This Sunday, September 30th, from 11:30 to 6:00, the New York City chapter of the S.C.A. will once again be participating in The Medieval Festival at the Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park, the largest event of its kind in our area.

The best way to reach the festival is to take the “A” train to the 190th St. station, then follow the crowds up the elevators and into the park. Walk through the gate and continue down the road for another minute until you see an open field on your left; our encampment is in a cluster of tents on the top of that little hill.

Here’s a summary of some of what we’ll be exhibiting to the public:

The Society of Creative Anachronism will host a medieval village on the south lawn re-creating many aspects of life from the end of classical antiquity through the renaissance.

Learn how you can join our society, master these skills, and immerse yourself in living history, so you can experience “the middle ages as they ought to have been.”

Fine Arts & Practical Crafts:
Visit throughout the day for displays of fine arts and practical crafts, including calligraphy and illumination, spinning and embroidery, glass and metalwork, weapons and armor.

Performance & Pageantry:
Get an up-close look at the music and dance, clothing and ceremony of the middle ages.

• 1:00 Musical Performances And Medieval Sing-Along
• 2:00 Historical World Fashion Show
• 3:00 Medieval and Renaissance Dance
• 4:00 Musical Performances
• 5:00 Crown Provincial Court

Fighting Arena:
Armored fighters protected by steel and leather fight brutal battles with heavy weapons, while fencers engage in rapier duels that are more elegant, but just as deadly.

• 11:30 Fighter Practice & Challenges
• 12:00 Fencing Tournament
• 1:00 Armored Combat Tournament
• 2:00 Fighter Practice & Challenges
• 3:00 Armored Combat Championship
• 4:00 Fencing Tournament

Youth Activities:
Discover the kinds of games kids would have played five hundred or a thousand years ago. Watch our trained child warriors fight to the (pretend) death, or let your own youngsters try some target practice with our foam-padded swords and spears.

Sunday, April 29, 2pm – 5pm at the Grecian Pavilion in Prospect Park (96 Parkside Ave. Brooklyn) we are picnicking in the ruins! Please join us for a lovely afternoon in the park, sharing food (potluck) and companionship (storytelling, dancing, fighting, music & fiber arts).

See full details on the EK event page.

We had SO MANY VOLUNTEERS at our Cloisters demo at the Fort Tryon Park Medieval Festival the first weekend in October! I have been compiling this list ever since, and even then I know I am missing some people. Please forgive any omissions! You’ll notice I have also failed to record all the jobs people did — because everyone was hustling so hard! And our demo was HUGE. We collected almost 80?? new e-mail addresses from people interested in our activities.

Here are the 73!!! people who turned out and pitched in. Please correct any misspellings or titles — I checked the heraldic registry and the order of precedence where available, but those don’t necessarily list preferred spellings and have some omissions.

Lord Alexander MacLachlan, ably ran our fencing tournaments.
Lady Beatrice della Rocca, managed the children’s table, fencing mistress of lists, setup & takedown.
Lord Erich Guter Muth, our minister of lists for armored combat, herald for the fashion show, fencer, setup & takedown.
Hlæfdige Alienor Salton, who walked in the fashion show & watched in amazement as everyone did such a fabulous job!
Bóaire Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin, youth combat marshal.
Baron Yehuda ben Moshe, wrangler of youths combatant.
Alaxandair Mórda mac Matha, youth fighter.
Kenneth the Red, youth fighter.
Odin, youth fighter.
Leo, youth fighter.
Samuel, youth fighter.
Galen, youth fighter.
Callum, youth fighter.
Lady Angelica di Nova Lipa, bearer of burdens, bringer of infrastructure, chatelaine, children’s table.
Avran of Northpass, armored fighter.
Lord Wilhelm of Northpass, dance master.
Lady Conandil ingen Donngaile, dance mistress.
Benjamin, teacher of period games, dancer.
Gabriel, dancer.
Lord Conor Ó Ceallaigh
Lord Brandr nefsbrjotr Aronsson, blacksmith.
Randvé Littill Hamar, blacksmith’s able assistant.
Lady Erlan skáld í Norðrlandi, lampworker.
Lady Godiva de la Mer, fashion show, hats!
Mistress Judith the Uncertain, masks, fashion show.
Lady Magdelena Caminante, chatelaine.
Lady Marion of York, fencer.
Lord Mongu Chinua, pointy weapons, herald for the provincial court.
Lord Miyamoto Jirou Tadayoshi, called Daishi, armored fighter.
Lord Rónán fitz Robert, fighter.
Lady Sáline baen Rónán fitz Robert, scribal demo.
Mistress Sofya Gianetta di Trieste, chatelaine, fashion show.
Lord Ervald La Coudre Edwardson the Optimistic, armored combat marshal in charge.
Count Jarl Valgard Stonecleaver, armored combat.
Caitlin of Østgarðr, children’s table, bearer of burdens, fast as lightning, setup & takedown.
Martin Harding
Lady Anneke Valmarsdotter, wire ring making teacher, fashion show.
Il-Kha’an Suuder Saran, pointy things, viceroy.
Il-Khatun Lada Monguligin, scribal demo, vicereine.
Lord Þórfinn Hróðgeirsson, spinning teacher, fashion show.
Jean de la Rue, bearer of burdens, setup & takedown.
Lord Seamus of Arindale, fighter.
Baroness Sorcha of Stonegrave, chatelaine.
Baroness Suzanne Neuber de Londres, chatelaine.
Lady Sorcha de Barry of Coill Tuar, chatelaine.
Lady Juliana le Chaluner of An Dubhaigeainn, chatelaine.
Lady Nyfain merch Coel of Rusted Woodlands, chatelaine.
Lady Aislinn of An Dubhaigeainn, chatelaine.
Stephanie of Østgarðr
Lord Reuben the Curious
Lady Branimira of the Isles, embroidery, taker of names, setup & takedown.
Lord Özurr the Bootgiver, armored fighter.
Lady Elizabeth nic Ian merchenting
Alysaundre Sherre de Saford
Gawain Enlil Mackay, fighter.
Luna Vega
Lord Muiredach of Ostgardr
Thomas Trueheart
Lady Zippora DuBois of Buckland Cross
Stanislaus Polanski of Buckland Cross
Michelle of Brokenbridge
Jade of Settmour Swamp
Kate Regina
Anne, setup & takedown.
Samantha Rosas
Bella of Carillion
Franklin of Gryphonwald
Bayan Hanover
Padraig of Midland Vale
Marta of Midland Vale
Frank Ehlers
Sarah McGill
Victoria, setup & takedown.

Here was our layout on the day — you can see what an enormous effort was required to meet & greet, entertain & educate the near-constant stream of visitors with our armored combat, fencing, youth combat, lampworking, blacksmithing, pointy weapons, scribal, dancing, fashion, hats, embroidery, masks, games, children’s activities (catapult, brass rubbings,…), wire ring making, spinning and MORE!

Here’s an overview of just some of the activities available at the SCA encampment at the Fort Tryon Medieval Festival on October 1, 2017:

Arts & Sciences: Fine art exhibits and hands-on crafts demonstrations will continue throughout the day.

Fencing: Tournaments at 12:00 and 3:00.

Armored Combat: Tournaments at 1:00 and 4:00

Youth Combat: Children fighting to the death at 1:00 and 3:00; alternating with pell practice open to younger members of the public.

Fashion Show: A thousand years of clothing at 2:00.

Chorus: Listen, learn and participate at 3:00.

Provincial Court: The viceroy and vicereine of the Crown Province of Østgarđr will introduce their next champion of armored combat at 5:00.

Getting To & From The Cloisters Demo

Take the A Train

The easiest way to get to the Cloisters demo, mundanely known as the Medieval Festival at Fort Tryon Park, is to take the subway.

The 190th St. Station on the “A” train sits immediately outside of Fort Tryon Park, and this is the way most of our participants arrive. (It’s also the way many of the other 50,000 attendees will arrive, so the elevator up from the subway to the park can be fairly crowded, but that only takes a few minutes.)

For those coming from outside the city via Amtrak, NJ Transit, or regional bus, you can board the A train at Penn Station or the Port Authority bus terminal; from MetroNorth or LIRR take the Shuttle from Grand Central to Times Square to connect to the A train.

Driving & Parking

Obviously the train is not going to make sense for folks who are lugging lots of gear or heavy equipment, and this particular train station is not wheelchair-accessible, so in those cases driving to the site is worth the hassle.

We’re able to wrangle a limited number of parking passes from the event organizers, but be prepared for delays getting on and off site, because it can take a long time to get vehicles into the parking area, you may have to park some distance away from our field, and when the event is over and you’re ready to leave you will find yourself in the middle of a miniature traffic jam that takes a while to clear.

If you need a parking pass, you must contact the event steward (Alienor Salton) in advance so we can try to reserve you a pass. If you don’t have a parking pass, you will need to find on-street parking some distance away from the event and then walk back to the site.

If you’re driving from outside the city, you might want to stop at some distance from the event and look for on-street parking (or pay $25 or more for a parking lot) and then take the city subway for a few minutes to reach the site. If you know several people who are coming in separate vehicles, it may be worth the effort to meet up somewhere just outside the city where parking is easy and then car-pool in from there to reduce the parking hassle.

Location

The closest street address to the park entrance is 799 Fort Washington Ave:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/799+Fort+Washington+Ave,+New+York,+NY+10040/

The place within the park where we will be set up is just south of the “New Leaf” restaurant:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/1+Margaret+Corbin+Drive,+New+York,+NY+10040/

The map attached below highlights some spots on this map to give you a sense of where we’ll be within the overall site area, and where the parking and transit options are.

Event Arrival & Departure Schedule

The event officially begins at 11:30, but if you are driving gear on to the site, you should arrive before 9:30.
• 8:30 Site opens for setup, and vehicles may be driven in through main site entrance to deliver materials.
• 9:00 We unload equipment and begin setting up tents and preparing for the event.
• 10:00 All vehicles must be cleared from the park to the parking area or further away.
• 11:00 Site should be ready as members of the public sometimes start trickling in early.

The event ends at 6:00 at which point we will begin packing up:
• 6:00 We begin breaking down tents and putting things away.
• 6:30 or 7:00 Vehicles are allowed back into the park to pick up equipment once the public has dispersed.
• 8:30 Everyone must be off site by the time the park closes for the night.

Our biggest demo (where by “our” I mean definitely Whyt Whey, certainly Østgarðr, probably the East Kingdom and possibly even the SCA itself) is what we informally call the Cloisters demo. We are a part of the Fort Tryon Park Medieval Festival, now in its 33rd year. Attendance at the festival has averaged 60,000 people in its last 5 years. Our demo village is situated on the sloping lawn just inside the park entrance, a fabulous location to attract the attention of festival attendees both coming and going.

The date for this year’s festival has been set! We will be demoing on Sunday, October 1st, from 11:30am to 6pm. Full details on our demo are available at the event listing in the East Kingdom calendar.

Logistics & planning will take place in September, after Pennsic recovery. New ideas welcome — please mention them sooner than September so we can pull our resources together. Mark your calendars and help us show off the glory & gaiety of our shared dream!