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Highlights
of the Festival
Greebo's
Travelogue - Photos and Ramblings from Greebo's Trip to
the Festival
Friday
Night Dinner
The EQ
Festival Costume Contest
Review
of the Festival - Commentary by Greebo
It is Monday Morning, November 6th,
and I've just finished downloading all of the pictures
from the first ever EQ Festival 2000 to my pc. The Festival
was a tremendous success and a lot of fun. I truly
am sorry for everyone who couldn't be there, because everyone
from EQSS had a fantastic time! The only somewhat
negative thing about the weekend was the rain - but one
must accept the gifts of Karana with grace, and she graced
us with an abundance this weeknd! Over 200 people were
in attendance
My digital camera did better than
I ever hoped. I took over a hundred photos before the
batteries gave out and I still had room for as many three
times again. Note to self - buy lots of batteries for
next year! (Yes, there WILL be a next year! Ron already
is working on the plans.)
We (the EQSS Staff) were also very
honored that the Archmage Himself, Geoffrey Zatkin, spent
several hours talking with members of our staff both before
and after the Q&A session at the festival. GZ is (He
even promised all of us Scars of Vellious T-Shirts - WOW!)
Let me say now that these few pages
about the EQ Fest will be a work in progress for the next
week as the rest of the EQSS Staff send in their own remarks
and reports, so keep checking back. I also invite everyone
who was at the festival to send me your feedback
to be added to these pages!
Commentary
by Moonshadow
Ever since I managed to get to EQ
G2, it's been my goal to make it to every EQ event I could
manage. I had a slight predicament this weekend as EQ
Fest 2000, and EQ SoV launch were scheduled for the same
weekend. As I had booked EQ Fest already I decided to
go there. Now, as I'm writing this I have no information
on how the SoV launch party went, but I am SO glad I made
the choice I did.
This is the third EQ event I've
traveled to, and it was hands down the best. It's major
advantage was the location. EQ Fest 2000 was located in
the heart of the Houston RenFest. The addition of hundreds
of other costumed people was a GREAT addition to the crowds
of EQ fans.
Ron did a tremendous job of organizing
the events, and although I was unable to stay long enough
for the Live Action Quest, I was around the festival in
the morning and saw several teams working on completing
it.
I was astonished and impressed at
the costumes that were worn there. Many people put much
thought and more effort into putting them together. Working
at the Stratics table allowed me the time to meet everyone
as they arrived, and encourage them to sign up for the
costume contest, and the live action quest Sunday. As
I've come to expect from EQ Gatherings... everyone was
friendly and in a GREAT mood!
The food.. Mmm, the food. I tried
to take a picture of the food that was served, but the
hordes descended as soon as it arrived, and by the time
I fought my way through to focus there was only one lonely
cob of corn on the platter. By the time I snapped the
picture, that was gone too, so you'll have to trust me
when I say we had roasted turkey legs, sausage, spiced
roasted beef, spiced roasted pork, fruits trays, veggies,
cheese, rolls, and of course the bar!
While it was great seeing and chatting
with all the attendee's, the RenFest was also amazing.
We spent hours (and dollars) wandering the festival, and
we're pretty sure that we STILL didn't see it all in two
days.
Commentary by
Onnie
I have never been to the Renaissance
Festival in Texas and one could say that I would have
enjoyed it as much for the first time without EQ Fest
2000. However, I would disagree with them. Out of all
the conventions I have ever attended or worked at (and
there have been quite a few), this one knocked them out
of the ballpark.
The setting was perfect despite
the rain. In fact one could say the mud and rain lent
the festival a true medieval feel with its gutted roads
and muck. Large pine trees are dispersed around and on
the festival grounds creating a forest touch in some areas
and rolling plane in others. Within the park itself are
permanent castle era shops with small cobble stone streets.
The attendee's were true troopers marching proudly around
in their medieval or EQ gear through wagon ruts or quickly
dancing across mud puddles.
In fact I was completely jealous
of everyone who came dressed up in costume, since I was
not. Being the type of person who is suddenly going, "But
but... I didn't have a thing to WEAR!" I made sure
I was checking in all the Contest contestants while drooling
over the particulars of their costumes. From a lady who
had personally made etched ivy out in leather bracers,
crushed velvet robes with embroidered silver stitching,
a real Scottish tribe's tartan thread weave, to my dang
costume-signer-in-partner Moonshadow having a pet draggie
on her shoulder (and loved flashing it at me), I was floored
almost into the mud.
Fortunately I didn't have to feign
death in the mud since a Costume Contest participant did,
sending the audience and judges rolling. In fact the sprit
of the participants was one of the largest highlights,
which I would have missed had I just attended the festival
itself. It was the combination of EQ's players, humor
from the Verant Staff judging the contest, and Ron and
his guild who organized the event that I feel contributed
to the flair of the Costume Contest. Participants curtsied,
bowed, scraped, flourished a hat or sword, and performed
30-second skits on occasion in front of the judges.
Being unable to attend the following
day I took an opportunity to speak with one of Ron's team,
a gentleman named Tom, regarding the Quest event. Tom
was kind of hard to miss and singling him out was certainly
not a problem. He was dressed in *real* platmail. In fact
he wore 110 pounds of steel that gleamed despite the lack
of sun.
Tom told me how the quest was designed
around a single starting point. Each member attending
from the guild would be spread out over the park. From
the starting point a skit would be performed, in-character,
to give quest hunters clues. Following this performance
quest hunters had to disperse throughout the park, find
the next person and speak to them in-character for their
next quest hint. Considering the size of the park, which
I barely saw even half of in one day, I am not surprised
they stated to participants the whole hunt might take
4 or 5 hours.
Needless to say, I have not come
down off the excitement of the festival nor how much fun
the Stratics people are. (Group huggles guys!) The only
downer of the entire weekend was missing the following
day, since the Real World demanded I start driving home
at 4:00 am, and not finding the boot shop for black thigh
highs to start a costume of my own for next year. To anyone
at the festival whom I failed to have the opportunity
to say goodbye to, I truly enjoyed meeting you in person
and I apologize if I did not say so at the time. I was
so caught up in the atmosphere it caused me to forget
I was leaving anytime soon.
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