From Lady Zianna:
I will try my best to express my deepest thank yous to EVERYONE that made last night’s demo at the Carnegie Science Center an amazing event. There was such an overwhelming feeling of interest in what we do on a daily basis that so many people – “Had no idea that other people wanted to do this too.” That was a quote from a guest standing in front of our pewter pouring display. To give you an idea of the impact we had, let me describe the locations we had manned by over 100 people from our Kingdom.
On the Entrance/Main Floor we had our Royal Area. Their Highnesses sat for pictures – processed down three floors being led by Heralds followed by an army of fencers! Their Excellencies took hundreds and I mean HUNDREDS of photos with guests sitting on the thrones! It was a glorious site to see when guests entered. “This was more fun than I thought it would be.” Probably one of the best things I heard all night. Thank you!
Guests walked past our siege weapons to make it upstairs. I was walking down the ramp and heard – “That’s the largest ballistics I have ever seen in person!” Thank you!
We took over the space lab with Archery – Combat Archery – Thrown Weapons – and Swords. So much that we used the last table that the CSC had! And we could have used more! The displays were stunning and could be seen from four floors as people walked from floor to floor. I was two floors up and a guest said – “Who cares about the rocket thing – I want to play with the axes!” Thank you!
We had music on the mezzanine as people started their journey back in time. Thank you!
In the Science Stage – members of DragonSong played and we had our fire dancer – which we will have an even better space to allow for the fire next year. Thank you!
On the ground floor we had Barony and Kingdom Equestrian members letting guests slay dragons! The CSC event coordinator said to me: I had a blast in the saddle! He took his walkie off and put his phone down to be in our world! Thank you!
We had our bar up and running! Meads and cider – and the wrong chocolate (my fault completely) – lol… As I was passing by the bar I heard a guest ask – “Can I buy a bottle of that?” Guests were taking pictures of our notes and saying they wanted to try this at home. Thank you!
We had heavy fighting! Our new list ropes and corners worked well. We had all levels of fighters including Knights and Tuchux landing awesome shots! We had a rogue battle on the first floor and battles in front of Their Highnesses. Again in passing – while we had guests holding a weapon – Knight ready with his shield – I hear – “Can I really swing at him?” “Hit him!” Whack! “Oh that is so bad ass!” Thank you!
Arts and Sciences took over the second floor! There is no other way to describe it! We had music – pewter casting – illumination – calligraphy – embroidery – cording -armor display –weaving and looms – cooking – spinning – printing – OH MY!!!! People were so interested in what we were doing that I could not break in to hand out parking vouchers! Thank you!
The Third Floor had fencing duels continuously! Silva Vulcani and Ballachlagan spread knowledge and fun over the lands. As well as made sure the banners were put up and taken down. Please note that there were over 150 banners displayed. Thank You!
We took over the stairwell to sing Banners of Scarlet on four floors. That was amazing! People stopped, listened, and watched. And we all felt the unity as the drum rang out and we looked up and down seeing people singing on all floors. Thank you!
We had two merchants who added opportunities for the guests to take a piece of the evening home with them. Knights of the Classroom (who also provided the banners for the evening) and A Case of Random. Thank you!
The other organizations that made it possible – Broken Plow – Pgh Armored Combat – Pgh Role Play – who were amazing to work with on the logistical side of things.
There are a few people that I need to personally thank for their time and assistance. I would not have been able to make this happen as easily as it was without them.
Their Highnesses and Their Excellencies
The door opener for this entire evening – Clewin
My floor contacts – Anlaith – Tor – Ells – Robert
My boots on the ground – Magni
My friends who aren’t even SCA members – Shag – Heather – Mike – Lyric
My most understanding roommate – Nick
What a wonderful evening and I look forward to the next demo at the Science Center. Thank you everyone. I do want to ask for any and all feedback. I want to know the good things and the bad things. There are for sure things that need to be improved on and/or can be done differently. Please email me at ziannaevents at gmail dot com with all of your input no matter how small you may think it is.
Lady Zianna Beguy Urdina de Zabaleta
