Living History Ideas '09

[Mission]

Right then I'm thinking... have the first tour go through the camps prior to the battle and help set up the battle, part of the Living History would be to help excite the crowds, camp life, candle making, dressing game, ordinary/tavern games... then a confrontation between the opposing crewes, a brief fight/duel that leads to the opposing crewes/camps beating to quarters and running fer arms..

Except we all had to show up early for shooting the cannons and prepare for weapon firing and so forth. That's why I think it would be better afterward. (I'll stand around and practice shooting the cannon before doing a surgical display. Shooting cannon is fun and I can explain the surgery tools any time. And despite the insistence that I do a fake operation, I have still not sold myself on that particular bit. I am a perfectionist when it comes to my stuff - inasmuch as I can be - and I won't do it until I feel comfortable with the routine and happy with the props.) It's not like the other events where there were a large group of people waiting for something particular to happen. People just seem to drift in and out. I suspect too much scheduling will ruin the appeal of the event for a lot of re-enactors. Or maybe I'm just speaking for myself.

[Mission]

People keep talking about the kids. How many kids did you all see? I saw a far more adults than kids. Key West is more of an adult playground. (And it is a playground, so playground rules seem to work better.)

[Diosa De Cancion]

right then.....

I am having my last word on this for now.....

I volunteer to be the guide.... to and fro... either before or after the battle or both... I love talking to folks and telling them about what is going on... Heck I did it this year without any prompting or planning and it worked fine. I walked a handful or two of people from the fort out to the encampment and they liked it.... So there needs to be no worry about the guide not having time to do whatever... I don't care, I like the interaction with the public and I will be just fine and dandy that way. Hell I am in Key West plenty of times a year, so I won't be missing anything that I can't see/do another time.

Here's the base of this:

NO ONE IS BEING FORCED TO DO ANYTHING!!

Let me know who wants to display and demonstrate what. I can ad lib a whole tour to get people over...talk about life in the day (both buccaneer and GAoP), possibly even do a little Mary Read insert as well. I would love to be able to have a little interaction with the pirate hunters but otherwise those who want to do living history, great, let me know and I can write them in... Those that don't... don't.That simple.

I will let Harry decide if we want to do 1 or 2 tours.

My initial thought was that if the battles are still at 2, we have a noon tour that shows regular living history (cooking, boucan, candle making, tavern life, the indentured servitude, anything else anyone wants to do that relates to ordinary life) Again, those who don't don't have to. I will then get people back over to the fort to watch the battle before it begins....

I then thought the 3-4 PM post battle tour would be the post war... it could be treating injured (no need to do surgery if no one wants to... we could just have some of the ladies dressing the wounded while others are being prepared for burial) as well as gun and cannon cleaning. Again, those who want to can...those who don't, do what you want to do.

And as Dutch says, it does not have to be a 'stand here for 5 minutes, now move here for 5 minutes' kind of thing. I would be happy to bring people over, give them an overview and then let them look around themselves, then wrangle them back together when it's time to move. Either way works for me... People can also come and go from the tour as they please and yes a crier type person would be great to announce that we are moving....

All the other great things Sterling mentioned are fantastic. Let me know what you need from me or what I need to learn to help with any of those games and such and I am in.

Also, don't worry about a little bit late of a battle here and there. I am great at being full of BS, just ask my crewe. I will come up with things on the fly, entertain the masses, give them a chance to get in the stocks, talk about battle prep.... Hell, I talk for a living and am regularly told "stall for 15 minutes so we don't have dead air on the radio" Not a problem.

Hell, if a battle is an hour off I'll do an impromptu ghost walk.... I can handle it! Bring it on!

:)

This is all meant to be fun for those of us that want to do it and for those that don't, just don't worry about it and we'll leave you in peace...or you want to try a little something, great! it's all good!

That is all for now....

Edited December 17, 2008 by Goddess in the Bodice

[RustyNell]

I really have to agree with Dutch, the audience dictates the interest.

I really think making people more aware of the living history in the program would best serve everyone here. If we scheduled a reasonable time for people to experience all of it on their own, and manned our stations accordingly the audience could design their own tour. Giving them a detailed map would give them time to wander to their area's of interest. If they knew based on the program that from 2:00 until 3:00 there are demonstrations going on in the Buccaneers camp. from 3:00 - 4:00 lectures in the careening camp on, navigation, medicine, and the merchant's trade, and from 4:00 - 5:00 lectures in the Hide and Cat and Fiddle on food, and drink as well as social life and games of the day etc etc. we could set up character interaction that involved the audience.

My mother used to work at the old governors mansion in New Bern NC where I grew up. They did character based historic tours without a guide much like this. They went about the work of their daily roles, in the kitchen etc. The lectures as people toured were often different based on what time of day you encountered them. A lot of the information was similar but there was no scheduled tour you bought your ticket and the tour was self guided, and you could ask questions. It allowed you to linger in an area you were interested in as long as you liked. I really think people like that option.

It shouldn't interfere with all the other events...we can still do the Olympics and other things during these times, not everyone has to be in their camp demonstrating from 2:00 until 5:00 as we have set times for different demonstrations.

If you guys really want to go the tour guide route..I'm certain we can pull it off, I'm just trying to consider that we will have to schedule the lectures taking into account the route we walk, the time it takes to get that crowd - no telling the size- from one place to another, and take into account not only the length of the lecture but time for questions pictures, applause, money thrown, hand shaking, autograph signing, movie deals LOL just dreaming

Anyway just my last thought on the subject -I am here to help either way...I was able to catch one of Dutch's navigation lectures and really enjoyed it, I hope to have more time to see more lectures next year, for myself, knowing when its a good time to come by is half the battle.

[Dutchman]

so i was on the porcelain throne and had a thought. here is my rationalle. if you go to williamsburg or a major historical fort as a tourist you go there to be educated and entertained, you know what to expect. if you go to the beach in key west as a tourist, you go to the beach- where you expect to see other people on the beach doing beach vacation things. you don't expect to see pirates, much less know what to do with one. It may seem natural to us, but this takes folks back sometimes. (excuse me- i'm getting married tomorrow, can you move the tents. i don't want them in my pictures) maybe a sign at the entrance to the careening camp itself saying welcome to the GAoP, pirates don't normally bite, but the FPS is committed to the resocialization of an endangered society, please interact with them before they start drooling on themselves. Well maybe not worded like that, but you get the idea.

I still believe that guides are a good thing, but how to do the living history without loosing the crowd?

[RustyNell]

"pirates don't normally bite, but the FPS is committed to the resocialization of an endangered society, please interact with them before they start drooling on themselves. Well maybe not worded like that, but you get the idea."

re-socialization of an endangered society - love it

ROFLMAO!

[Mission]

so i was on the porcelain throne and had a thought. here is my rationalle. if you go to williamsburg or a major historical fort as a tourist you go there to be educated and entertained, you know what to expect. if you go to the beach in key west as a tourist, you go to the beach- where you expect to see other people on the beach doing beach vacation things. you don't expect to see pirates, much less know what to do with one. It may seem natural to us, but this takes folks back sometimes. (excuse me- i'm getting married tomorrow, can you move the tents. i don't want them in my pictures) maybe a sign at the entrance to the careening camp itself saying welcome to the GAoP, pirates don't normally bite, but the FPS is committed to the resocialization of an endangered society, please interact with them before they start drooling on themselves. Well maybe not worded like that, but you get the idea.

I agree with all that. Cheers! (And a funny sign is better than a plain one.)

I still believe that guides are a good thing, but how to do the living history without loosing the crowd?

I also think the guides would be good - it worked this year for you and I doing our bit. I still think after the battle would be better, though. If the vendors are going to be outside the fort (I think I read that was going to be the case. Right? Wrong? Eh? ) then getting them to the encampment will get them that much closer to the vendors as well. The more stuff that's outside the fort, the more people will want to travel to the encampment on their own.

As for keeping attention, based on over 10 years of adult teaching, I've found that when you're losing an audience, it's best to use:

1. Stories (People love stories and there are plenty of them in this realm.)

2. Humor (as Sophia said) and

3. Interesting examples, intonation and/or displays. (Such as a table of vicious looking instruments.)

Some people won't be interested, and so what? Others will. Others will want bits and pieces which I why I still try to stick to about 5 minutes. You have to gauge the audience, though.

[Diosa De Cancion]

I still believe that guides are a good thing, but how to do the living history without loosing the crowd?

that's why i think a character guide or two (as Hurricane will likely join me) would be good. we can let people wander, but also let them know what's coming... when we'll be leaving for the battle and call them together. Or, if we need to we can walk them through everything. as you know, every crowd is different and a lot of that will be 'felt out' as we go....

and who says pirates don't bite? some of us do... but usually only when asked nicely...

Edited December 17, 2008 by Goddess in the Bodice

[Harry]

so i was on the porcelain throne and had a thought. here is my rationalle. if you go to williamsburg or a major historical fort as a tourist you go there to be educated and entertained, you know what to expect. if you go to the beach in key west as a tourist, you go to the beach- where you expect to see other people on the beach doing beach vacation things. you don't expect to see pirates, much less know what to do with one. It may seem natural to us, but this takes folks back sometimes. (excuse me- i'm getting married tomorrow, can you move the tents. i don't want them in my pictures) maybe a sign at the entrance to the careening camp itself saying welcome to the GAoP, pirates don't normally bite, but the FPS is committed to the resocialization of an endangered society, please interact with them before they start drooling on themselves. Well maybe not worded like that, but you get the idea.

I still believe that guides are a good thing, but how to do the living history without loosing the crowd?

No, I think the signs should be worded just like that!

See, that's one of the problems we have at this park. The park wouldn't be here if it weren't for the fortress. But, the vast majority of our visitors could give a you-know-what less about the building or the history surrounding it. They're here for the beach, nothing but the beach, so help them beach. The fortress is an afterthought as witnessed by questions we get from the visitors, "So, where's this fort I hear about?" Or, "What's that big building I passed on the way to the beach?" When we do our Civil War Living History weekends, we many times "invade" the beach area and literally shanghai the visitors to our spot. Or, we do a Federal guard mount along the beach during Civil War Days and explain to the visitors that we're searching for southern sympathizers. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Perhaps the English should "attack" the pyrate encampments and try to get our visitors involved in some fashion...

[RustyNell]

Harry, That could be a great way to get people interested in the battles-- getting them involved is always a great idea --I was going to add that to Missions list as a way to keep an audiences attention.

[Dutchman]

harry i must admit, i fell to the where's the fort mentality. We arrived at midnight and i did not leave the beach till our camp was set around noon. only then did i ask sterling "wheres the fort?" i simply had not looked in that direction and did not see it through all of the beautiful cedars you have so lovingly preserved. anyhow- an invasion from the fort would be grand, maybe send spies out ahead of time on the beach looking for smuggled goods.. gun fire from the fort is expected, but could we secure an area in the camp and pop of a limited number of small arms to get some attention.

[Capt. Sterling]

perhaps another idea is to have people (us) as town criers, so to speak, loudly announcing an upcoming demonstration AND handing out maps with details...

this could be done right after an event such as a battle when people are already gathered... since some such as i, don't have much to display or demonstrate, we could surely be organized enough to cover the fort and field when we are given direction to do so..

this way, there is no time frame, people find out about it, and are even given a map with details about said demo.

just a thought..

Brilliant Idea!!!

[Capt. Sterling]

harry i must admit, i fell to the where's the fort mentality. We arrived at midnight and i did not leave the beach till our camp was set around noon. only then did i ask sterling "wheres the fort?" i simply had not looked in that direction and did not see it through all of the beautiful cedars you have so lovingly preserved. anyhow- an invasion from the fort would be grand, maybe send spies out ahead of time on the beach looking for smuggled goods.. gun fire from the fort is expected, but could we secure an area in the camp and pop of a limited number of small arms to get some attention.

And they call me blind....

[Capt. Sterling]

No, I think the signs should be worded just like that!

See, that's one of the problems we have at this park. The park wouldn't be here if it weren't for the fortress. But, the vast majority of our visitors could give a you-know-what less about the building or the history surrounding it. They're here for the beach, nothing but the beach, so help them beach. The fortress is an afterthought as witnessed by questions we get from the visitors, "So, where's this fort I hear about?" Or, "What's that big building I passed on the way to the beach?" When we do our Civil War Living History weekends, we many times "invade" the beach area and literally shanghai the visitors to our spot. Or, we do a Federal guard mount along the beach during Civil War Days and explain to the visitors that we're searching for southern sympathizers. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Perhaps the English should "attack" the pyrate encampments and try to get our visitors involved in some fashion...

My question being, when ye really get down to it, especially since we don't like the long walk, how many people on the beach are actually going to tramp back and forth from Fort. to camp, back to the fort or battlefield and then to the camp again? Hell let's turn the event into an immersion weekend and just let the tourists wander where they will....

Edited December 17, 2008 by Capt. Sterling

[Capt. Sterling]

I still believe that guides are a good thing, but how to do the living history without loosing the crowd?

Ye come up with some damn good skits...

[Patrick Hand]

Ye come up with some damn good skits...

But if no one knows about the skit...... how can they watch it?

That's why I think the idea of a town crier with "treasure maps" and a "Camp Walk"after the battle might work...

so the Camp Walk isn't exactly at X:30.... but after the battle, and we all know when that is...... so we can remain flexible and on Key West time without to much hassle.....

It's a good thing we have almost a whle year to figure alla this out.... lotsa good and different ideas... we'll figure something out by 2009

[Rev.Sam]

No, I think the signs should be worded just like that!

See, that's one of the problems we have at this park. The park wouldn't be here if it weren't for the fortress. But, the vast majority of our visitors could give a you-know-what less about the building or the history surrounding it. They're here for the beach, nothing but the beach, so help them beach. The fortress is an afterthought as witnessed by questions we get from the visitors, "So, where's this fort I hear about?" Or, "What's that big building I passed on the way to the beach?" When we do our Civil War Living History weekends, we many times "invade" the beach area and literally shanghai the visitors to our spot. Or, we do a Federal guard mount along the beach during Civil War Days and explain to the visitors that we're searching for southern sympathizers. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Perhaps the English should "attack" the pyrate encampments and try to get our visitors involved in some fashion...

My question being, when ye really get down to it, especially since we don't like the long walk, how many people on the beach are actually going to tramp back and forth from Fort. to camp, back to the fort or battlefield and then to the camp again? Hell let's turn the event into an immersion weekend and just let the tourists wander where they will....

Could be then a good way to bring in the tourists, for a Fort attackin th' pirates is that something like a rumor be started, cause enough commotion an such in order to bring about Tourists t' watch? You know, something to stoke th' curiosity so that they follow it, an perhaps stay around to see what happens, an immerse where they will in between?

[Animal]

I've read through all the posts and most of the 2008 Living History posts. I wasn't on the beach this year but am planing on being there next year. I think that all this is doable. I honestly feel that if we go about our normal routines during the day in our respective representations of the era, most people will engage us and ask questions as long as we greet them as if they were someone walking down the path. Here is an example of what I mean: Good Day! How ye be this fine day? Me? Doing just grand, just putting a edge on this knife so I cna cut some leather to make a sheath fer me knife. (or) doing grand, getting ready to turn some meat on the boucan. Do you know what a boucan is?? No? come with me and I show ye.

and off we go to the boucan with a little background on it. I think every one have a little story in them about their era and portrayal of their character. As Hurricane can attest, adlibbing with knowledge can interest the most reserved audience.

Animal

[Dutchman]

im up for an immersion weekend, but as diosa pionted out- noone has to do anything. its not everyones idea of fun and i cant blame them. some wont be comfortable, some just wont want to, some will get bored with it, (note- the Deltaville 2010 event is setting up as an immersion) half the fun of PIP is being on the beach goofing off with other pirates.

Some of my most memorable skits and characters come from a lul in action. An ADD pirate who is bored is a dangerous thing. I know the crowd is there for a show and if there is a lul- they get bored. just try to fill the gap with something- anything. Ive discovered that people get bored of singing after a while- unless they are drunk. Last year we were socked in by bad weather aboard a boat that had hired us- no sunset cruise here, so i whipped of the scarf grabbed a hand full of shinny bobbles, handed them out to the crowd and began a round of sweatrag. It became a game to actually hide the "gambling" from the ships officers. I had an older- actually ancient couple- that said watching that was the most fun they had had since they went to the chicago worlds fair.

anyhow- another revelation is adding to harrys dilema. the fort is a waylay to the beach. Which incidently sterling, if you would have had us arriving at a decent hour, then not putting me right to work that morning providing housing for your unsheltered wards mabe i would have seen the fort before noon. but oh no- "dutchie, captain sterling is leaving us out in the snow, we have to walk up hill both ways to the fort, could you please help us" this was my first year and i may be beating a dead horse, but.... the crowd that is coming to the fort for pirates is already on the hook. they are sold. locals know we are there but have probably seen this before and write it off as another local ammusement. so who is left? tourists on the ships and those staying near by. face it- the fort is out of the way. so how to draw the beach crowd and the cruise ship crowd. I have not been to the docks, but can we do a street show there to drum up business? (i think someone mentioned something similar earlier)

edit* well put aminal

Edited December 17, 2008 by bbcddutchman

[Mission]

im up for an immersion weekend, but as diosa pionted out- noone has to do anything. its not everyones idea of fun and i cant blame them. some wont be comfortable, some just wont want to, some will get bored with it, (note- the Deltaville 2010 event is setting up as an immersion) half the fun of PIP is being on the beach goofing off with other pirates.

Once again - I agree. PiP is not like other events. Nor should it be. If we try to make it like that, I don't think it will be PiP; it will be a carbon copy of the other events, except in paradise. Where's the fun in that?

[Capt. Sterling]

Am I putting a gun to anyone's head?

[Harry]

We did a street show to kick off things. It was the Pirate Sail Invasion where pyrates came off the Wolf near the Schooner Wharf Bar. A couple of us English strode up the street with our proclamations, tacking them to the posts. It was a short, but effective show. And, the time frame was in the afternoon when there were numerous people around to enjoy.

I've got a few ideas I need to put down on paper and on the "strategy" board, as it were, to see if these would work. Once I am satisfied I can pull off the safety aspects of this, I'll offer up an engagement suggestion.

The downside to all of this is that those on the beach might not care one way or another what we do. But, at least I think it would be cool for us to do a... well... let me figure this out first...

[Animal]

"Am I putting a gun to anyone's head?"

slowly looks around......whew, not me

Animal

Edited December 17, 2008 by Animal

[Capt. Sterling]

Have a care there Animal... I just might start liking ye!

[Captain Jim]

Am I putting a gun to anyone's head?

No, and anyone who doesn't want to actually "do something" can just be background, doing what needs done like sweeping a tent, making coffee, cleaning a gun, rolling cartridges. Or taking a nap; It's one of Patrick's better living history demos or at least the one for which he is most famous (not counting the woad guy.) A good movie set has foreground and background action. We should have the same.