Have you ever wanted to go on a vacation into the past, where there are minstrels in the streets? Walk through the food court where smells of campfire and meat roasting tantalize the senses? Colorful costumes and fancy sun umbrellas catch your eye. This is where I go every year. I have flown and I have driven my car. This place is called Pennsic War.
Pennsic is an annual event held by a group called the SCA, Society of Creative Anachronism. They are a group dedicated to studying and re-creating 600 AD to 1600 AD. This can be from anywhere in the world. Primarily people in this group are focused on Europe, but you can study and re-create any place between those time periods. To find out more about this, you can visit www.sca.org.
Pennsic is located in Slipper Rock, PA at Cooper’s Lake Campground. It happens annually the last weekend in July through mid August. People from all over the world come to this event, this makes for a turnout of about 20,000 people!
What I love most about the place is that anything you could want to learn about the middle ages or watch, you can. If you want to see people fighting with authentic handmade armor, there are about 10,000 people doing that daily, all day. If you want to learn how to fence or just watch people do that, they have that also.
Classes at Pennsic range from rope shoe making to dance classes, to knife throwing to pattern making, Japanese tea ceremony to board games. If you want to teach a class that is not a problem! If you want to take a class, virtually all classes are free of charge. And everyone is always super friendly.
What makes the SCA such a unique group is that everyone there is a participant. It is not like a faire and they are putting on a show for the “outsiders”, Pennsic is everyone putting on a show for themselves and everyone around them. We have Knights and Kings, Laurels and apprentices. It really is like a medieval fantasy word, but keep in mind that everyone is trying to be as historically accurate as possible.
There is something for everyone; shopping, fighting, eating, relaxing, learning, camping and more! I will be there so come join me!
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