from most faire goers. The purpose of this is ultimately to educate the public, however, not to entertain ourselves though this certainly happens as a side benefit.

We are always looking for more volunteers who understand the importance of accuracy and keeping clear of Ren-faire and SCA culture so as not to give the public the wrong impression of our goals. Volunteers will create a local village character, or a visitor from the nearby area (we are set in southwest England, 1376, in the vicinity of South Cadbury.)

As I see it, we have an advantage for most living history enthusiasts; we have a village setting, not a camp in the woods, which allows people to take on more regular roles such as bakers, farmers, cottars, and the like.

If you are interested in participating, please visit our website at www.camlann.org and we can talk about ways that you might be involved.

Of course, we can also chat about it here, if you have questions!

---Diana Peterson
Vice President
Camlann Medieval Association

For those who are interested, Camlann is located in Carnation, WA.

The food was great, and from my scant knowledge of Medieval food-ways, quite accurate in taste as well as presentation. I particularly enjoyed the reactions of the guests when they were handed their "plates", i.e. the trenchers. Nice touch! The Almond Pudding was wonderful, too, and since then my wife has made it a couple of times (we of course bought the cookbook, too!).

I expect to be out there to visit again this summer some time to see the place in full fig, and I look forward to seeing what the place looks like in bloom!

Cheers,

Gordon

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Thank you for the comments about our Yule Feast! It is important to us to try to be as authentic as we can, while still appealing enough to people that they will want to eat the food. That means we use authentic recipes but limit ourselves generally to the ones that appeal to the modern palate.

However, we are more risky with our All Hallows Feast, with the idea that we can cook eel tortes and 'Garbage' for the folks that want to try something a little bit different.

The faire, if you've attended it this year, is angled toward the authentic but we are not entirely in that capacity yet. Currently, the program for merchants divides them into three categories: Basic, Advanced, and Villager.

Each level is more authentic than the last, though even Basic has some standard requirements. The more authentic a merchant's presentation is, the less they pay for their fees.

This new program has been received well by the merchants and the results have been encouraging. Many people are excited about the new authenticity challenges while not being excluded if they don't happen to have a full kit yet.

When the faire is not in session, and we are running our living history weekend presentations, everyone there has to be as authentic as we can possibly make them. Since some are volunteers, you may spot some slip ups until we can expand our loaner clothing and shoe selection. Putting shoes on a volunteer with size 15 feet is always a challenge!

One step at a time though, since Camlann doesn't have a wealthy sponsor, we are progressing slowly but surely toward our goals of complete authenticity.

Note: If all goes well, we should have a forge built this year as well as our current cottage project completed for a bed and breakfast retreat. Keep your eyes on our website for announcements when these features are completed; they will be as authentic as it is humanly possible to make them.

Funny that you should post this today, as my Wife (Neb) and I went to visit Camlann on Saturday! Unfortunately due to modern inconveniences we only had a few hours to enjoy it, still, it was quite a wonderful place to visit.

I had a great time speaking with Tim Plourd the Armourer, as well as my old compadre Dameon Willich who runs the Seattle Knights (who are doing the jousting show). The show was in fact the best I've seen from Dameon's group; I think that the smaller, more intimate setting is more conducive to his style of presentations.

Tim is indeed quite a knowledgeable fellow, and we spoke at length about 15th and 16th Century armour (as well as about a million other topics, I must admit!) I have no doubt that he shall be receiving some of my custom at some point for more armour!

Again, thanks for the update on the events at Camlann, I look forward to visiting again soon!

Cheers,

Gordon

[ 08-02-2005: Message edited by: Gordon ]

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I haven't seen any of the other Seattle Knight shows; we've hired Don Parris, one of their members, as our tournament director for about four years now. He's very professional and makes a different show each year (and each weekend, one way or another - no show is alike.)

This is the first year Dameon has performed at the faire, and hopefully he likes the fact that we've built an actual field for their use. There is more we want to do with it (extending the roofs over the audience areas, building a fence along the back side) but I like to think the enclosed space is a helpful element.

Anyway, rambling I suppose, but it's late and I wanted to thank you for your input. Four more weekends to go, and then I can breathe again.

Indeed it was a good performance, and an altogether enjoyable afternoon spent at Camlann. My major regret is that we didn't get there early enough to do reservations for the feast! But next time...

Indeed, it was great speaking with Tim at lenght, but I was unfortunately not able to say hi to Tinker, whom I would have liked to have met. But again, there's always a next time!

The only complaint that I heard at all from the Seattle Knights was the the ground is a tad hard... Oh Well! Can't please them all.

Now of course I feel kind of dumb in that I didn't put two and two together and recongize your name, as I do believe we were introduced last Saturday by Tim. How's the little donkey doing?

Cheers!

Gordon

[ 08-02-2005: Message edited by: Gordon ]

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Yes, the ground is hard out here! The place used to be a logging camp at the turn of the century, and some of the rises in the terrain were the rock and gravelbeds of the roads and train tracks. Needless to say, when you dig out 1000 rocks from the tourney field, there are more below... but the grass and turf is getting thicker as well. All in good time.

Hope to see you again soon!

The first is our select scheduled Living History weekends, and the second is our merchant program for the Summer Faire. They're both a bit different but overlap, and in any case, I'd like to specifically plum the LH population for our personnel needs in both areas.

As previously mentioned, we are pushing as hard as we can in the direction of authenticity. I know that I don't have to explain what I mean by that to most people on this list, or their associates.

The LH weekends at Camlann run from noon to 5 pm, and are set up to present a variety of medieval people 'at work' in their village to visitors. These events are our accuracy flagship, and therefore it is easiest for all concerned if we get people who know what that's all about. It is currently a volunteer-based program, though in the future as it grows, we would like to start paying people based on the depth of their portrayals.

The Faire is much larger, and crazier, and difficult to make 'period' but is a good opportunity to sell things. We would really like our merchants to be as authentic as we can ask merchants to be (which is not easy, since many of them are not in it for the educational aspect.) The more LH folks we can bring into the program the better, in my opinion.

As a quick recap, we are located in Washington State, King County (30 minutes from Seattle.) The website is www.camlann.org, and we are a non-profit educational organization, so donations of time can be written off on your taxes.

You can also contact me here, or call me at (425) 318-2651.

---Diana---

[ 02-23-2006: Message edited by: Diana Peterson ]

I must also reiterate that we are not yet as accurate yet as we wish to be. In particular, as a history graduate, my personal responsibility and drive is to convert anything non-historical in the programs and site to living history standards, as much as the state and federal laws allow. This will take time and the efforts of volunteers as we build the additional operational income that this effort requires.

I've seen many groups try to start medieval villages and especially castles, and in fact, the number of groups seems to be escalating. Some are quite solid and many are giving the serious attempts a bad name. I am aware of our current shortcomings and I intensely hope that people will not confuse us with these fly-by-night, pie-in-the-sky organizations as we build a stronger program.

Kidding, of course. Moving across state is a wee bit easier than cross country, even for a good LH opportunity.

I don't have any pictures of it aside from this one on our website, as I'm not entirely done with it. There are three panels left to finish.

You can see that the hall has an undercroft design; the trees on the side will be painted up along the ribs to go overhead after the walls are completed.

Hall picture

A recent article on our living history weekends. Anyone in the Seattle area interested in living history in the 14th century, feel free to contact us at (425) 788-8624.

A new project being completed as we speak is an authentic forge. The mason is finishing up the chimney this week, and then we can start building the timber frame and roof. This project was funded by a major donor and also a grant by 4Culture, and should be completed in the autumn.

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Hi Diana,

I sent you an email message last week and I'm not certain if you received it.