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Re: Attendance Reenacting
Caveat: I'm a mainstreamer who jumps the fence to cph whenever I damned well please. I'm also too old, too gray, and too fat to play in this hobby. Hasn't stopped me from doing it yet.
There are many reasons, some touched upon already, as to why attendance is down from the peak years. Just don't forget that there was a lot of reenacting, and enjoyment, going on in this hobby before those peak years, and it will continue to go on now that that particular peak has passed. I don't know about you, but just because there aren't 35,000 reenactors around anymore doesn't mean that I can't still have fun with the remaining 15,000.
Don't like the hobby politics? Got news for ya....You're going to find the same thing in church, civic groups, your own house, bowling league, little league, everywhere. Try being tolerant and not adding to it. Be sure that while pointing out the asshats in the room you don't start acting like one yourself.
Yeah, it's about the events. There's plenty of them, both high end and middle ground, that are worth going to. More than enough wheat to ignore the chaff and still eat well.
It's also about the people that I never would have met without taking part is this stupid hobby. Some have become good friends, in both the cph and mainstream branches of the hobby. They're a big part of why I continue in the hobby. They're worth holding on to.
No one ever made converts to reenacting by moaning loudly about how much we need them. They got 'em by showing how much fun they were having reenacting, and how much the learning added meaning and value to their lives.
Got an event that isn't all that great? Then make your part of it better, for yourself and those around you. Do the same for a good event. Crack open the bone and suck out the marrow rather than complain about how little meat was on the bone. If the event looked that bad to begin with, you wouldn't have gone to it in the first place.
Yeah, I'm too old, too gray, and too fat to do this hobby. And there's a number of folks out there over the last seven years who enjoyed their trips to a reenactment a little better because some old, gray, fat guy who doesn't look anything like a real CW soldier took the time to talk with them and show them things and let them try things on. That's been rewarding as hell, even if I do look like a wooly blueberry to some.
I know my lane. I just refuse to be stuck in it.
Caveat: I'm a mainstreamer who jumps the fence to cph whenever I damned well please. I'm also too old, too gray, and too fat to play in this hobby. Hasn't stopped me from doing it yet.
There are many reasons, some touched upon already, as to why attendance is down from the peak years. Just don't forget that there was a lot of reenacting, and enjoyment, going on in this hobby before those peak years, and it will continue to go on now that that particular peak has passed. I don't know about you, but just because there aren't 35,000 reenactors around anymore doesn't mean that I can't still have fun with the remaining 15,000.
Don't like the hobby politics? Got news for ya....You're going to find the same thing in church, civic groups, your own house, bowling league, little league, everywhere. Try being tolerant and not adding to it. Be sure that while pointing out the asshats in the room you don't start acting like one yourself.
Yeah, it's about the events. There's plenty of them, both high end and middle ground, that are worth going to. More than enough wheat to ignore the chaff and still eat well.
It's also about the people that I never would have met without taking part is this stupid hobby. Some have become good friends, in both the cph and mainstream branches of the hobby. They're a big part of why I continue in the hobby. They're worth holding on to.
No one ever made converts to reenacting by moaning loudly about how much we need them. They got 'em by showing how much fun they were having reenacting, and how much the learning added meaning and value to their lives.
Got an event that isn't all that great? Then make your part of it better, for yourself and those around you. Do the same for a good event. Crack open the bone and suck out the marrow rather than complain about how little meat was on the bone. If the event looked that bad to begin with, you wouldn't have gone to it in the first place.
Yeah, I'm too old, too gray, and too fat to do this hobby. And there's a number of folks out there over the last seven years who enjoyed their trips to a reenactment a little better because some old, gray, fat guy who doesn't look anything like a real CW soldier took the time to talk with them and show them things and let them try things on. That's been rewarding as hell, even if I do look like a wooly blueberry to some.
I know my lane. I just refuse to be stuck in it.
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