North Carolina Primative Skills Rendeszous.

[DBernier]

I have started a new thread on this idea that keeps comming up every so often. Well be careful what you ask for. We got it. I have gained permission from a close friend of mine who's family owns property about 6 miles north of Burlington NC off of rt 49. see photos. There are 3 or 4 ponds which we have been given tentative use of to demo the use of old fishing gear. Events such as spear throwing, Atlatl, Hawk, Primitive bow, sling and rabbet stick are some of the things we can do. Demonstrations of Making fire, Cortage making, primitive cooking, Flint knapping, hide tanning, arrow making, processing sinew, Bead I.D., shelters, a plant walk, basketry, Gourds,how to make/use them, Blacksmithing, quiver making, Bow making, bow strings, Primitive fishing. These are but a sample of what we can offer the public and our own attendees. What will it take?? You got it. VOLUNTEERS!!!!!!!! I have just finished talking with PatB on this and it is not as bad as it seems. For instance, I volunteer to be the event coordinator because the site is only 11 miles from my house, and I am retired. This means I will be responsable for the site map, fire wood, water, Portajohns, EMT, Parking,  Hay, Food vendors(for the public) and "X"ing out the runway and any other BS that slips thru the cracks. I need a site location coordinator to help locate the vendors and people who demonstrate, and set up the area for modern camping etc. What it means is "ANYTHING" that has to do with parking someones butt on a spot, its your job to help them in the friendliest manner possable. I will need a non competition organizer for the special demo/competitions and I have Don Ward from Eagles Flight Archery in Mebane who has agreed to help with this. We may even have time for a 3D course. Who knows? PatB has agreed to contact PA Magazine for some spare copies and some decals etc. I am hoping to get Hillbilly, Barry McCall, Vinson Minor, Nugget and others to be lead men and back-up's. This will be open to anyone, yea you too Jamie, who has an interest in showing our best foot forward. Now for the sticky part. Money!!!!!! I only see an outlay for the portajohns and a rider to Dennis's insurance for coverage. We hope we can cover it with the public parking at $1 per car. There would be no fee to anyone who is a demonstrator. WE would like a $5 fee from vendors who are selling. This is a "NOT TO MAKE MONEY" deal. Any excess if any, we can give to Dennis or me to pay for the gas to mow that place, about 250+ acers.  I welcome all your advice and suggestions. As soon as I get the needed volunteers I will post the site events committee. The time frame is one year from now. It is apparent that there is a time gap after friendship,middle of June, to the end of July. This is tentative. I see a three day event, but it is so beautiful there you can come a week early and stay a week later. There is a lot more to talk about so lets have at it. Here are some photos and I have a lot more.

Dick Bernier
Mebane NC
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[Justin Snyder]

I nominate Pat for a string building demonstration.    That would be worth the trip alone. Justin

[jamie]

all the leaves are brown, the leaves are brown, and the sky is gray, and the sky is gray. i went for a walk on a winters day, on a winters day.................... north carolina dreamin. this could be a real hug fest if we have mudpits and tie dyes. yeah baby.  peace baby

maybe i should of sung carolina on my mind instead. i will do my best to be there . i'll break out the dress loin clothe for this one

[Hillbilly]

Dick, I'm in for whatever you need me to do that I'm capable of. I usually talk to Barry couple times a week, I'll run the idea past him.

[DBernier]

Jezzzzzzzz Justin, Pat can barely tie his shoe laces never mind a bow string.  . Hey on a serious note I would need some people to help the "kids", on a one on one bases to build their bows, tiller them and shoot them. I need someone to head this phase up. You would need Hickory blanks, strings etc and some tools. Pappy's shoot was an eye opener.
    Jamie, its not really that hot down here at this time and the time frame is not firm. It would be great if the wife and the kids were here. So going into September and October is into the school year, not to mention Hurricane season.
   I am going to visit every site I can and I would ask "anyone" who sees a get together with a date to contact me so I can input the data on a callender to find a good "gap". I "think" a 3 to 5 hr drive from Mebane NC for a three day event looks good and that makes it a 300 mile radius.
  Steve (Hillbilly), would you take the lead with Barry as your back-up or vice/versa and try and contact as many nappers as you can to see if they are up for this. We could ask Eric Morris from Erick's rocks if he would like to come as a rock vendor. Just a thought. Remember each one who volunteers, write this all down in a folder so we can review it later when we have our minimum one on site meeting.

Dick Bernier

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[mullet]

  Dick I know some rock vendors  down here that would probally be up for it.But then it would ruin all those N.C. boys handling some good rock.
   
jamie,Nothing better than driving to The Carolina's with Allman Brother's "Eat a Peach" blaring.

[Justin Snyder]

Dang, you guys should have loaded half the rock I hauled to Pappy's and left.  I don't know what you were thinking.  Justin

[nugget]

WOW I did not dream of something this big.. But I will help however i can.. I will talk to Boo about setting up his forge and doing some knife demos. How far is it from Wilkesboro? I think it might be about 2 to 3 hrs, not sure.Financially I can't contribute right now , I am currently layed off. I hope that will change. I will try to help out however I can with sweat and muscle. I do have plenty of that to give. Tears and blood are optional. Sounds like one heck of a time.

[DBernier]

Eddie, know what you mean about the rock. Justin brought a boat load to Pappy's. I did not want to hog it all but there was a few hundred pounds left over. I have about three five gallon buckets of my own I will bring for demo purposes for the nappers.
   Justin, I don't know what I was thinking  .
   Nugget, I think you misunderstood. We are not looking for money from the future committee members or any one of us. We probably will do it with the parking fees. Who knows we may get enough $ we would be able to refund the $5 Vendor fee. As for how far from you it is to here, do a map quest from Wilkesboro to Mebane. Its about 3 to 3 1/2 hours. It took me 2hrs 45min to get to Ashboro, night driving from here. 
   Listen, we need you "people", men and women, thinking of how we can best supervise the event and the multitude of demo's we put on. Don't be skeptical of volunteering for a lead in supervising or demoinstrating say hide tanning or maybe arrowmaking. Look at the list and try and fit your skills into a slot. Maybe there is a skill I missed. Who me  miss something?  Let me interject how easy this can be. Lets take arrow making. Say a month before you line up your raw materials. Lets say its bamboo. You would have say per demo, two raw shafts, one to show how we straighten them out one finished shaft, then two more. One with feathers complete and one started and then how to nock it and then how to use pitch and sinew to finish. Maybe you would be spending 1 or 2 hours in the morning and the same in the afternoon. Some of you may want to spend all day doing your thing. Great!!!!!!! It is going to take a year to do this because of the logistics. We need people from all over the state. Hey Bernie, you listening? Ask questions. You can email me privately or call me. You have my phone #s. Lets talk about this. The sooner we nail it down the sooner we can iron out whatever detail pop up. This is going to be "fun"     and lets keep it that way.  Listen, this is going to be "YOUR" event, not mine, not Pats or Steve's, or anyone else on the committee, yours. Make it a good one. I will be taking more photos today and will post them later.

Dick Bernier
Mebane NC

[Tom B]

Dick, I am willing to help in any way I can,and will bring any skills (primitive) I might have.I know a young knapper who will also be willing to help, though I haven't told him yet. Tom Brennan

[DBernier]

Thanks Tom. You help is greatly appreciated. Get hold of Hillbilly and Barry and see how you guys can interact and bring some nappers together. As soon as I have a volunteer    to lead the flint guys, we will coordinate a strategy and go from there. See this is why it is a good idea     to have several people, a lead and a couple of back-ups, to help each other organize their area of expertise and then one person reports back to the committee on any problems or issues and what they would need or like to have. That way it does not all fall back on one guy to do everything. See we are on our way. Having fun yet?

Dick Bernier
Mebane NC

[nugget]

Like i said Dick , I will help however I can. I am a new bow maker , I make most all of my equipment, but my skills are in the early stages of development. I am not as experienced as all the other guys. I am willing to help out. I talked to Boo and he is liking the idea of it. I will let him obligate himself to forge or help out. I do not want to put words in his mouth. But dick let me know how I can help...

[DBernier]

Nugget, you already did, Thanks.

Dick

[nugget]

Well I still would like to stay involved and help out . I am excited . It's gonna be hard to wait a whole year..

[GregB]

From a bow making viewpoint, if you want to have folks/kids make bows during the event and get them to the shooting stage...I have a few suggestions.

Some of the early stuff like splitting logs, chasing growth rings, straightening staves...I would suggest doing as demonstrations.

If you want to have folks new to bow making not get overwhelmed (and worn out), I would have the bows roughed in and maybe even floor tillered. If you have very many participants, they'll need a way to secure their bow while rasping/scrapping. I'm sure you saw how crowded it got at the Classic at times...we ran out of vises. Also I feel that folks attempting to get a bow shooting in a few days need a lot of support, can quickly get a bow to thin and cause a hinge. Multiple bowyers helping out if very many new folks making bows.

If you decide not to go that route of new folks making their own bows, the entire process can easily be demonstrated by have various stages of the process on hand. We did this Saturday at an event, and it went well.

Still very early in the process of organizing this, plenty of time for you guys to set direction.