Category: Uncategorized

With hours and hours of work from many of our members, our Bylaws have been updated to make it possible for us to become a Nonprofit Organization! Yay!

Thank you so much to everyone who worked to make this happen, it was a huge undertaking for much of the last year. Our gratitude includes but is not limited to the following members: Rob Baker, Greg Knowlton, David Nowlin, Celena and David Mangus, Doug and Shannon Ellisor, Emy Blakeney, Joe Kaluza, Sandi Gonzales, Cortney Templeton, Jenn Treadway, Joshua Klein, PJ Ernstes, and Sarah Davis!

Y’all are ROCKSTARS and we all owe you a huge toast tomorrow at SHERWOOD FoF MOVE IN WEEKEND!!!

Additionally, thank you to all of the members who read and voted to get these approved. This change allows us to do some cool things in our future, and greatly protects individual liability for our members and officers. Much love to everyone, and I can’t wait to see you all so very soon!

-Kyri

WOW! Sherwood Forest Faire was truly epic for us this year, with events every single weekend for the first time ever! (and maybe the last time ever, because oh my…we were collectively so exhausted that everyone has been mostly in recovery mode for nearly two months since!)

I am so happy to begin sharing the tales of lovely greatness that was this season, as told through the eyes of our esteemed Raid Leaders! Over the next few days, enjoy a trip down memory lane of this fantastical and fabulous spring we spent together.!

The Council of Elders has continued to meet over our Discord server to officially close out any business from Sherwood season and begin plans for our Fall Raid season, and many many members have reached out to each other with ideas for Raids and other types of Events! It is so joyful to see all of your enthusiasm for having excellent adventures together, and all of your creativity. This Fall is going to be OUTSTANDING because y’all are so amazing!

Joyous midsummer tidings to all,
Kyri

Well, hello there. I bet you’re wondering why a Last Crusade blog post would appear in February, so far removed from the long-forgotten days of November. Well, that’s a very long and boring story, so why don’t we instead discuss the Last Crusade of 2021… 

This was a quieter weekend due to the weather. That did not stop the Heirs of Asgard from showing up in force.  There was a smaller agenda – mostly chill time with an all-day affair of folks playing the trivia game Um, Actually… This to be followed by a White Elephant gift exchange. And thus, costumes were donned, drinks were traded, and much merriment was had all Friday evening and into the morning. It was then that our Jarl Adam Treadway fixed us a fine breakfast of tacos! He is always a crowd pleaser. 

As folks began heading into the faire to go about their own adventures, some folks stayed behind to play trivia. There was strong competition, eventually filling out a three-bracket competition as folks filed back in from faire. The drawings, in particular, were remarkable. I am lucky to have such talented and funny friends. But just as things were fixing to get finished the weather took a turn for the worst. The rain came in earlier and more aggressively than expected – and just when it was supposed to stop the wind turned and we were stuck in the storm throughout the night. 

But Heirs don’t spook nor sit idly by! Emy Blakeny set a fire for us to keep us warm. There wasn’t much room and folks kept shifting to stay out of the smoke, but they made it work. To help with this a construction project got started on the other side of camp. Twin tents were being erected to cover the whole site and keep us dry. Half a dozen at least jumped at the chance to help. Because of the incredible spirit these Heirs showed, the tents were finished and set in place in less than 45 minutes – tables and chairs included! We turned that campsite around on a dime, y’all that was awesome. 

Through all of this, there was one person of particular note: Chris Jones had once again jumped into the mix to help with a camp project. And in light of the excellence he once again showed amongst his fellow Heirs he was voted in as a member on the spot – a first in my time camping with this crew!  

With the weather out of our face we set up for dinner. Hot, filling chili made by David Nowlin. It was perfect for a cold and rainy day. The games were to be rejoined after we’d all had time to get some food into our bellies and trade tales of the day’s exciting conquests. 

After a beat to gather our second wind, we began our White Elephant – and folks you are never going to look at Twinkies the same way again. I have never – never ever and not in all of my years – seen a holiday party game get so widely out of hand. There were some amazing trades and gifts both adorable and absurd, but the undeniable fact of the evening is that Mat Keech bringing a $30 box full of twinkies was a masterstroke of comedy genius. Geordan Major, you will recover someday. Until then, enjoy your lifetime supply of Twinkies. It will continue to be paid in installments. 

The White Elephant had ended, laughter was filling the campsite. The fire and the beer were together doing the lords’ work.   And after a moment to breathe, we went back to the finale of Um, Actually…While there were many winners, there could only be one Champion – or so we thought!  Laura Golden and Peter Pinard slugged it out through 3 rounds of overtime and could not break their tie – and eventually ran me out of questions to ask! 

In the end, it was clear that the only suitable solution for such a display of mental fortitude was to crown them both champions, and they both won their very own Golden Dickasaurus Rex. And yea, much giggling did occur within both of their tents for the rest of the evening. 

And that was the agenda. From there, We served cocoa with options to spike, and sang, and told stories, and went wildly into the night dodging rain drops and seeking yet more adventures. But those are tales for another time…

We woke the next morning and ate a cold breakfast – it was final weekend so the whole site had to be cleaned up. Many hands made light work – we were in and out in only a couple hours. And then toward home again. There were so many lovely people out there with us this weekend and I just want to thank all of you for coming by and being excellent. Come again any time! 

If you have anything you want to add, get in the comments and share the love.

DEUS VULT, MY FRIENDS

Always keep the faith.

2/11-2/13 – Friends of Faire Move-In Weekend:
FoFs! Time to set up Camp for the Season! Huzzah!!!!

2/12 – Annual Member Re-Orientation
Updates to member opportunities and how to be involved in planning and doing the cool stuff that our committees do! Don’t worry – we’ll do this again later in the season for those of us not involved in Move In Weekend 🙂

2/12 – The Great Garb Gift-Again!
Do you have garb you just don’t wear anymore? Maybe you ate your way through quarantine or you worked out twice a day from your home office or maybe you just aren’t into your emo/vampire phase anymore. Whatever the case may be, bring your unwanted garb and exchange it for someone else’s unwanted garb. Then, you will have new, better garb!
WHAT TO DO- 1. Drop off ye old garb at Trash Panda’s table asap Saturday. 2. Come back between 12 and 4 to hunt for ye treasures.
WHAT TO BRING-clothes garb, head garb, foot garb, accessory garb
No unwanted garb, but you still want to garb hunt?- Donate $5, proceed to rifle through stuff.
Any unclaimed garb will be donated to public school theater departments.
Invite your friends and their garb!

3/4-3/6 (Week 1) – Toothless + Catalyst Wedding
Hey everyone, this is the weekend Amy and Joe are getting MARRIED! Wedding will be at 2 PM Saturday in faire at the chapel, with a party in camp that night, all friends are welcome to come join. No gifts necessary, just come join us in the festivities!

3/11-3/13 (Week 2) – Naptime Buddies III: Nap Hard with a Vengeance
Captain Naptime is calling all members to unite! For the last two years, our favorite stuffed animal superhero team, “The Naptime Buddies”, have been hard at work protecting the world from pandemic-inspired nightmares. At times it has been relentless and morale has been tested. Now it is time to gather once again and take a well-deserved break. We will throw a grand Pajama Tea Party! Everyone is invited to bring cookies, tea biscuits, scones, little cakes, or whatever you like to enjoy with different styles of tea and hot chocolate. It’s also been a hard couple of years for the supervillain team, “The Nightmare Besties”, so we’ll welcome them too… If they promise to behave  I will soon post more details and a sign-up sheet for our tea party.

The night-light in the dark,
Captain Naptime!

3/17-3/20 (Week 3) – Legacy of the Heathen Army 2: Wrath of the Old Gods
(D&D 3 day weekend)
Join us as we once again relive the glory and triumph of the Great Heathen Army. This year after treacherous events following the raid on Tonwell Abbey, we will take vengeance upon the city of Nottingham, Lord Snot, and his cowardly Saxon band. Multiple in-fair events over Friday and Saturday will culminate in a convention style 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons event. The adventure itself will consist of parties of six, five players and one dungeon master. A sign up sheet for teams will appear online closer to the event but if you’re interested in being a DM please reach out to Greg Knowlton.

3/25-3/27 (Week 4) – Harry Potter & the Goblet of Campfire with the You’ll Dance Ball
(Kid- Friendly)
Join us for year 4 of the Harry Potter themed weekend!
The scavenger hunt for prizes and the coveted Goblet of Campfire, along with a dance party to wrap it all up!
Who shall prevail??

4/1-4/3 (Week 5) – Loki’s Gamble
*new raid!*

The Tale of Loki’s Gamble
“Really” his tone was soft, sly, and filled with intent. “You are going to hold it against me? It was but a trick, an illusion.” The lilt in the tone was veritably oozing with mischief. “I don’t think that Hunin and Munin thought it was funny Loki, and father is furious.” Thor stood, arms crossed over his broad chest, “They are completely naked, devoid of feather. The farmer thought they were his chickens and plucked them bare, and was about to behead them, had I not intervened.” Loki smiled, “Really brother, all is well, look… their feathers are growing back even now.” Thor shook his head, “No, father said if he laid eyes on you before the next full moon…” he paused the tone, serious, Thor sighed, “Go, find something to amuse you, make it a vacation, perhaps an outing with some of the other gods, many are bored right now. Think of something to keep you and them busy. I’ll keep father busy, soon enough he will forget, or at least be calmer.” Loki raised his left hand, beginning to tap his left index finger on his chin, “That faire is about to start, you know, that one with all those Viking dress up drinkers?” Thor’s brow raised, “Loki.” He said in warning. “Be at ease brother, I will not harm them, just, well, some games of chance, a drink, a horn of mead here and there. It will be fun!” Thor inhaled, slowly, and shook his head, “Do not cause too much of a mess brother.” He turned and left Loki. “Sherwood, yes, this should be fun. “ Loki skipped and hopped about for a moment and then began to call out names of those gods he knew would enjoy a bit of sport, and chance. Coins twirled around his fingers as his plan began to fall in place. “Loki’s Gamble, has a certain ring to it.” He laughed…

4/8-4/10 (Week 6) – Sure Would! Not So Highland Games
(Crawfish Boil)
Do you desire to gorge your body on crawfish AND to compete in The Not So Highland Games? Sure Would!
Join your fellow Heirs of Asgard for the most fun you can have this side of the Danevirke. Have a leisurely day in Faire, then return to camp for Highland-esque team shenanigans lead by Toothless, and a crawfish boil prepared by none other than Chef Trash Panda. (For you shellfish-intolerant, other tasty noms will be provided.)
Sure Would! also is our RESCU fundraiser weekend!! All bar tips will be donated.
Crawfish and kilts: together at last!!

4/15-4/17 (Week 7) – Keep it Loki 4: Heirs of Mischief
(Easter)
Loki, God of Mischief & Lies has swayed Heirs to this mischievous weekend adventure!
Our 4th Loki competition will have 3 categories: Traditional, Non Traditional & Non Alcoholic.
Loki has erased all the numbers for the entries and all the judges have to go by is a strange name describing the loki entry with no clue as to what the flavor will be. Come up with a name for your loki/NA entry describing the feeling of your creation without giving away the flavor.
Entries can be turned in next to the Heirs Bar 6-8:30 pm Saturday.
Winners will be announced at 10 pm.
Please contact Tails (Jenn) or Atlantis (Emy) if you need a different time to submit your loki.

4/22-4/24 (Week 8) – Baldur’s Bangarang
(Awards Ceremony/Induction/Chili Extravaganza)
Our annual Sherwood Induction and Ball….Celebrate 10 years plus a little of HoA History! Enjoy a weekend of friends, fun, and generally gallivanting about the Faire (and Camp) in joyous revelry!

The weekend started with the slow trickle arrival of our faithful Heirs Crew and several guests. After setting up camp, we enjoyed a weenie and s’mores roast around our appropriately-themed Star Wars fire pit. Hot Dogs were eaten. Marshmallows were devoured. Though I can’t remember who this food revolutionary was, someone even tried adding marshmallow to their hot dog! Merriment continued throughout the evening as more people arrived and we huddled around our fire for warmth on this cold, cold evening.
   Saturday morning kicked off with a fresh breakfast courtesy of Melanie Treadway and her crew! Omelets, pancakes, and fresh fruit had everyone energized for the day’s activities! After breakfast our crew began donning their Star Wars garb in celebration of this Heroes and Villains weekend! After collectively getting ready and taking our clan photo, formed teams of two set off to begin the Photo- Scavenger Hunt inside Faire. At midday the Heirs participated in the Costume Contest, with a massive clan presence competing as a Medieval Star Wars Group! The competition had many valiant competitors, and unfortunately, we were dethroned this year and did not take home the title as we had last year. Ah well, we had fun, and there’s always next time! As the day waned on, more laughs and merriment continued, teams continued their hunts, and the Faire day was eventually brought to a close.
   Back at camp our Dinner Odin Chef Chase and his crew were beginning to work on dinner. Scavenger Hunt entries began being scored, and Star Wars Trivia ensued while we awaited dinner. An impromptu Star Wars/ Weird AL sing-along ensued, and it was glorious. The smells wafting from the kitchen tent were mouth- watering at this point. Eventually, dinner was ready, and boy was it worth the wait. The chicken tacos with street corn and beans were just what the crew needed to gear up for our nighttime games. Team Champs, Tails and Mr. Mitts, won the Scavenger Hunt by 1 point, with Ben Swolo, David Paul and Aurora as the close second.
   Off to a bit of a late start, the teams still present and awake began facing off in heated rounds of Beer Pong, Cornhole, and Tetherball. Tetherball became a fiercer battle than any of us anticipated! PJ came in clutch solo in Tetherball as his partner was MIA, going on to the final round. After a close battle, the Darth Ballers, Chase and Blake were victorious in the Battle of Hoth (Tetherball). As the heated Tetherball match had overly exhausted Mr. Mitts, the final battle of Yavin IV (Cornhole) came down to Tails of Team Champs vs. Team Ramrod, Ethan and Ryan. Tails managed to claim victory for her team! Our most heated game of the evening, the Battle of Endor (Beer Pong) came down to Darth Ballers vs Team Champs! With Mr. Mitts still incapacitated it was all up to Tails. After an extremely close match, Darth Ballers claimed the victory in this battle. All points for the day were tallied, and after some math was corrected (it was late and I was a bit sleepy) we had a tie for best overall team! It came down to a trivia showdown between Darth Ballers and Team Champs for the trophies! Mr. Mitts was able to rejoin the fray for this final showdown. After an initial round of no correct answers, in the second Team Champs became ultimately victorious. As it was well after 3am, everyone largely headed to bed.
   The weekend ended with a surprise hearty breakfast of pita bread, diced meat and fixings courtesy of Tails! Much needed after such a full, exhausting evening. All remaining Raffle prizes not claimed the night before were given to their respective winners. Everyone pitched in with camp cleanup and breakdown, and then we all went our separate ways, until next time………  
— Valkyrie Tano

The weekend started as they all do, on Friday. Cars that extend into the distance and seem to go on forever. The rush hour. I wasn’t planning on leading this raid, but by god will I pick up the shattered pieces of my friends dreams and make them a reality.

And there were tights.

I was flying by the seat of my pants, with no plan, tents that liked to go belly up at a moment’s notice, and a list of quests that got ignored. Having to deal with Jarl Greybeard, TRF Drama, and getting everyone to know what’s going on was a war unto itself. The rules of the game were by the seat of our tights, but nobody else would know. I followed the adage of “play silly games, win silly prizes” and provided “adult snack packs” which consisted of carbonated juices and little debbie packages. The 4 winners were… Caleb, Golden, Klein, and… Sorry, I was drinking that weekend. I don’t remember. There was a big shuffle where people got to sit at tables, and dinner was acceptable. It was actually a blur where I got to sit down for 10 minutes because I was coordinating the induction ceremony.

But back to the tights.

I remember handing out all the badges on Sunday, and I know I didn’t get everyone. We actually ran out of badges. I don’t remember all who showed up, and I think I delegated attendance to Josh, or maybe it was Greg. There was only one thing that I remember clearly from the weekend and that was Sunday Morning. Adam said to me the quote of the weekend:

“That was a great raid.”

Hey everyone, your friendly neighborhood Sherwood Thane here to restart everything on the blog and absolve everyone previous who hasn’t done their blog posts, on the account of COVID hitting and everything getting weird. We haven’t gone anywhere, in fact, we are bigger and better than ever.

In the last year and change, a lot of crazy things happened. Sherwood 2020 was cancelled after just 3 weekends, and we spent a year figuring out how to do everything we do safely, and still enjoy each other’s time. We sent skeleton crews out for a few weekends at TRF, and went into Sherwood 2021 expecting a small, uncertain season. BOY, were we wrong! At Sherwood, we had 39 Friends of Faire members, and record attendance nearly every week (we broke our previous all-time attendance record 4 out of 8 weekends!).

We’ve had lots of growth struggles to manage all of the new membership, new process, and much bigger expectations around food, beverages, and all general logistics. But we’ve done pretty tremendously in the process at building out our new land, rituals, and events to new uncharted places. Come join us at TRF this year for our 10 year anniversary there, can’t wait to see ya!

– Thane Toothless

Heirs of Asgard held their second virtual event on July 25, 2020 – A Very Merry Heirs of Asgard Christmas in July! Even though the event was virtual, it required a bit of scheming and plotting in advance, as one of the features for the evening was a Secret Santa Gift Exchange. A few gifts were delayed due to shipping issues, but most arrived on-time, so players were able to unwrap their mystery packages and learn their Secret Santa’s identity.

As the night progressed, we did three contests: Best Christmas Joke, Most Obscure Christmas Fact or Tradition, and Best Christmas Outfit. Every Grand Prize was purchased from the Faire Relief 2020 group on Facebook, to support the Ren Faire community!

The grand prize for the Best Christmas Joke was a Hatching Baby Dragon from Mythological Taxidermy, and it went to PJ, for this atrociously morbid reindeer joke: “Which reindeer will never go hungry? Donner.” Next up was Most Obscure Fact or Tradition. Geordan won an Old Man Pixie Door from Blue Toucan Studios for sharing Venezuela’s Christmas tradition of roller skating to church! Finally, the five entries for Best Christmas Outfit were too delightful for me to choose, so we spun the wheel of fate to reveal our winner: Caleb! His grand entrance into the competition must’ve impressed the wheel, so he will be receiving a Lichen Magic Wand and Holster from Broomhilde.

Overall, I think the event was a success, and I hope we have more virtual events until we can safely meet IRL. 🙂

~Trisha

Well hello there. I bet you’re wondering why a Last Crusade blog post would appear in May, so far removed from the long-forgotten days of November. Well, that’s a very long and boring story, so why don’t we discuss the Last Crusade of 2019. A bolder time, long before Miss Rona…

This was an exceptional weekend. And to the great delight of many, not only was this a great party, this might have been the best crusade to date (Take THAT People’s Crusade).  Here’s a quick run-down in no particular order of importance:

The Games: There was a game show, drinking games, and a white elephant.

With Um Actually… People were screaming, bells were ringing, and when incorrect statements were heard for a full season after that, it was common to hear someone pop off with “um, actually…” even after we returned to real life (I’m looking at you, Tredder) A good time was had by all and to everyone who won a round, I hope you appreciate the token you won – which was designed by our own Magpie.

The drinking games were happening all around and not just in our patch of the woods. But at this beer pong table PJ showed his stripes as a prime contender. Meanwhile Mr. Mitts lost every single match and ended Saturday night WASTED as a result. Good job.

The White Elephant was a nonstop screaming match – and David Nowlin looked ready to end friendships after losing that pirate decanter to a steal. So, to whomever won that (PJ) I would encourage you to get that man a drink. In the end, the largest gift exchange I have been a part of yet and I was overjoyed to take part. And for god’s sake, next year please steal slightly less from Chase. They guy had his hand on nearly every single gift at one point or another due to the sheer amount of time he got jacked. Okay, maybe do it again, it was funny.

The Amount of friends we had with us was tremendous, more than ever before with Last Crusade with at least 37 people camping along and at least a hundred more swinging by to say hello and drink with us.

But wait, the joy of this weekend does not end here because there are some desperately needed shout outs!

Sarah Davis is hereby the hero the Heirs deserves and I will be speaking with relics to see about putting together a proper prize fitting of this help – her powers of observation did not fail her and she saved dinner by making sure it was put under ice in a timely fashion.

Jenn was the wheels on that drive with Sarah and her car knew the way – going so far as to blast eye of the tiger as soon as the adventure began (good choice).

Peter and Mat both deserve massive praise for their continuous attention to detail and keeping the party going – gents you were incredible.

Aurora was the winner of Um, Actually… and has won Peter’s Definitely Not a Trap Cup. Congratulations Aurora, fill that cup until it runneth over, you earned this.

Every single person, Joe, Adam, PJ (especially PJ), Ryan, EVERYONE who worked the bar – we pulled $183 dollars in donations from our fans and friends (thank you all so much) and floated FIVE of the kegs. Brew Crew, please give us an estimate of how many of the 55 gallons were left at the end of the weekend. I would love to know.

And finally, this: This was the finest weekend I have had the pleasure of attending and it was the best party I have ever been to. If you have anything you want to add, get in the comments and share the love. I, for one, am anxious to hear of more adventures.  

DEUS VULT, FRIENDS

Always keep the faith.

On the opening weekend of the 2020 season, the stage was set for a showdown between the forces of darkness and the forces of the night-light. A call had been placed for the stuffed animal super-hero team, The Naptime Buddies, to assemble. For the forces of darkness, known as the Nightmare Beasties, had gathered to spread evil upon our beloved Sherwood Forest Faire.

Lead by Dread Neko-mancer, the Nightmare Beasties attacked the Naptime Buddies in the Heirs of Asgard camp and cast a spell of Nightmare corruption on their leader, Captain Naptime… turning him into Captain Nightmare. “Resistance is futile”, he told his former friends and the Beasties left camp to spread nightmares to the humans in the festival. Person by person, they attached “nightmare tags” to the visiting patrons. If left on the victims, they would suffer endless nightmares and become evil themselves.

Not knowing how to save their former Captain, the Naptime Buddies began making nightmare-warding mug charms to save the innocents. Into the faire they strode, disposing of the nightmare tags and searching for clues on how to save Captain Naptime. A group of NTBs lead by Knight Owl and Stardust, the Bunny of Boopsville, discovered a prophecy known to the Sage Alexandra that foretold of how to save the Captain.

“In order to save Captain Naptime, you must cast a spell of love binding at sunset tonight or he will be lost forever. For the spell to work, you will need to reunite Captain Nightmare with the Naptime Helmet, Sargent Hoppu his bunny familiar, and a magic pin signed by all of those who love Captain Naptime.”

It took most of the day, but the NTBs collected all quest items and rescued Captian Naptime. Defeated, the Beasties were willing to set aside their evil ways so that the Heirs of Asgard could once again party together in friendship.

Other fun events this weekend:
Golden’s Counter Proposal Flash Mob: Golden led a surprise Uptown Funk flash mob inside faire and offered a counter-proposal to me, Captain Treader (he said yes). Golden had planned her proposal before I proposed to her at the January Gathering, which was quite the Heirs of Asgard event in itself.

The Heirs took over the Puffin!: A big thank you to our host, Nemo, for being so accommodating and thanks to Lauren McMullen for organizing payment. We reserved an entire half of the Puffin’s 2nd floor as a base to hang out and enjoy hooka for the day.

Our Blanket Fort Tapwall was a huge success: We served hundreds of glasses of beer and cider to our friends and neighbors and hosted a huge turnout of stuffed animal and onesie creatures.

Best costume: Corporal Bananas by Mat with 1 T (Mat Keech)
Odin Chef: Sloppy Joes by Diccalo (Geordan Major)
Co-Raid Leader: David Nowlin

Thanks for the great weekend! Together We Are Tanks!

Captain Treader