guildactivitiesarchive2006
Guild Activities Archive
Past Seasons
2007 Season
21 July 2007 - Dress Rehearsal & Village Feastday
This weekend, our guildmaster and his lovely guildmistress hosted the First Annual St Brigid's Hearth Practice & Feast Day in thier garden. To fully replicate the faire environment there was copious amounts of food, beer, mead, pop-up tents, Cassie as our very own patron ("They didn't really have spoons back then" "They wouldn't have done it that way, I saw a movie once where they...") and as a special treat, even a hive of hornets especially brought in to make the event a true dress rehearsal for faire (where there be dragons aplenty)!
There was stew in a burbling cauldron (okay, a dutch oven, but whose counting), marinaded chickens, mountains of bread, handpies, beautiful deserts, and the gathered fruits of our fields. Games ensued, leading with a rousing round of favors and forfeits courtesy of the illustrious and delightfully middle-class Mistress Mel of the Guild of Pleasant Pastymes!
As an added treat, our new folk from the far Southern Country, Cassie and Mike, graciously volunteered to give their Improv class and much hilarity ensued!
The villagers danced until it began to rain on our peasanty heads, and every helped clean up and all was well in the shire!HUZZAH!!! The Villagers are ready for faire!!!
19 May 2007 -Guildmeeting, Improv Class, Dancing Practice
Meeting Minutes - For those who could not attend
Projects & Status
A REMINDER: We are currently running on a debit-budget. Any markers incurred must be held until we are paid after faire. Do NOT spend any money you want reimbursed without Scott's OK. The goal is to go into next season with a bit tucked away so we will have an ACTUAL budget to work from.
LAST CALL for projects needing building. If you need cooler covers, get your measurements to Chris Dellert. He will get to them as his busy schedule permits.
THE WHEEL BARROW & FENCING are nearing completion. The wheelbarrow will (hopefully) be finished in time to participate in the Gig Harbor Maritime Festival Parade. The fencing will be completed by the time it is needed at faire.
OVEN a source of clay has been located and the prototype will be undertaken soon. Help will be needed in this project (MMmmm nummy bread for those who participate!) details to follow as soon as the clay is procured.
Gigs
Street Songs & Market Hawkers... Mel is organizing members to perform at front gate in the mornings prior to the opening sketch. The following links were requested... http://www.chivalry.com/cantaria/
Prospective Members
Mike Robles formerly of the Monger's Guild & Puritans of RPFS visited the meeting and participated in our Gary Izzo improv class.
Dancing practice
The guild is learning "Gathering Peascods" to perform at faire and events... practice was abbreviated due to rain...
21 April 2007 - Public Appearance
Daffodil Festival in Tacoma, Washington
We learned last year at this event that most of the people who show up from the Performing Arts Department at WRFF are villagers. No stones thrown, simply a fact of life for this event. We get out- numbered at other events, I'm sure.
Because it isn't really faire, and it isn't an event where we can bring our gear and really set up the whole peasant yard and whatnot (HELLO concrete!) this year at Daffodil Festival, we freed ourselves from our standard characters for the most part and some of the guild took the opportunity to bring their biggest, boldest ensembles out of the trunk and show 'em what a cross-section of faire is really all about!
The weather was drizzly, but that didn't keep our new selection of pirates and pretty dresses out of circulation!
Once again, our old buddy photographer Chris Yetter (follow link) paid us a visit and took the only known photos of the fabled "Villager Knot"! A fun interactive gig made all the more difficult by big hats and hoopskirts! What troopers!
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07/15/2006 - Last-minute workparty
Pergola and Oven are complete!!!
Click here to read our guildmaster's summary of the event and the season
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Aug 5 & 6, 12 & 13, 19 & 20 2006
Washington Renaissance Fantasy Faire
Thank you everyone for a great season! The sets, the costumes, the characters, the coughing, sniffling, sneezing, achey-head, fever... oops that was me. Seriously, I am blessed with a talented and motivated crew and I couldn't be happier with the performance of this guild!!! Well, I suppose maybe if someone handed me cookies, because then I'd have a great guild and cookies, which would be cool too, but I digress...
We braved the dustclouds, the 90 degree heat, the blazing sun, and the crowds and came up smilin'! Go here for Scott's recap and to see more pictures from the faire! If you have images to show us that you wouldn't mind having posted on this site, email them to the guildmistress/webmistress and we'll paw through them and put the best of the best on the 2006 Memories page!
Of course we still managed to draw some of our core cast of mischiefmakers, including the ubiquitous Calabash, the Dellert urchins and others. Many ropes were jumped, nine men were morrised, glass was stained and afterwards... well, afterwards a good deal of spaghetti was eaten!
Huzzah the daffodil festival!
2006 Season
Sept 9&10, 2006
King's Valley Oregon
The days were hot and dusty, the nights were cold and rainy... it almost felt like home!
After several setbacks, including one guildmember running away to law school (shoulda' joined the circus) and two of our members losing close family members, we managed to draw together a small cohort of our actors to journey south to Kings Valley Oregon, to visit "The Shrew". Due to lower guild turnout, we lost the use of one of the two pickups usually available for hauling stuff, which led to a pared-down encampment.
The small cast didn't diminish the fun, and our guildmembers acted our hearts out, including renaissance rope-skipping, bubbles, dragon-hunting and an archery contest! Much, much fun for all!
It's the end of the 2006 season, our last faire for the year, and it was a little sad to see it go. Click here to read Scott's recap of the faire and to see more pictures of our guildmembers at play!
See you next year!
While Scott (already sick, a harbinger of things to come?) dozed on the couch (moral support!!), Chris finished the final assembly on the pergola whilst Jenny, Barb and Kristin finalized the form of the Hearth Mark I... enjoy the pictures!
The oven is functional, should we be so lucky as to find a day without fire-restrictions in which to fire it up. Not likely this year, and besides, next year we'll dress it up a bit more and seal the gaps a bit with clay or mud. At faires it will have a 'foundation' of fieldstones built up to hide the cinder blocks and one day we'll also make a door (read "plug") out of wood. If we ever get a 'permanent site' to build in, a more permanent structure like a mud-brick beehive oven will be built. In the meantime, this one will suit nicely as the centerpiece of our village set! Well done everyone!!07/01/2006 - Maritime Parade Update
WRFF Wins! (A little bribery goes a long way)
As the WRFF pirate ship and actors passed the reviewing stand at the Maritime Parade last month, Calabash climbed up to the judges stand and offered them a handful of gold (chocolate) coins.
"Is this candy?" the judges asked
"No sir, it's a bribe!" Calabash answered (because lying is wrong!)
It must've worked, because the WRFF contingent won "Best costumes" for the second year in a row! Congratulations to all the other faire participants out there and whoever built that fabboo pirate ship! I hear it will be moored at faire this year as a stage, so come check it out!
In further news, our very own Daf was photographed by a reporter from the Peninsula Gateway (a local paper) and her photo was featured in the paper's review of the parade, so huzzah Daf! The newspaper doesn't have a photo gallery on their site, so there's sadly nothing to link to.
PLEASE NOTE: She was especially proud of the fact that she was standing next to Calabash at the time and her picture was taken and not his. Calabash insists that this is because he can only be seen by the 'true of heart' and that photographer obviously had a shady past!
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06/03/2006 - Parade & WRFF Fliering
Villagers on Parade
Our villagers joined representatives of the other WRFF Performing Arts Department's guilds at the Gig Harbor Maritime Festival parade. Last year, the faire contingent won "Best Costumes" and this year the faire added a Pirate Ship (pictures to come!) to the procession! Haven't heard back yet on any awards this year, but Calabash made sure to cross the judge's palms with gold... well, okay, it was a handful of chocolate coins but it's the thought that counts. We sacrificed considerable shoeleather and a wagon wheel to the cause but it was worth it. Ere the end, we were footsore, sweaty and hoarse and a good time was had by all!
After a bite to eat (and a quick nap for a weary Calabash) we were off to the SCA event known as Junefaire! for our annual Guild Invasion! Much shopping was accomplished, accoutrements acquired, bellies filled and music listened-to!
HUZZAH!
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5/26-5/29, WRFF Fliering
While this is not an organized Guild Event, or an on-stage performance... Individual guildmembers are encouraged to appear in support of WRFF to hand out fliers and represent the faire. Always loads of fun! Come join us if you can!
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05/20/2006 - Work Party/Set building
A day of Pergolas, Prancing, Pins & Puns!
The villagers met briefly today for a dance lesson and work party. We gave the new folks thier first taste of Selinger's Round and trampled quite a circle into the Dellerts' front lawn. We also advanced the state of our peasant parthenon and worked on our costuming.
We are mostly finished with the pergola! Yay! One more short workday will be required to finish our new set and then we can proceed to the creation of tables, benches and other set-pieces. We're still accepting donations of lumber and stone suitable for setbuilding. Contact the guildmaster or Chris (aka "The Guys With the Trucks) for pickup!
I also managed to get proof that it's not really a matter of Guys outside being macho with the power tools and the girls inside with the sewing machines. Heck no! Sewing machines are power tools too!
I'm told that the post for the last workday might have glossed over the contributions of the 'inside crew' a little. So... here's proof that the needle & thread brigade was productive too!
(Scott ducks as he's pelted with sewing implements)
NOTE: We won't have an official meeting in June due to the considerable amount of events taking place that month. Busy busy bees are we! Watch "Upcoming Appearances" in the sidebar for details on our activities!
Cheers everyone! We're making wonderful progress and the season looks exciting. Please stay busy even though there's not going to be an official catching-up meeting until July!
Cheers!
Scott
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4/22/2006 - Public Appearance
Daffodil Festival in Tacoma, Washington
The villagers showed up in force to promote the WRFF (our home faire) by handing out flyers and clowning around with representatives from the other guilds. There was much dancing and frivolity and we were able to get some decent digital footage of the villagers learning a new dance!
Marissa, Niki, Marisa, Michael and Calabash ham it up at Daffodil Days.
Chris Yetter is an area photographer who always manages to capture the highpoints of our faire. We ran into him at the Daffodil Festival and once again he captured the spirit and vibrancy of our festivities! Some excellent shots of us dancing, including our webmistress, Kristin, with her noble on!
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03/18/2006 - Work Party/ Set Building
A Pleasant Peasant Pergola
Take two engineers, one artist with visions of the parthenon dancing in his head, a construction foreman with his feet on the ground and a dozen enthusiastic helpers and what do you get? Chaos of a most wonderful kind!Our new set-piece for the 2006 season is a pergola-like structure, intended to give definition and dimension to our encampment. It is being designed to be a knock-down structure that can be assembled by five villagers in a matter of minutes and made to look as though it has been there for ages.
One of the goals of the guild is to underline the fact that we are the permanent residents of the shire and everyone else is just visiting our market faire. Therefore - while tents and pavilions might be fine for other guilds - it makes more sense for the villagers to have something which is much more permanent-looking. Our future plans include a village well, various farming implements and carts, wheelbarrows and the like. Stick with us as we evolve beyond our humble roots to a world-class living history and performance troupe! Huzzah!