Pennsic 38 (2009)

Originally posted August 19, 2009

So, now that my geeky nature is known I can start sharing our medieval weekends with the world!

Every year for the past 38 years the SCA has held an event called Pennsic. It is the largest event the SCA holds each year where the Kingdom of the East and the Middle Kingdom go to war. The event see’s upwards of 10,000 people.

This year was our first…

To say we were overwhelmed is an understatement! The event is held in western Pennsylvania which means a seven hour drive each way. We had made the decision that we would leave around midnight, drive through the night to arrive early on Friday (31st July). Our plan must have gone smoothly since I remember loading myself into the truck, jumping out to pee at a couple of service stops and then waking up with dawn as we arrived near the site. I had fully intended to keep Ken company on the drive but, well, you know…

Its was raining hard as we arrived at Troll (that’s “Scadian” for check-in) with no signs of letting up anytime soon. We were directed to our Barony campsite only to find that 7am wasn’t the most convenient of times! Still raining we decided to unload the truck, putting everything under our canopy until it dried up a little and stuff wouldn’t get wet. Four hours later the rain had slowly come to a stop and we were able to set up our camp.

We had a long shopping list of things we wanted to buy or look at while we were here. For me the big thing was to set myself up with all the appropriate fencing gear, At some point Ken had wandered off in search of a helm for heavy fighting, he reappeared a few hours later very excited as he had found one that fit perfectly. It had been made for someone as a custom piece but never collected which means Ken got it at a great price.

But Pennsic is all about WAR!!!