On Faire Invasions
Sep. 20th, 2005 01:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
acroyearLairde Guardn MCrack wrote:
I know this may seem like a foolish question, but I have always wondered how an "INVASION" is decided.
I have seen different Guilds post their own invasion plans based on the "AFR Invasion"
Who decides when an AFR Invasion is to be held, How is it determined which faire is to be invaded, What can you do to get your fair on the list, Where is the list, Is there a list, When is infromation decided, Is there a vote, Do the faires themselfs have a say, and a few other questions as well..........?????????
I guess I will sit back and wait to see the responses to this before I ask any more questions.
Invasion's these days aren't the massive gatherings they were in the late 90s and early naughties. they served their purpose, and we've mostly moved on.
The original invasion was simply someone going "I'll be at such-n-such faire on this weekend; if anybody wants to join me, we'll invade it together" and it grew from there. The larger invasions from there (MDRF 98, RPFS 99, MDRF 99) usually required cooperation from a local to coordinate getting group-rate tickets, finding common hotel group rates, getting a restaurant that'll handle the load. At their peaks, we were running over 100 people through.
Things are different now. AFR is smaller than it was (many of the people still lurk on occasion, but the "keep it on topic" limitation led many to the world of blogging through livejournal). Coordinating large groups got to be too time-consuming for those involved, so instead "little" invasions (more like reunions) happen along the way. Individual guilds, often groups of people you already know.
This is particularly true at Maryland where there's always something happening that's worth seeing, so saying "everybody come THIS weekend" amounts to not much. I can't name a weekend so far that hasn't seen a current or x/lurking AFR member from out of town not show up. This year's invasion isn't terribly large, in and of itself.
Generally, the policy is "open invite", and hope someone at the target faire is willing to help you coordinate as mentioned above. Pick a day or a few, put it up to a vote/discussion, either publically or offline, and have at it.
The festival has no say in this; from their perspective you are paying customers, so you're welcome to please attend our festival and have fun.
If members of the wench's guild want to have a walk, there is an internal policy in the guild for contacting the faire and getting it approved. If the faire has the ability to reserve an area for a meet-n-greet, one must follow those channels as well. If someone wants to commission a pewter pin from Fellowship Foundry, contact the Gosh of Pewter at the website, and you can get them for about $4 each given a commitment to at least 25.
MDRF as a vote came down to columbus day weekend (the extra monday giving some the ability to travel), but its nearly an unofficial thing anyways since, as i said, so many simply come on the weekend most available to them.
Some standard dates that so many visit it might as well be an "invasion" include NYRF's opening weekend (the first weekend in august, usually, because its the last chance many from MD can go before their own faire's commitments kick in), Memorial day weekend for RPFS (Southern California -- didn't happen this year as such because they moved sites and lost that weekend), opening or second weekend for Sterling, NY (depending on if opening is on July 4), first weekend in november for CRF (Charlotte, North Carolina -- it gives MDRF people a weekend off as a break to do laundry and remember what a weekend home is, then we head off again).
Other faires' days tend to vary on whether or not people can go at all, given budget constraints, vacation time, etc...
An invasion is, like anything involving a group of unorganized anarchic peoples like ourselves, just something that happens because somebody decided to try to let it happen and others agreed.
But the lesson learned from the early, huge invasions was simple: come to the faire and you will meet people who can be your friends, for a weekend or a life. We also learned we don't really need invasions to achieve that anymore...
Joe
Master William Larkin, Dancer, Maryland since 1995.
(Invasions: MDRF 98, CRF 98, RPFS 99, Sterling 99, MDRF 99, CRF 99, RPFS 00, Tux 00, MDRF 00, CRF 00, and after that its not worth counting anymore... ;-) ).
I know this may seem like a foolish question, but I have always wondered how an "INVASION" is decided.
I have seen different Guilds post their own invasion plans based on the "AFR Invasion"
Who decides when an AFR Invasion is to be held, How is it determined which faire is to be invaded, What can you do to get your fair on the list, Where is the list, Is there a list, When is infromation decided, Is there a vote, Do the faires themselfs have a say, and a few other questions as well..........?????????
I guess I will sit back and wait to see the responses to this before I ask any more questions.
Invasion's these days aren't the massive gatherings they were in the late 90s and early naughties. they served their purpose, and we've mostly moved on.
The original invasion was simply someone going "I'll be at such-n-such faire on this weekend; if anybody wants to join me, we'll invade it together" and it grew from there. The larger invasions from there (MDRF 98, RPFS 99, MDRF 99) usually required cooperation from a local to coordinate getting group-rate tickets, finding common hotel group rates, getting a restaurant that'll handle the load. At their peaks, we were running over 100 people through.
Things are different now. AFR is smaller than it was (many of the people still lurk on occasion, but the "keep it on topic" limitation led many to the world of blogging through livejournal). Coordinating large groups got to be too time-consuming for those involved, so instead "little" invasions (more like reunions) happen along the way. Individual guilds, often groups of people you already know.
This is particularly true at Maryland where there's always something happening that's worth seeing, so saying "everybody come THIS weekend" amounts to not much. I can't name a weekend so far that hasn't seen a current or x/lurking AFR member from out of town not show up. This year's invasion isn't terribly large, in and of itself.
Generally, the policy is "open invite", and hope someone at the target faire is willing to help you coordinate as mentioned above. Pick a day or a few, put it up to a vote/discussion, either publically or offline, and have at it.
The festival has no say in this; from their perspective you are paying customers, so you're welcome to please attend our festival and have fun.
If members of the wench's guild want to have a walk, there is an internal policy in the guild for contacting the faire and getting it approved. If the faire has the ability to reserve an area for a meet-n-greet, one must follow those channels as well. If someone wants to commission a pewter pin from Fellowship Foundry, contact the Gosh of Pewter at the website, and you can get them for about $4 each given a commitment to at least 25.
MDRF as a vote came down to columbus day weekend (the extra monday giving some the ability to travel), but its nearly an unofficial thing anyways since, as i said, so many simply come on the weekend most available to them.
Some standard dates that so many visit it might as well be an "invasion" include NYRF's opening weekend (the first weekend in august, usually, because its the last chance many from MD can go before their own faire's commitments kick in), Memorial day weekend for RPFS (Southern California -- didn't happen this year as such because they moved sites and lost that weekend), opening or second weekend for Sterling, NY (depending on if opening is on July 4), first weekend in november for CRF (Charlotte, North Carolina -- it gives MDRF people a weekend off as a break to do laundry and remember what a weekend home is, then we head off again).
Other faires' days tend to vary on whether or not people can go at all, given budget constraints, vacation time, etc...
An invasion is, like anything involving a group of unorganized anarchic peoples like ourselves, just something that happens because somebody decided to try to let it happen and others agreed.
But the lesson learned from the early, huge invasions was simple: come to the faire and you will meet people who can be your friends, for a weekend or a life. We also learned we don't really need invasions to achieve that anymore...
Joe
Master William Larkin, Dancer, Maryland since 1995.
(Invasions: MDRF 98, CRF 98, RPFS 99, Sterling 99, MDRF 99, CRF 99, RPFS 00, Tux 00, MDRF 00, CRF 00, and after that its not worth counting anymore... ;-) ).
