Quick thought- Just how many ACTIVE reenactors are there these days- seems you cannot go to a forum without seeing someone getting out of the hobby and selling all their stuff.

And if we are seeing that much on the forums, I bet there are a dozen times that many selling it off to pards, or just chucking in in the basement.

My honest guess- 12,000 total nationwide that actually go to events anymore.

Anyone else?

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Anders wrote : My honest guess- 12,000 total nationwide that actually go to events anymore.

Chris,

Damn good question. I wish I had a good answer. The CPH side of the Hobby is active; but, I'm not sure their real numbers are growing. Most of the pure CPH events are still designed for a small number of participants. On the Mainstream side of the house, there seems to be more interest in the local events. My home unit, Company B, 4th Texas Infantry had much better participation at the family friendly and local Ridley Creek event then we had at Cedar Creek, down in Virginia.  

the unit we joined has 25. ive met 5 and we went to 4 events this yr (would be 5 if our vehicle hadnt blown up!).

Chris  I does seem  that there are many getting out.

My outake on this is that the numbers are slimming down,and there are not as many getting into this as once was,however,just this season our unit has picked up about 5,which is good for us.  I think that alot of people are getting frustrated at many things. Gas prices are determining factors  

--Last edited by 1stSgt P. on 2007-10-26 21:49:43 --

I was at a timeline event this spring here in Ohio and talked to people from several different hobbies--colonial/rev war, French and Indian, buckskinners, Native American culture, etc. All of them said that they were seeing a decrease in numbers. So it's not just Civil War.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

Along the same lines as the previous post by Hank Trent, at a pre-Creek Indian War event in which there were buck skinners, 1812, territorial militia, Native American, and civilians present, the comments indicated numbers were off in all of these.  However, the ones remaining were getting more involved in period correctness

When you think about it, there are a number of things going against the Hobby. First, the population is aging. For the proof of that just look at your own units.

The Hobby isn't as cheap as it used to be for a number of reasons. As units develop more authentic guidelines for clothing and equipment, the cost of that clothing and equipment goes up. A lot of units will no longer accept someone showing up in one of those Sutler Row "starter kits". Even the value of the American dollar is going against us. A new, out of the box, rifle musket is going to cost you almost $500 dollars. Get it defarbed and you can be looking at another $100 to $300 dollars.

There is also the interest issue. There have no movies or TV shows about the Civil War recently and the 145th. Anniversary doesn't ring much of a bell.

Of course, the world as we know it, isn't coming to an end. We had a twenty-two man company at Cedar Creek and five of them were fresh fish between the ages of 16 and 18. I was pissing and moaning about not being able to keep them marching in a streight line, but I'll live with that!  

Bill,

Look positive at the five new people in your company since they made the average age of the company that much lower.    

Should I have gone there?

 

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hendrickms24 wrote : Bill, Look positive at the five new people in your company since they made the average age of the company that much lower.

Yeah, down to about forty.  

another problem is that a lot of people dont want children at events.  if you cant carry a rifle, then they dont want you there.  that would count us out all together... dh goes because the kids and i go... im the one that enjoys the hobby, but i refuse to be a female soldier (there is no way i could look male!). and my kiddos absolutely love reenactments, i can see all 4 dragging spouses with them later on!

Spent last night on the phone with many folks figuring out just who is out there...

Best guess- 9,000-11,000 men at arms in the hobby total right now.

Pards,

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chatrbug wrote : another problem is that a lot of people dont want children at events.

Dulcie,

There are still a lot of local events that are designed to be family friendly. Frankly, I don't consider big events, like Cedar Creek to be family friendly, even though families are welcome. It's been my experience, that the big events are just too much hassle to be a lot of fun when you are dealing with small kids.

Of course, there are also the more authentic, First Person events put on by people like the Trents. In many cases, civilians are the focus of these events, not an adjunct to the larger military activity.

we are hitting several main streams in 08, but thats about it. in dec the kids and i are heading down to do a first person (hubby has the house to himself..he refuses to go), ill see how the kids handle that and go from there.

i dont like the big big events, but we are going to gettysburg next yr..yah the mainstream one. but i want to say that i at least went once.

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The CPH side of the Hobby is active; but, I'm not sure their real numbers are growing.

Bill, just so you know, we had 250 or so at the Outpost this weekend.  

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Ken Cornett wrote Bill, just so you know, we had 250 or so at the Outpost this weekend.

Ken,

Isn't that about what you had at Rich Mountain? I think that was also about the attendance at Payne's Farm. Going from memory here on both cases.  

I had to come back to change the spelling of "memory"      

--Last edited by Bill on 2007-10-29 18:07:05 --

Bill,

Contrary to popular belief, the numbers are actually increasing in some areas of the hobby.

Do you actually have any numbers, Charles?  

If so, are they statistically significant in the context of a hobby once assumed to have 50,000 members, and now hovering at perhaps a quarter of that?

I mean, anything you have to offer apart from asides would probably be welcomed.

Thanks.

Yes, and that info has been posted time and time again. There is no need to rehash it here.

Charles, any link you can offer to where that info might be posted, or what it might consist of, would be very helpful.  On the other hand, to the extent that it's been posted "time and time again", it's probably not relevant anymore, so don't exert yourself.

Chris, my experience in the last few years has convinced me that you know a lot more about this than I do, but here's how it looks from my perspective.

This year "September Storm" was a pretty big event.  For the US I think it was bigger than Cedar Creek.  We had about 1,100 military registered, representing nearly every major organization in the middle Atlantic, as well as units from New England and the midwest.  A few individuals came from as far away as the west coast.  We had the USV, Vincents, the NR, and the Western Brigade.  Some of those groups, like the NR and USV, hadn't had as good a turn out in the previous four years.  If Mifflin had attended, I could see us having picked up another 250.  So say 1,350.  

Double it to represent additional western Federals, throw in a few hundred c/p/h'ers who wouldn't be caught dead at whatever the AC Forum now brands your events, and we get about 3,000.  Assume Confederates outnumber Federals three to one overall (sorry -- I went to several New Markets in my formative years) and you get a total of 12,000.

Of course, then you figure in 33% pre-event attrition.

I suppose there could be another two to three times that number of people with uniforms in their closets who get to a local living history every other year and call themselves reenactors, but they wouldn't be a huge factor in event planning.

To me, one significant result of this kind of calculation is that it underscores a basic flaw in the idea of there being a "mega" Gettysburg in addition to "At High Tide."  If you actually get 4,000 military registered for AHT, there probably won't be even that many for the other event.  There just aren't that many folks doing this anymore.

As to why, I think it has a lot to do with economic and demographic trends over the last 30 years.  This hobby grew with a postwar middle class that had good jobs, generous vacation time, and cheap gas.  All of that has been eroding for some time.

Another factor is the real war.  We've lost a lot of our folks to active service (Brady's newest member just got deployed to Iraq -- heck, we just fixed his Sharps...), and I'm sure there are other young people for whom the idea of playing war is rather less attractive now that a real one's going on.

Just some thoughts.  

There are only 20 people in the hobby and they are all trolls.




I thought it was time for some humor.