Pennsic War is the name of a 2 weeklong, fully immersive medieval camping event that occurs each August in Slippery Rock PA. My family and I attend this event regularly, but many people have never heard of it. It is primarily attended by medieval re-enactors, largely from the Society of Creative Anachronism (SCA) and is an international event with over 10,000 people attending annually. I’m going to be giving a brief overview, and a sneak peek into what it is like at Pennsic War.
Lodging
For me one of the first questions I would have, is where does everyone stay?
For the most part, everyone camps, though there are a good amount who get a local hotel, and drive in each day. Camping can be as basic or as extravagant as your imagination will allow. People come from all over the world in anything from a basic, dome tent – to highly detailed and decorated villas that take days to assemble. Dome tents are easy to transport, light weight, and inexpensive.
While a prefabricated building is glamorous, and impressive, you need a crew to help you assemble it, and transportation to get it from storage to the site.
Some people have Vardos, which are like Romani wagons, and are amazing if you are only 1-2 people.
One of the more popular tents, and medieval looking Canvas tents. These are more expensive than the dome tents and take longer to assemble (though not as long as a prefab building), but you can stand up in them, which when you camp for more than a week, starts to feel pretty important.
Ok – but what about food?
Many of the camps have kitchens set up, with fire pits, grills, stoves, and some even with ovens. Some people run generators and have refrigerators, while others make do with coolers and ice. Kitchen sinks are brought in and attached to garden hoses.
Although, its vacation, who does the cooking? Not to worry, if you, like me, are not a fan of cooking, there is a food court with all kinds of different cuisines. If you want to mix it up, and maybe cook for breakfast, but eat out for dinner, you can pick up fresh groceries at the Cooper store on site.
The dreaded Question – Bathrooms...
This is always the question that comes up whenever I talk to anyone about Pennsic. There are 10,000 people, in order to accommodate so many, yes there are porter Johns. BUT they are everywhere and cleaned twice daily. It has honestly changed how I look at porter johns and raised my standards and expectations. They are always clean, and often camps that are near the porter john add lights or glow sticks in them to help you see at night.
If you absolutely require flushing toilets, there are 2 bath houses on site with showers, and flushing toilets. They may just not be convenient to get to when you have to go. This also brings me to showers. There are showers in the bath houses, but often with lines, and limited hot water.
Many larger camps, or camps far away from the bath houses, make their own showers in camp. Some work with solar showers, and a shower tent. Others use shower tents and propane water heaters. More and more I am seeing hot water heaters attached to shower structures.
What is there to do once I’m there?
Now that logistics are taken care of – What do we do once we get there? So much!
Pennsic has everything you can think of for a medieval enthusiast. There are huge battles each day, archery contests, concerts, dancing, blocks and blocks of shopping, classes on everything you can imagine (building, sewing, calligraphy, music, history, medicinal use of plants, cooking, hair styles – literally everything), and crafts and games for kids. That is what there is to do during the daytime.
Nighttime is a different animal altogether. Right around the time the sun starts to set, most everyone comes home (to camp), gets dinner, washes up, changes clothes, and gets ready for the nighttime parties. Parties range from masqued balls, and dances, to bardic circles, to more active parties, as you stroll down into the bog with brewers eager to share their experimental batches as well as their pride and joy, and drummers who need to drop a beat whenever they sit, the belly dancers that follow the beats, and the enormous bon fires they gather around. You can also find fire dancers, and fire eaters in this area as well, along with roadside games, the occasional roaming bar, and other groups traveling about seeking nightly adventure. There are different party themes every night. Pennsic can really be as relaxing and tame, or adventurous and wild as you want.
How much does it cost to do this?
That’s a tricky question. To show up at Pennsic for the full 2 weeks, it is $240 per person. If you are just coming for war week (the 2nd and more active week), it is $200 at the gate. The longer you do this though, the more expensive it seems to get. At first, its entrance fee, a dome tent, some cup a noodle, and some very basic medieval garb. Before you know it, you’ve got a pavilion, furniture, a storage unit, a kitchen area, a shower pavilion with hot water heaters, fancy daytime garb, evening wear appropriate for the bog, different shoes, and accessories. Consider yourself warned, it does suck you in, but it is a fantastic journey.
Where do I sign up?
You can sign up for Pennsic, at https://www.Pennsicwar.org
You may want to start out a little smaller though, attend an event or two, and see how you like it. Check out local events at https://www.sca.org/news-events/ and https://www.kingdomofacre.org/events