Present (via Zoom): Tómas, Guðrún, Seamus, Leo, Katherine, Cenwulf, Marieke, Dafydd, Æthelwulf, Kastana
Seneschal: Tomas said we’ll try to have our quarterly meetings more towards the start of each quarter. We agreed the seneschal has the authority to call a business meeting whenever one seems warranted. Tomas is keeping an eye on Kingdom matters but there’s been nothing recent that affects us.
Exchequer: Katherine reports that our bank balance remains healthy. Feast of Fools was a great event – a really fun day with a fine turnout. The Ethan Allen Homestead site worked well for us. Eseld did a great job as autocrat, but in the future we should consider giving first-time autocrats more guidance about things like sign-in sheets, and getting receipts handed in in a timely manner.. (Note, the receipt situation was sorted out via email during the meeting and all is well now.)
Panteria: Leo and Thomas will be helping with parking. More volunteers are most welcome! In fact, that goes for all aspects of this lovely event hosted by our neighbors in Panther Vale. Please give a little of your time to help at the Gate, in the Feast Hall, on the various Fields, or with parking!
Foam-Weapons Fighting: At the Feast of Fools, a small amount of foam-weapons activity took place. Leo mentioned there are some liability issues with foam-weapon fighting. Because this is not a SCA-sanctioned activity, the SCA insurance won’t cover site damage or the suing of officers who are involved, if any issues occur.
Chatelain: Leo says it’s been an easy quarter. Panther Vale will be in charge of the Summer Rennfaire, which this year is at the Champlain Valley Fairgrounds. This is, unfortunately, the same weekend as the Opening of the Inne at Coldwood. Thorbjorn, PV’s chatelain, will post more info about the Rennfaire after Panteria.
Pursuivant: Dafydd says that interest in personal heraldry continues at a steady pace, and there are several devices in various stages of completion.
Marshal: For Fencing: Cat and Lily will be unavailable until early fall. (Yay, Lily, we wish you well!) Meanwhile, options for fencing are: 1) visit fencing practice in a neighboring shire (PV has practices on some Saturdays, in Barre), or 2) Leo is a warranted fencing marshal and if he’s free on a Sunday he might be able to supervise a fencing practice. He’ll check his schedule. – For Heavy List: practices will continue on Sundays as usual, since Aethelwulf can give us access to the school. He can also, by prior arrangement, arrive early to open for our monthly A&S gatherings. Katherine says the dedicated budget for Heavy List equipment still has $50 in it, so Aethelwulf can buy some foam padding to do repairs.
Arts and Sciences: The monthly A&S meetings are happening, and are well attended. Feast of Fools had some remarkable “illusion foods” that were both creative and tasty – well done! Gudrun reminds everybody to take advantage of the classes and performance activities at Panteria. Her report is due June 1, so let her know what you’ve been up to.
Crown Tourney Bid: Viscountess Gwenllian lives in Panther Vale, but she is one of the Founders of Mountain Freehold and she lived here for many years. 39 years ago she autocratted a Crown Tourney at the Rutland Fairgrounds. She’d like to do it again this fall, since the Crown rotation will fall in the Northern Region. In order to host an event in our territory, she needs our permission. Cut to the chase: the people present at this Business Meeting voted unanimously to proceed with the project. Details follow.
Crown Tourney is a Kingdom event, and there are more than the usual number of hoops to jump through. First – bids are submitted from each group in the region that wishes to host. Bids are due by July 1 and decided on later in July. Our bid might or might not be accepted.
The date we will offer is Saturday, Oct. 26. It will be a one-day event, no camping (but we’ll investigate offering a hotel bloc in town.) The location is the Mandigo Arena at the Rutland State Fairgrounds. The arena is cement-floored and well lit. It offers some bleacher seating, as well as many loose chairs and a sufficiency of tables. The venue is roofed, but there will be no heat. There are a few bathrooms in the arena, and a nearby bathroom building has additional stalls. There’s also a barn-like structure across the way that could be used for merchants and displays. Parking is plentiful but a bit dispersed. Gwen has some ideas for ramps to increase handicap accessibility (no stairs, but there are some awkward ledges and threshholds). For food, Dafydd and Marieke will offer boxed lunches similar to the ones at Mimir’s Well. There will probably be a hamburger truck on site as well. Other food options are close by, out on the main road.
We discussed some of the main issues, such as, can we really pull this off? Gwen is an experienced autocrat, and she has a good network of helpers to bring in. Also, the Kingdom provides marshals, heralds, royal support staff, and other logistical support. But still the Freehold (and willing neighbors) would need to supply much of the workforce for Gate, Parking, Setup/Cleanup, etc – and of course the whole thing would be run through the Freehold Treasury. Katherine explained the profit-sharing (we’d keep 50 percent of any net profits, the rest goes to the Kingdom). We might or might not use PayPal for pre-registration – it’s a bit complicated but Katherine thinks we could handle it.
So, with a “yes” vote from the business meeting, Gwen has the go-ahead to put together a Crown Tourney bid, run it by us, and then send it in. Woohoo!
The meeting took an hour. Notes by Marieke.