Cloisters Demo: Join Us | For The Public | For Participants | By Transit | By Car
The 2022 festival was a rousing success — and we look forward to seeing you again next year!
The Cloisters demo is a unique mix of an SCA event crossed with an educational demo, in the middle of a park hosting a combined street fair and Renaissance festival, with over fifty thousand visitors in attendance.
You are invited to join dozens of reenactors in our roped-off encampment located at the entrance to the festival, where we will be demonstrating armored combat and fencing, exhibiting work in wide variety of A&S fields, and talking with the public about the SCA.
Join Us!
If you’re an authorized fighter, bring your kit… If you’d like to exhibit A&S work, let us know how much table space to set aside for you… If you’re a bard, bring your songbook and instruments… If you like talking to the public, there’s always an endless stream of people with questions to be answered… Or you can stick to the center of the camp and just hang out and socialize with other Scadians.
Get In Touch
If you have questions or want to get more involved, contact the event steward.
If you have trouble reaching the event steward on the day of the event, reach out to the local seneschal.
Garb
Please do dress in historically-styled clothing, but this is an informal event, so don’t worry about being super authentic — or if you send us size and style preferences at least a week beforehand, we can provide selections from our Gold Key loaner garb. There will be a changing tent in our “backstage” area if you want to wear modern clothes to the site and then change into garb after arrival.
Potluck Dayboard and Food Vendors
There will be a potluck dayboard table with snacks and drinks for our group — if you’d like, you could bring some kind of food or beverage to share with others — and if you want to buy something hot for lunch, there are vendors scattered around the park (but no ATMs).
Tents & Furniture
We’ll have a handful of tents set up for shade, tables for exhibitors, and chairs to relax in — but if you’re able to bring your own, we can always use more.
(In particular, if you’ve been given a parking pass, please use that opportunity to ferry in a folding chair, small table, or other supplies for our area.)
Getting To The Site
The best way to reach the site is by transit, because the street outside the park is closed during the event and parking can be challenging. If you’re driving into the city, we suggest parking your car some distance from the festival and using public transit to reach the site.
Anyone planning on driving to the site should read the driving directions page carefully for important details about parking. If you need to lug heavy gear to the site or have accessibility concerns, contact the event steward in advance and we’ll try to arrange a parking pass for you.
If you are on the list for a parking pass, or want to help with unloading gear, plan on arriving between 8:30 and 9:00. If you arrive after 9:30 you will not be able to drive into the park, as organizers will be clearing all vehicles from the area, and it will become more difficult to get parking spaces even if you are on the list.
Once you enter the park, you’ll find us in the first grassy field, just a minute’s walk past the gate, as shown on this map.
Check In On Arrival
This is a free event, and no pre-registration is required, but SCA rules still require us to keep track of how many people participate and make sure we have waivers on file.
Please check in when you arrive — depending on the time, we’ll either have someone going around with a clipboard, or else the gate paperwork will be in a central location near the potluck dayboard table.
Covid Precautions
The East Kingdom has dropped all Covid vaccination, testing, and masking requirements effective October 1, and we are prohibited from using vaccination status, test results, or temperature checks as part of our on-site admission procedures.
If you are feeling sick, have tested positive for Covid, or know that you were recently exposed, please be considerate and stay home to avoid infecting other participants.
Please feel free to wear a face mask if you’d like; if you’re not wearing a mask, please be considerate of those who are, and of anyone who might prefer to avoid close contact.
Although this is an outdoor event, be aware that the park can be quite crowded; we’ll have a rope boundary up to keep the public out of the center of our encampment to give us all a bit more space.
Please contact the event steward or branch seneschal if you have questions or concerns we can help with.
In Case of Rain
There is no rain date for this event, which will take place rain or shine. We’ll have a large row of tents set up, so if it does sprinkle we’ll have plenty of shelter.
Recent weather predictions call for scattered showers on Sunday, with a 50% chance of light rain somewhere during the afternoon.
Set-Up and Shut-Down Schedule
We would love to have your help setting up before the event and packing things away when it ends.
The morning setup schedule will start a couple of hours before the event opens:
8:30: Site opens for setup; vehicles may be driven in through the main entrance to deliver gear.
9:00: We unload equipment and begin setting up tents and preparing for the event.
9:30: Last chance to drive vehicles on to site to unload gear.
10:00: All vehicles must be cleared from the park to the parking area or further away.
11:00: Site should be basically ready, as members of the public begin trickling in.
11:30: Exhibitors are invited to join the grand parade in from the main gate.
The event is officially open to the public from 11:30 to 6:00, and the public schedule for this portion of the day is shown on the Activities page.
After the event closes we’ll shut down and pack up:
6:00: We begin putting things away and taking down tents.
6:45: Vehicles are allowed back into the park to pick up equipment once the public has dispersed.
8:00: Event teardown is complete and the last people leave the site.