I'm sure most of you have already heard the Spotsylvania event was cancelled due to the lack of registrations. Now that the horse has been stolen, everybody is coming out of the woodwork, saying they were "planning" to attend.

I, for one, can't understand why people wait until the last possible moment to register for events. Of all the expenses involved with the Hobby, registration fees are about the lowest. In round figures, fees for the average Mainstream event are less than the cost of a case of cheap beer; while a CPH event will set you back two cases of beer.

Anybody want to splain this to me?  

I admit.. I was lazy on this one. I was going to do my registration this week.  

Yet, I am already registered for Camp Alleghany.  I waited until I had placed the order for Riley's outfit before I registered for that event, because if he didn't have his suit then I would go as spectator, but since he is going dressed.  Then so am I and I needed to register for that.

I find that for me, I intend to register early, but life gets in the way and then a couple days have passed and I am like.. need to do that.

I do need to get my other registrations in.  Do you know when the info is available for Ridley?  

Quote :

lhsnj wrote :   Do you know when the info is available for Ridley?

Greg,

The registration packet is done; but we are having web site problems. I'll make an announcement as soon as the problem is fixed.  

I don't think this is the first or last time you're going to see events cancel due to lack of interest(or effort to register). It's just the way things are going to be for a while.


editited by me for my own moronified spelling.  

--Last edited by grumpydave on 2009-03-20 13:18:25 --

Bill, my company and one other I know of took the organizers at their word and used the first deadline -- March 31 -- as their target for getting all their folks together.  If the registrations had been for individuals, you could chide everyone for not sending their stuff in.  But with company registrations, even if you got 80% of your attendees by mid-February, you might still hold off till mid-March just to drag in the other 20%, because of the deadline not being for another couple weeks.  

I don't see any mystery or slacking off in that.  If anything, it was poor planning by the organizer -- if he needed more cash flow earlier, he should have set an earlier deadline. I don't think he was evil or stupid, I just think it was a miscalculation.  

Brady's had about a dozen registrations ready to send in; another company I know had about 30.  Probably most of the USV was being prepared to get sent in, and that would likely have equaled the Federal registrations received to date.  I hear that other eastern Feds like Mifflin and the NR were in the same position.

The problem wasn't the economy and it wasn't lazy reenactors or lack of interest -- Spottsy was a USV "max effort" and from everything I've heard the numbers were there.  The problem was less than optimum planning and communication from the organizers.

But at least we don't have that problem with Neshaminy

Quote :

Michael Schaffner wrote : But at least we don't have that problem with Neshaminy

Mike,

Yeah, Neshaminy is a go. I just ordered the Porta-Pots yesterday! Trust me, that's the point of no return!  

Thanks Mike...to someone looking in from the outside...that was some very interesting insight.

Considering this particular event is a dead issue, but a thread that may portend the fate of numerous events in the next 1861-1865 cycle of larger events, this may be a good spot for a question.

Chris has his annual event, plus a tactical kinda-sorta laid out for the next few years.  This will do to tie to, if the dates can get out there where people can see them. Sometimes, even a scattershot "end of August" timeframe is better than nothing at all.

Some groups crank out mainstream events in the 1,500-2,000 participant range. This is a level where quite a few aspects can be managed, and the events don't turn into a refugee camp atmosphere, as in the days of DW & Le$.

Some groups create excellent living history programs on the actual battlefield. By this, I don't mean the SOYAs, but the mobile events that give the participant a chance to visit more than just the designated reenactor petting zoo.

Some groups put together quiet picket post type events where they essentially sit around and talk about gear all weekend. That's okay, and 14 men in the woods staring into space can be an immersion event, or a discussion about the latest reenactor fashions on the runways of Paris and Milan. These things typically go one of two directions -- really good or really sad.

Some groups put on tacticals. Frankly, this is the least interested of the possibilities to me, but they are a really big deal for a good number of CW reenacting enthusiasts.

Other groups do other things whether they are immersion events, typical SOYA LHs, or the commonplace "Battle of Something Local."

Hang on. I'm getting there. Like 1859, the year that will be 1860 will largely be ignored outside of Harper's Ferry.  Given the 1855-1858 cycle in Kansas and Missouri hasn't been all that popular (outside of a few dedicated folks), the next logical thing is to look at 1861, and, admittedly, I'm going to look at primarily eastern events with this:

1861 - Big Bethel, First Manassas, Athens, Ball's Bluff

1862 - Peninsula Campaign (so much to choose from), Cedar Mountain, Second Manassas, Antietam, Pea Ridge, Shiloh

1863 - Mud March, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Bristoe Station, Mine Run, Vicksburg Campaign

1864 - Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Atlanta Campaign, Nashville Campaign

1865 - Appomattox Campaign, March to the Sea, Carolinas Campaign, Reconstruction

What gets dropped in the trash, and what gets the nod for something larger than a typical living history?  Where and when?

Quick answer on '61, besides First Manassas, I'd like to see something for Dranesville.  It made a good scenario at Ballestone a couple of years ago -- small, brigade on each side (we could almost do a one to one), and neither a skirmish like Big Bethel nor a massacre like Balls Bluff.

Oh, and for once dead animal parts are OK.

Just a thought.

Excellent question though.

Harry Canoli could reprise his role as General McCall, and not get captured this time around.  Shotgun has a nice section about this fight on his website:

http://www.civilwarhome.com/dranesvilleintro.htm

Some of the smaller engagements often get overlooked, even on the NPS 384 website:

http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/abpp/battles/bystate.htm

For some fun, take a gander at the battles by campaign to give a different perspective:

http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/abpp/battles/bycampgn.htm

I have far more questions than answers when it comes to this, but talking about where we go next is not a bad idea.

Charles,

I don't know what other Mainstream events will take place, in the East, during the 150th. cycle, but I do know you will see the following events every year:

Neshaminy
New Market
Gettysburg
Ridley Creek
Cedar Creek

Four of these events are sponsored by folks who need money for historical preservation every year. One of the events just needs money.

Which one?

Grumpy, that was truly funny.

Bill, tell me more about Camp Geiger and Ridley Creek. I'm looking for something in 2010, just in case the next big 2nd Bull Run event falls through.

Charles,

Camp Geiger is pretty unique. The sponsors have built trenches that will hold 200 or so, guys per side, for a late War style event. This year we are planning to keep the trenches "hot" for the duration of the event. We will cycle people in and out during the day and a group will stay in the trenches over night.

Ridley Creek is held on the Colonial Plantation at Ridley Creek State Park. All profits go to the plantation. It's a beautiful location, with no modern anachronisms to speak of. We put on semi-scrïpted tacticals for the spectators around the farm buildings and fences on the plantation. In the past, Ridley has attracted some CPH groups. The ground is good for about 300 participants; most of whom attend the Saturday evening party at the plantation house.

Both events are very Mainstream, with enforced rules. (At least on the Confederate side!)  

Bill,

The trenches at Camp Geiger may hold some interest with the membership. They sound longer than the shallow (that red shale is hard) works and rifle pits on the hill at Liberty NY, and not quite the length of the opposing 1,200 feet of works at the long defunct Clarence, NY, event. Balancing modern sediment, erosion, and earth disturbing laws on the books with the desire to create a trench-like environment isn't an easy task.

Is it possible to improve the works?

Charles,

The trenches have been done in segments that each hold a company, or two of infantry. Three segments per side. I'll be visiting the site next week and will be able to report on their condition.

I see no reason the trenches couldn't be improved during the event. (But, what do I know?)