Grace Cavanaugh ~ Copy Editor
On Saturday, Sept. 14, Wolfbane put on the fourth annual Wolfswood Faire. The event ran from 3:00 to 9:00 p.m., ending with the Misfit Masquerade and announcements about the upcoming Wolfbane productions.
According to the Wolfbane page for the Wolfswood Faire, “Will the Moonfang tribe finally rise up against the Nightcloak Empire? Watch as the drama unfolds between the two battling tribes of the Wolfswood. Test out your skills in our gaming arena with tournaments of all kinds. Watch demos in archery, sword fighting, traditional dance, blacksmithing, and more from the local Society of Creative Anachronism. Guests can also journey through our artisans, entertainers, musicians, food trucks, and restaurateurs.”
The Society of Creative Anachronism (SCA) was in attendance to showcase various medieval skills. Fighters battled with swords, daggers, and chainmail. Archers shot both bows and crossbows. A few members of SCA demonstrated how to weave and write in medieval times.
Jennifer Barringer, a member of the SCA, said, “We are part of the Society for Creative Anachronism, which is a medieval reenactment group. We do the time periods 600 to 1600.”
With Barringer was Baroness Evelynne Merrymet. Merrymet explained, “We are an international group. There are 20 kingdoms in the world. We are in the Kingdom of Atlantia, which is from Maryland down to Georgia. There are 17 baronies in the Kingdom. We are the Barony of Black Diamond. I am the Baroness of Black Diamond.”
Barringer was at the arts and sciences tent, where they displayed some of their members’ work. “Painting, pigment making, metal crafting, horn-smithing, leatherworking, glass making, metal work, fiber arts, sewing, weaving, someone somewhere in the SCA does it, and probably does it really, really well,” said Barringer.
“This is our fourth year [coming here],” said Allen Foster. He is also a member of the SCA and was with the fighters demonstrating their skills with blades.
He said, “Basically, instead of just researching history and writing a paper and going to a conference, and getting up on a podium and reading it off […] we read it and go, “Huh, I wonder how they really did it?” and then we go out and try it. The fighting you see is based off predominantly 15th and 16th century fencing manuals that still exist and we adapt their techniques and training to function within a modern set of safety rules.”
The group meets on Monday nights in Madison Heights. Barringer said, “We hang out, we work on whatever we are doing. If you are super interested in archery, you can do archery. If you’re super interested in one of the arts or sciences, you can come into the house and say, “Hey, what are you doing? Can you teach me that?” and we will happily teach you that.”
The Misfit Masquerade began at 7:00 p.m. with the announcement of who won that year, the Moonfang Tribe or the Nightcloak Empire. Although the Nightcloak Empire completed more challenged throughout the evening, like a water balloon toss and a dad joke-off, the Moonfang Tribe won for the fourth year in a row.
Afterwards, guests could go on a ghost tour or dance. At 8:00 p.m., the upcoming 2020 Wolfbane season was announced.
Next year, Wolfbane will be performing Guys and Dolls in Jan., Steel Magnolias in June, and Young Frankenstein in Oct. All three announcements were met with cheers from the crowd as the event wore down.
For more information about upcoming Wolfbane events, please visit wolfbane.org. For more information about the local SCA group, please visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/174248598875/.