At High Tide--Gettysburg, 27 - 29 June 2008

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Permalink Reply by Greg Bullock on February 25, 2008 at 4:02pm

I sent mine in, and at our annual meeting a couple weeks ago, we pushed it again and handed out registration forms for people to send in that day.

Also by a show of hands it looked like we had about 6-8 of us going to the event.

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Permalink Reply by Bob Denton on February 29, 2008 at 1:02pm

Wow! That's the most expensive event registration that I ever heard of (without any rations, preservation element or other perks). We only charged $24 for McDowell and gave the registrants food, and still made over $4K for the Historical Society. I did hear that Chris is having to pay an exorbitant price for the land use and local taxes and fees though, so perhaps that figures into it.

Bob D.

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Permalink Reply by Robert Ambrose on February 29, 2008 at 1:25pm

I think the fee will turn some folks away. This year seems like we're shelling out a lot of money for events, and with gas going up, people are going to look harder at which events they'll do. I believe that some money is going to a preservation group for "At high Tide", something like Adams Co. land preservation or something. But, its hard to pay a lot and not get something out of it ; i.e. rations, etc, since we all bring so much to it.

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Permalink Reply by Shawn Stern on February 29, 2008 at 2:34pm

We will be 9 strong in our mess to bolster battalion/company numbers, I agree $25 is a heck of a lot without any rations.

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Permalink Reply by Bob Denton on February 29, 2008 at 3:05pm

Actually, on February 17 it went to $30.

RD

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Permalink Reply by Greg Bullock on February 29, 2008 at 3:39pm

I was trying to see what the registration was for Sept Storm. If it was equivalent. I don't recall a ration issue at that event either.

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Permalink Reply by Robert Ambrose on February 29, 2008 at 5:23pm

I think September Storm was $5 or $10 cheaper. And it was very upfront about the preservation aspect with money going to South Mountain!

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Permalink Reply by Dave Pridgeon on March 3, 2008 at 12:16pm

The “At High Tide” event, sponsored by the Western Maryland Heritage Foundation, by far has the biggest budget of any event ever sponsored on our circuit. It goes well over $60,000.00. This amount is in large part necessitated by the requirements of the Township in which the event is being held. The Township has in the past had within its boundaries events of which they were “not happy” with the outcome. Thus they have made the permit process extremely arduous. The permit process has been constructed to make it a daunting task for anyone not extremely experienced in the sponsorship of events.

Guidelines for everything are laid out within the application process. Requirements are set for everything, from the number of porta-johns, to the amount of water on site, to requirements for medical personnel, parking, entrances, etc... These requirements are subject to inspection by the Township prior to, and during the course of the event. In short, what is required in the guidelines must be produced or you are shut down.

The finished application that “At High Tide” submitted was over 30 pages, not counting all the map addendums. It included costs that we do not normally incur, such as the cleaning of the porta-johns several times a day. This taken with Chris Anders philosophy of how an event should “look” generated the high registration fee. Spectators are being limited to 1,000 a day, so that the event does not generate into a carnival atmosphere. Remember in the past at larger events we often suffered the feeling of a “monkey being viewed in the cage”, with the reenactors being totally overcome with the amount of spectators gawking at us. “At High Tide” will try hard to preserve an atmosphere where magic moments can happen even though it will be one of the larger events many have attended in some time.

Chris also has run his events on the sound fiscal policy of having the registration fees pay for the event and not counting on spectator income, which can be a crap shoot if you have bad weather. Thus this Gettysburg event has to take in registration fees of over 2,000 participants before the event budget is meet. It is this policy that has resulted to date in “NO” events having lost money and every event that has been held producing a profit that has been given to preservation.

Unbelievably, the property owner is charging no fee for the use of his land. He has simply requested that any profit from the event be given to The Land Conservancy of Adams County which has worked hard to preserve open space in this historical County. Chris has tried to create a budget where the needs of the participants and the Township are meet, while still having funds left to be able to contribute in the property owners name to the Conservancy.

The memberships of the reenacting groups contained within our circuit of events have been hoping for a decent Gettysburg event to attend for quite some time. Unfortunately this is a case where you have to “pay to play”. While the registration fee is high, I believe the reward will be so in kind. I will do everything possible to make sure that is the case. If everything goes as planned the Saturday night dusk fight especially should be one for us to long remember. We have something special planned for that one.

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Permalink Reply by Dave Pridgeon on March 27, 2008 at 2:21am

The regiment the PSL will be part of is really starting to take shape for Gettysburg event. We are combining forces with our old friends, The Stonewall Brigade, as well as a company of the Liberty Rifles. Thus the overall look of the regiment's impressions should be awesome. There are also reports the Stonewall Brigade band will be attending, so whenever our regiment marches out it will be accompanied by music.

While my lips are sealed, expect some special touches for the Saturday dusk battle, which will simulate the dusk fighting on July 2nd around the Evergreen Cemetery. If all goes as planned this scenario could really provide the men in the ranks some really "magic moments". Start getting those registrations in now.

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Permalink Reply by Jeremy Hilliard on April 1, 2008 at 10:21pm

Are we in this hobby to get something out of it? At events it is nice to get a ration issue but me and my unit do not got to events to get a ration issue.If we pay $25 to register for a event and it most of the time is going to preservation that is fine. We will not go to a event that is not preservation oriented so that solves that problem.If a person in the hobby for the right reason to have a good experince at quality events while helping to preserve battlefield land through paying registration that is how events make money to preserve land,there should be no problem paying registraion and not expecting something in return.You get something out of a event every time you attend one you get to spend time with your pards for a weekend and experince a good event and get to fight sleep and eat on original ground most of the time where the soldiers you are potraying did the same things.It is alot cheaper than going to a campground and you are not on Hallowed ground at a campground.We all need not worry about $25-30 dollar registration we only register for two events a year as a battlaion anyway that should not break any of us!As far as gas goes carpool.

Jeremy

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Permalink Reply by Bob Denton on April 1, 2008 at 10:59pm

Jeremy,

In all truth, sometimes I think our fascination with this stuff borders more on obsessive-compulsive behavior than anything. (grin) The only thing I've ever "expected" to get out of it was the learning experience, and being with my friends. The way some of the younger reenactors these days almost "demand" a ration issue at events is actually really rather obnoxious. As you well know, the events prior to 1998 where there were ration issues were few and far between.

I'm not worried about the $30 registration though; I was really thinking out loud, that's all. I often like to comment to see if anyone is thinking similarly, or if I'm way off-base.

Now, on the other hand; when we act as volunteer actors in a for-profit film production, well...that's a different story altogether. It matters not to me whether we get paid, or the producer donates money (as in the case of Gods and Generals) or a free film (as did Wide Awake Production for the Highland Museum); but there better be some compensation for our efforts.

Bob

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Permalink Reply by Greg Bullock on April 2, 2008 at 9:40am

Bob

I actually find it easier to plan for an event that doesn't have a ration issue. This way I can lay out my own meals between the guys in my mess and we can distribute the food a little easier.

I am not sure where the shift came in the hobby where people expect to get rations at an event. In the years I have done events, I have typically always planned to feed myself and anyone I bring and work it out with the guys I will mess with.

The 30$ fee didn't bother me too much since most of the registrations we pay for the rest of the year are less than 10$ per event. So one expensive event isn't too bad. Plus if I cut out that candy bar each day for a couple months, I have the registration fee right there. Not to mention it gets me closer to being in shape for an event.

Greg

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