Everything seemed to bode well for this year’s Rowlesburg event. Reenactor registrations were at an all-time high with some new groups added ( including a special Spanish Civil War display), the dance was sold out, a presentation on the Wereth 11Â was scheduled for the WWII museum. In short, probably the best event we had ever had. Then Mother Nature decided to be naughty. A Derecho storm front roared through the area (and indeed, most of the East) and flattened our camp, felling large trees and knocking out electric power over a wide area. Falling trees nearly missed some of tents and vehicles and made it impossible for many of the reenactors to come out. The governor called a state of emergency. The Bobby Menear Big Band was stranded in Baltimore, so the dance was a no-go, even if we had power.
A natural disaster is pretty much a deal breaker for any living history event. And in this case, things looked mighty grim. However, despite this huge setback, the reenactors in attendence put their tents back up, set up their displays and, on Saturday, more spectators than we had any right to expect came out to see the camp. I have to thank the reenactors, all of whom decided to hang in there and set up despite the situation.
For their part, the organizers made sure we had water and ice. Instead of the spagetti dinner that we usually get, they fed us the shrimp cocktail and other goodies prepared for the paying guests at the now-cancelled dance. They also brought the beer keg into camp, so we would have something to do in the evening. Sunday morning, despite still not having power, they fired up a generator at the VFW and still fed us an all-you-can-eat breakfast. One of the other reenactors said that he himself wouldn’t have gone to that much trouble. Well, I guess that is what makes this event special.
So, I guess we will get on with planning next year’s event. I think we will do our best to leave out the cataclysm.
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