[Mid] Chicago Winterfest Demo Information

I have just returned from the latest meeting concerning 'The greatest
demo ever'. (I made that up just now.)

The winterfest demo is shaping up nicely. The actual title of the
weekend has been something like ' Winterfest weekend of Renaissance
music and magic'. Or something really vague and whimsical. This event
will be Dec. 2 and 3. The public will be around from 12 to 5. We must
be around (before) 11:15 to 3. (We are adding setup and parking time.
These people want to run this like a production and not a SCAdian social
event. The nerve.) We will be in the extraodinarily beautiful Cultural
affairs building in downtown Chicago. (Corner of Randolph and
Michigan) Parking will be discussed below. They will be releasing a
full press package. They will be doing independent advertisement for
this. (Their holloween event draws 4000.) Did I mention they will be
paying us? (See parking paragraph)

The schedule so far looks like...

12:00
Randolph Cafe Court dancing / Wilfrong / Minstrocity
(Downstairs)
Stairs Magic
GAR Rotundra Comedy/ Skits / (SCA) A+S living history village
(Upstairs as the center of attention)
Chicago rooms SCA Fence (Upstairs a little out of the way, but
not much)

12:30
Randolph Cafe Minstrels
Stairs Mime
GAR Rotundra Comedy/ Skits / A+S living history village
Chicago rooms SCA Dance

1:00
Randolph Cafe Juggling
Stairs Magic
GAR Rotundra Morris Dancers / A+S living history village
Chicago rooms SCA Heavy Weapons

1:30
Randolph Cafe
Stairs
GAR Rotundra Schedule rotates in that pattern again until 3PM
Chicago rooms

Then we are going to be part of a grand procession to the theater. From
3 to 5 there will be (3?) performances in the theater. We don't have to
attend, but they have been encouraging me to have some people attend.
(It's free, its nice) Currently there are two largish madrigal groups.
They are still searching for a possible instrumental section for the
third. (Please contact Robyan if you are interested.)

Other than the schedule, we may be doing smaller performance stuff in
other areas. Consider a band of fighters or Pippins wandering off when
they are less busy. They make a big distraction and encourage people to
see the other stuff going on.

Today, we mostly discussed ways we can add pomp to the occasion. They
are trying to get a queen (not from a drag show) to focus attention and
help move crowds around. We will more than likely have some smaller
parts in the ceremonies. They really like the idea of a procession
through a sword arch. They liked the ideas of Pavants. They are very
flexible on all items of pomp. If you have ideas, bring them forth.
Telleri is in charge of dance, but we have yet to put together much more
of the grand, fun types of elements. (Warning, they may have the mayor
show up. The queen might show up in a carriage.)

We discussed decoration. I hope to have ways to don banners along the
walls. If you know the building and have ideas here, they would
appreciate them. The tables for A+S displays should have a white
tablecloth. Feel free to bring your own decoration.

A+S will be sharing a beautiful room with a stage. (Free
entertainment. Period heckling anyone?) Tables and chairs will be out
ahead of time. Currently, we may have to double up on who gets each 8
foot table. If you need more space let us know. (Or commit early so I
do less work and the paid professional planner lays out the tables
perfectly.) Merchants could come, but cannot sell. They can hand out
cards and tell people where they are selling stuff next. (Next year
will be better if it happens.)

The Fencing, Fighting, and Dance is in an ugly room with a great view.
We may have to do some extra work to get the crowds in as we are off to
the side a bit. (Not much really.) We actually have a considerable
amount of space in this room. It is usually an art gallery. The
ceilings are high and there is carpet. We discussed having a stage, but
I told them we weren't too keen on that. (Parquet damages easier than
most office carpet.)
I let them know our tentative dance list.
I told them about the Lancelot/ Guenevere playing chess tourney style.
(ways of interacting with the crowd.)
I told them we will have a running commentary on the activities going
on. (So we need to do a bit of organization there.)

So far I have some excellent people lined up for doing the stuff we do.
But the A+S stuff seems particularly keen to the organizers. Please
send me contact info, what A+S you are bringing, and what days you can
attend ASAP. SO far I have about 8 people confirmed. I will be hunting
more people down, but please do me the favor of volunteering. Below I
am listing the wonderful souls who are helping me organize specific
areas. If they are co- ordinating your area (fence, dance, etc.) please
let them know if you can make both days, no days, one day, a maybe day.
If you have to choose a day, Saturday may actually be lighter for SCA.
(That could change quickly)

Heavy fighting: Sir Fern de la Foret home 773- 764- 1920
Fencing: Lord Cecil du Pont home 630- 241- 3158 e-mail cecilxx@aol.com
Dancing and processions: Teleri home 847-797-5717
Literature and recruitment: Lady Jale bint Amar home 773-736-5183
e-mail wendyc@telocity.com

Currently, parking is still in flux. It is one of my priorities to see
that parking will be reimbursed. The Cultural affairs people are trying
to get us discounted parking in one of the nearby building. Regardless
of this, we are being paid $500 per day. The plan is to write the check
to one group, then distribute the money that day for the parking. Any
leftovers can be debated later.
As another alternative, Mistress Juliana lives a couple of blocks away
next to $3 parking. Someone (NOT ME) could organize renting a van to
shuttle to this cheap parking.
The alley behind the building is accessible from Randolph street. There
is room on the loading dock for 3 vehicles at a time. The alley itself
has loading and unloading parking. There is nothing preventing you from
walking in off the street with your gear. (The loading dock could be
crowded.) The Demo people are also looking for storage for Friday and
Saturday nights.
How much time will it take us to set up under these circumstances? They
are pressing me to set an arrival time for all the performers (Us). It
doesn't help that we are historically late to most everything.
Food. There is fast food around the corner. However, some fool
suggested a mass / going to war style of packed lunch for all. Nice
idea. It falls under the NOT ME category, however.

There is one more thing we can help our hosts with. They need a throne
of most any type. The Queen needs a place to sit. (Really cool chairs
could work. This chair will only be for the queen.)

Soon there will be a press package put together. Myself and some
deputies will be contacted. We need literature and pictures for
publications to reprint. Lady Jale will be compiling these things.

Do I have any questions? No, you have any questions? Please call. I
am becoming chained to this damn machine. (I will respond to e-mail
too.)

In Service to the Dream
Henry Warnok

PS Please post this where applicable. Everyone important not on this
list please raise your hand.

From: Brian Hill <lilbitugli@mpdr0.chicago.il.ameritech.net>
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ to unsubscribe, send a message to
`~-, ,-~`~-, ,-~`~-, ,-~`~-, ,-~` majordomo@midrealm.org with
. | | | | | | | | 'unsubscribe sca-middle' as its body.
Received on Thu Oct 26 22:22:30 2000