June Faire 2023

Honored Nobles, pray attend! That glorious time is once again upon us and June Faire is just upon the horizon.

Join Dragon’s Laire June 16th – 18th, 2023 at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds for a weekend of amazing A&S demonstrations, fantastic Bardic presentations, and daring marshallate activities of every flavor!

Come share your time, skills, and festivities with us!

Our June Faire Event Steward, Elisabeth de Rossignol , is leading a team of dedicated volunteers to organize our biggest event of the year.

Links to other June Fair informational pages:
– Kingdom of An Tir Calendar
– Facebook event page for June Faire
– Kitsap Medieval Faire (Info for the public part of the event on Saturday)

---

Volunteers Needed!

Many hands make light work!

It takes many volunteers to make June Faire run smoothly, from people who donate their time in the planning and preparation stage to people who help for a few hours during the event. Please consider volunteering to help us!

We are looking for volunteers for camp layout, site setup, parking, Marshallate activities, decorations, mobility patrol, fire watches, youth activities, and volunteer point. Sir Sarpedon Dirkides Aegineta is coordinating these roles! Please reach out to him if you can spare a little time to help.

The Barony of Glymm Mere is coordinating Gate volunteers.

---

When and Where?

Public Event: June 17, 2023, 10AM–5PM
SCA Event Starts: June 16 at noon
SCA Event Ends: June 18 – event ends at 3PM, please be packed up and off site by 5PM

Location: Kitsap County Fairgrounds and Event Center
1200 Fairgrounds Rd NW Bremerton, WA 98311 (locate on Google maps)

---

What Can We Expect?

Baronial Court

Schedule for Saturday:
10:00 AM – Baronial Court and Event Welcome
1:00 PM – Brief awards court
5:30 PM – Evening Court
After court – The Laurel vigil for Archos Wu Zhi, aka Arqai Ne'urin , will be held at the Dragon’s Laire baronial pavilion, half an hour after Evening Court ends.

Schedule for Sunday:
9:45 AM – Invocation Court
After Championship tournaments – Closing Court

Combat Demos and Championship Tourneys

On Saturday, there will be all sorts of combat activities for the public demonstrations. June Faire also hosts the Barony of Dragon’s Laire’s annual Championship Tourneys for combat arts — usually on Sunday. We will add more information as it develops.

The overall Marshal in Charge is Sarpedon Dirkides Aegineta .

Armored Combat: War Field Scenarios and Tournaments

Our heavy/armored combat Marshal is Andras Truemark . For details of the Armored War and Tournament activities, please read his words and instructions (link here). The highlights are listed below:

Saturday: a combination of war scenarios and tournament fighting
9:00 AM – Armor inspection begins
10:00 AM – Fighting begins with the General Melee!
— War Scenarios —
(1) General melee as a warmup (no archers or thrown weapons)
(2) Open Field Battle (one army with missile weapons)
(2a) Open Field Battle (other army with missile weapons)
(3) River battle with Bridge and Crossings (one army with combat archers)
(3a) River battle with Bridge and Crossings (other army with combat archers)
LUNCH BREAK and War Field Court
1:30 PM – June Faire Prize Tournament / pick up fighting
THEN – Period Kit Tournament / pick up fighting

Sunday: The Dragon’s Laire Armored Combat Championship
Armor inspection begins immediately after Morning Court
10:00 AM (or shortly thereafter) – Tournament begins

Rapier / Cut & Thrust: Tournaments and Demos

Our rapier Marshal is Jacques Luis de Normandie . For details of Rapier activities, please read his excellent and detailed missive (link here). Pre-register at this link (google pre-reg form). The highlights are listed below:

VOLUNTEERS needed: Field marshals for Rapier.

Schedule for Saturday:
08:30–9:45 AM – Lists Open/close for all Tourneys/Demos that day. Even if you have pre-registered, you still need to check in at least 15 minutes before the tourney/demo.
10:00 AM – Dragon’s Claw tourney, for authorized fighters who have not yet won any sort of tournament.
11:00 AM (Or thereabouts) – Open Field Tourney
01:00 PM – MoD invitational, single elimination tourney
01:30–2:30 PM – Lunch break
02:30 PM – Scenarios – may include Tacoma Narrows Bridge Battle, Tavern Brawl, Hold the Field, etc. Cut & Thrust demos and tourney (depending on entries) — MIC will be Master of Defense Gregorio Cristovalez de la Vega. Spear demos.
Until 5:00 PM — Free pick-up time/space until court.

Schedule for Sunday:
08:30–09:30 AM – Lists open/close for Dragon’s Laire Rapier Championship
TBA – Baronial Championship Tourney

Target Archery Shoots

Our archery Marshal is Brian of Cardiff . Please read our Chief Archer’s announcement — for ALL the excellent details about Target Archery at June Faire. Combat archery is included in the War Scenarios (above).

Target archery will showcase the Arrow Slot shoot and Royal Rounds, along with the Dragon’s Laire Archery Championship.

If there is one archer you wish to support, or if you simply love to watch arrows fly to the target, we welcome you! And we encourage you to voice your support for your favorites — or for all the archers in general!

Schedule for Friday:
9:00 AM – Archery range setup.
Midday – The range will open for practice and Royal Rounds, for those who need scores.
Sunset – “Torchlight Shoot” will be held if sufficient numbers of archers are available to participate.

Schedule for Saturday:
8:00 AM – Archery Championship list signup opens on the archery range.
9:45 AM – The range will be closed for Court. Baroness Kloe asks for anyone who wishes to walk into the warfield in full pageantry to meet on the road between camp and the barns to line up.
After Court – Range will reopen, with Royal Rounds and novelty shoots for all archers.
4:45 PM – The range will close 45 minutes prior to Evening Court, so scores can be tallied to identify semi-finalists and Prize Shoot winners.

Schedule for Sunday:
After Court – Championship Rounds for the Dragon’s Laire Archery Championship
Closing Court – Archery Champion installed

Target Siege Weapons

Always a favorite — siege weapons! Watch these massive machines launch precision projectiles!

We will have fun targets to try and destroy!

There will be demonstrations throughout the day on Saturday and on Sunday morning. SCA Members are welcome to give it a try. HOWEVER, our engines were designed by tall people. We will try to accommodate anyone over the age of 14 — but if we determine we can’t do so safely, we’ll have to ask you to wait for the completion of the NEXT engine, which will be more adjustable. Also, due to time constraints, not everyone will be able to get in a full “Royal Round”.

Saturday – after court until 5:00 PM
Sunday – after court until break-down

Thrown Weapons

Our thrown weapons Marshal in Charge (MIC) is Archos Stephen the Sinister . We look forward to a fun time — with lots of camaraderie, a chance to get some scores in, and a novelty tournament on Saturday.

There will be no Thrown Weapons Championship at June Faire this year — we look forward to seeing you for our Championship at June Faire 2024!

VOLUNTEERS needed:
The range is looking for people! Are you a Junior Marshal looking for some more experience to go towards your Sr. card? Are you a Senior Marshal with some extra time on your hands and willing to do some teaching and observing? If we do not have enough Marshals, then the range will need to close for a time. Please reach out to Stephen, via email or on Facebook, and sign up for a shift or two!

Schedule for Saturday:
After court – Range opens
5:00 PM – The range will close half an hour before evening court (scheduled for 5:30 PM).

Schedule for Sunday:
After court – The range will open shortly after any morning court and close with enough time to be able to tear down.

Equestrian Demonstrations

SCA Equestrian Activities practice the games of skill that squires and other mounted warriors would have learned in the medieval period. 

• One of these is hitting the quintain, a rotating piece of training equipment that helps the equestrian practice hitting a solid target.
• Another is jousting at rings. The rings range from 6 inches to a mere 1 inch, and the equestrian must spear these with their lance, usually while the horse is running at a canter!
• Other activities include spear throwing and stabbing objects on the ground, knocking (fake) heads off posts with a sword, obstacle courses, and archery from horseback.
• Often these games are combined to form a course for the rider to perform, and sometimes teams of riders are needed to do all of the activities.

These games allow the riders to display their historic gear and horse costumes, and provide true medieval pageantry.

Schedule for Saturday:
10:00–11:30 AM – Various mounted games as above, and joust training
1:30–2:30 PM – Joust training and jousting
3:30–5:00 PM – Challenge course! This will involve games centering around the adventures of Sinbad and the Valley of Jewels. Riders will face such challenges as: Navigating a narrow pass, killing giant crickets on the ground, getting gem-studded joints of meat out of the Roc’s nest, and carrying a message to announce the voyage’s success.

Chatelaine’s Booth (Newcomers Welcome!)

This is a welcome and informational point for newcomers and members of the public who are interested in learning more about the SCA. Our Chatelaine, Halldora Bjorn is looking for people who will spend time at this welcome booth.

This is just the first part of our summer of Dragon’s Laire Newcomers’ welcome activities! After June Faire, join us the evening of June 20th for our Annual Newcomers’ Night. Then we’ll have a series of newcomer-friendly classes at our Tuesday night socials in July–August. And on Saturday, July 15th, look forward to a medieval swap meet (details pending)!

SCA members are invited to give a demo at Newcomer’s Night, teach a class at Social, and bring your SCA-related items to sell (or give away) at the swap meet.

Arts & Sciences Demos

Our A&S coordinators are our A&S Minister, Arontius of Bygelswade and deputy, Arontius of Bygelswade

Come Meet the Artisans and Craftspeople of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Click here for a list of all the craftspeople who will be at June Faire 2023!

The Artisans will be be located in two general areas this year. One group will be located inside the VanZee Building. The other group will be on the north side of the Marketplace, near the Minstrels’ stage.

These good people will be demonstrating the arts and sciences of the Middle Ages. They are passionate in their chosen fields and have done incredible amounts of research, study, and practice to be able to create the works of art they do.

Walk through the Artisans’ Village and watch them in action. Ask questions!

You might discover the love of the arts and sciences yourself and want to join in the fun. And you would be most welcome to come join us!

Bardic Stage Performances

The Minstrels’ Stage, where the Bards of the Middle Ages and Renaissance will perform with sweet (or strong) voice, and wondrous instrumentation, is located just on the north side of the Medieval Marketplace. Our organizers are the highly talented duo: Elisabeth Piper and Elanor of Eccleshall .

Schedule for Saturday:
11:00 AM – Elizabethan Rounds Sing-a-long
11:30 AM – Rowena Jade of the Lion Isles – Norse Stories
12:00 AM – Elisabeth Piper – Harpist
12:30 PM – Elanor of Eccleshall – Renaissance Guitar Music
1:00 PM – Rowena Jade of the Lion Isles – Norse Stories
1:30 PM – Open
2:00 PM – Elisabeth Piper and Elanor of Eccleshall – Medieval Instrumental Music
2:30 PM – Elizabethan Rounds Sing-a-long
3:00 PM – Brand deus-Leons – May Pole Dance
3:30 PM – Brand deus-Leons – Shakespearean Scenes & Stories
4:00 PM – Gareth Hyre – Lutenist

Youth & Family Activities

Calling all kids and families! We have activities to try, and a children’s parade! Join us between 10 AM — 4 PM on Saturday!

Note: children must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

• Paper dyeing for Father’s Day cards
• Painting heraldic devices
• Painting shields
• Story time
• Children’s parade at 12:45 PM and 3:45 PM
• Pennant stamping

Food Trucks & Merchants

Merchant list is booming with the finest, funnest, and fanciest! Bring your coin purses to Merchants’ Row and take home a treasure!

See the full list of merchants and food trucks here (link).

Come and shop medieval wares or enjoy food and drinks. There will be jewelry, hand-forged knives, leatherwork, woodwork, pottery, fibers and fabrics, food and desserts, and so much more.

Open hours:
Friday – after set-up, until dusk
Saturday – 9:00 AM — 5:00 PM
Sunday – before noon (then break-down begins!)

---

Accessibility Information

Dragon’s Laire is happy to announce that the June Faire site is accessible! The main event site is mostly level, with a few gentle slopes, and paved pathways. Paved parking is plentiful and near the event.

You can choose to camp in the main camping area, which is flat but located in a “bowl” — or in the designated accessible area, which is accessed by a short, gentle slope. Worried that neither will work for your needs? We will be using golf carts to provide assistance for people moving between the main event site and camping area.

There will be plenty of accessible port-a-potties and hand-washing stations throughout the site. There is also an accessible restroom that has toilets and showers.

Need a break from the hustle and bustle? Need a place to re-center yourself? Is your blood sugar low and you’re not sure you can make it back to camp? We’ve got that covered! Take a break in our Calm Space, aka the “Chillvilion”, located near Volunteer Point.

Have specific accessibility needs that are not covered here? Please feel free to reach out to HL Jessy Gateman, June Faire Accessibility Officer and DL EDI Officer, via email (jessy.gateman@gmail.com), Facebook, or on-site via radio. Just find any team member or golf cart driver with a radio and ask them to page Jessy.

---

COVID-19 Policy

“No matter what safety precautions we put in place, there is no substitute for each individual being educated about the risk to themselves and their loved ones and making responsible choices to protect themselves and others from this virus.” – from the SCA

For clarification regarding the COVID policies, please our COVIDSafe Policy.