A Warm Welcome, Gracious Lords and Ladies, and Greetings.

Welcome to the website for Northern Lights XVIII, held on Saturday, March 21st, 2009 in a small mountain town between the Shire of Mountain Freehold and the Shire of Panthervale. (North-Central Vermont, USA)

The Northern Lights Competition is a chance for gentles to display their wonderful talents in the fields of the Arts and Sciences. Come and share those projects you have been working on during the cold winter months. Gentles can enter into the competition or simply attend to peruse the variety of exhibits, competition entries, talk to old friends, and make a few new ones.

Celebrate the coming of Spring with us as we welcome the artisans and scientists of the East as they compete in Northern Lights! In addition to the Pentathlon, we will be holding a non-competitive exhibition (open to all ages and levels), hosting an all-ages crafts and demo space, and our fighters and fencers may test each other outside weather permitting; Spring in Vermont can mean either snow or mud!

It's all over but the picture put-upping and awards announcement-heralding! The latter this webminister knows nothing about yet, but the former is here ...
You must see Photos. (New scrolls are here! )
Results are here.
Past Results

Thanks for Being a Part.

We'll leave up this past year's announcements and schedules. Next year will be roughly similar. We'll post updates next fall and winter.

Northern Lights XVIII

A Message from The Competition Coordinator
Lady Rowan de Beauchamp

reetings unto the good gentles of the East Kingdom from the Northern Lights XVIII competition coordinator Lady Rowan de Beauchamp.

We are pleased to announce that the Northern Lights XVII competition will be held on Saturday, March 21, hosted by the shire of Mountain Freehold. Directions. This year's prizes include medallions by Lord Tristan de Warrell and Lady Renye Wurm.

Please collect the registration form and specific category criteria from the forms page. No changes have been made to categories or rules for this year, however the rules for Teaching Demonstration have been clarified.

As this site is dry, all alcoholic entries should remain in entrants' vehicles as instructions to an off-site judging area will be provided.

Gentles wishing to judge or volunteer for this event should contact Lady Rowan at pentathlon@scanorthernlights.org. This event would not continue to be such a great success without the dedicated support of so many gracious volunteers. Volunteers are greatly needed the day of the event for the following areas: Judging, Pages and Runners, Registration Table, Set-Up & Breakdown and Calligraphers for Prize Scrolls.

This year marks the last year that Lord Anders and I will be coordinating Northern Lights. As much as we have both enjoyed the competition and meeting so many wonderful artisans, it is time for us to pass along the responsibility. If you are interested in having a role in future Northern Lights events, I highly encourage you to volunteer to help at this year's event. Please drop me an email at pentathlon@scanorthernlights.org with any questions.

Master Henry's Challenge

It has become customary for some of our competitors to be participating in Master Henry McQueen's Challenge. This year, however, Master Henry won't be Challenging at Northern Lights.

As was the case last year, pre-registration will be required for all performance arts categories (music, storytelling, teaching demonstration, etc.) to allow for ease of scheduling. Written works will be due ahead of time, by March 1st.

It is also our goal to provide handouts, research tools, and links to helpful websites on this page. If you'd like to have a handout or link posted, please feel free to e-mail them to pentathlon@scanorthernlights.org.

We would also like to encourage local MOAS officers, groups, and teachers to host classes or tracks of classes on entering competitions. Some suggestions for class topics might include: Researching for the SCA 101, Writing Documentation for Competitions, Judging Competitions, Entering Competitions, Performance Arts for Competition, Writing Research Papers, How to Cite Sources Properly, Creating Effective Table Displays

We hope to see you at Northern Lights XVIII!

Yours in Service,

Lady Rowan de Beauchamp (pentathlon@scanorthernlights.org)

Many Fine Artisans show their work at Northern Lights, but a few special artists also donate some of their work. Please view some of the illuminated awards that we will be using this year, drawn by Lady Raistlin the Quiet, Mistress Allistrina de Mann and Lord Ouzel Von Schwartz Wolfe.

Competition Details

The Categories for 2009.

Deadlines:
Written Works and Papers: 1st March 2009
Performing Arts Registration (Required): March 15
Pre-Registration (not required, highly recommended): March 19

Send written works to: Lady Rowan pentathlon@scanorthernlights.org (mailing address below). Registration forms are online at www.scanorthernlights.org.

Schedule for the Day.

• 9 am - Site Opens and Competition Registration & Performance time sign-up and Exhibition Set-up begin
• 11 am - Competition Registration (& performance sign-up) closes
• 11:15 am - Judges gather on the stage for instructions and Exhibition opens.
• 11:30 am - Judging begins and Day Board opens
• 12:00-2:00 PM - Alcoholic Beverage judging at the Golden Lion Inn
• 2:00-3:00 pm - Face-to-Face Judging begins, Entrants required to be with their items
• 4:00 pm - Judging closes and Exhibition ends
• 6:00 pm - Awards court
• 7:00 pm - SIte closes

Note for potables category:
The site is dry, and no open flames are allowed, so the brewing competition will be held off-site at the Golden Lion Inn.

To Receive Scores and Comments: Bring a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the registration table with at least $2 of postage if you enter five or more items to accommodate the cost of mailing all of the score sheets.

Follow this link to the page of forms for your Competitors' Entry Form.

Event Fee:
Pre-Registered (checks must be received by March 7th - the only reservation is a paid reservation, our Canadian neighbors excepted): Adults $9, Youth (12-17) $4, Children under 12 Free.
At-the-door: Adults $10, Youth (12-17) $5, Children under 12 Free.
A $3 surcharge will be added for non-members. Make checks payable to: SCA Inc, Shire of Mountain Freehold. Online pre-registration at http://fishslayer.net/northernlights.html You may receive a discount for registering before March 7th (as long as a check is also received by that time), but the pre-registration site will remain open past that date so that those who take advantage of it may hop into the Express Check-In line at Gate, and avoid what could otherwise be a very long line.

Contact Information
Reservations: Don Santiago Pescador mka Andrew Corvin, 32 Chase Street, Burlington, VT 05401 northernlights@fishslayer.net (802) 735-0545
Event Steward: Lady Albreda Aylese (Susan Bingham at AlbredaA@aol.com) (802) 864 3972 (before 9 PM)
Pentathlon Coordinator: Lady Rowan de Beauchamp ( Jessica Litwin at registration@scanorthernlights.org ) 111 Country Garden Apartments #9 Troy, NY 12180 ( 518 ) 273 - 6856 (before 10 PM)

Amenities: We have room available should your Guild or group wish to hold a meeting, or should anyone wish to offer a class; teachers, demonstrators and organizers should contact Lady Albreda (AlbredaA@aol.com) by March 1st.

Pentathlon Entrants:
Please see the Entrant Registration form available at the page of forms, but note that this is NOT the same thing as the registration for the event itself! It would also be a wise idea to bring your own card table to display your entry upon, as tables available on site are limited, and many are oddly shaped.

Parents:
Nap/nursing and play-space will be set aside for our youngest guests, and all-ages arts and crafts projects will be set-up in a common area as well. Parents must provide supervision for their own children at all times; wandering small ones can wreak havoc on hundreds of hours of work entered into the competition in the blink of an eye!

Food: There is no feast, but a delicious and hearty day board.
The site is dry (it's an elementary school), and no open flames are allowed. Lady Katharine Whytton and her accomplished staff will be providing an excellent dayboard for all attendants, sure to keep everyones' energy up throughout the day, but please note that food and drink (other than those items entered in the Pentathlon itself) are not permitted outside of the cafeteria.
Did we mention the site is dry?
Dry as a bone.

Northern Lights Dayboard 2009
Folks can contact Lady Katherine Whytton for dietary information at feastocrat(at)yahoo.com.
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PEASANT BREAD, BUTTERS (whipped sweet butter and honey butter)
CHEDDAR, SOFT CHEESE (MUENSTER OR BRIE)
GRAPES
CARROTS
DILL PICKLES, SWEET GHERKINS, OLIVES
PUMPES (MEATBALLS IN SAUCE)
SPANIKOPITA (SPINACH AND FETA IN PHYLLO DOUGH)
POLISH SAUSAGE (KIELBASA)
CHYKONYS IN BRUETTE (CHICKEN STEWED IN AN ALE SAUCE)
HEARTY LEEK-BARLEY-LENTIL POTAGE
SHORTBREAD
STRAWBERRY TARTLETS
SMALL ANISE CAKES
SWEET LEMON WATER
POMEGRANATE WATER
DRIED APPLES
Laving bowls with rosewater, lavender, sage and rosemary...
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Venue / Directions to Northern Lights:
Directions

BED and BREAKFASTS

• A lovely place nearby is the Golden Lion Riverside Inn. http://www.goldenlionriversideinn.com/ a lovely B&B where our Brewing competition will be held from Noon - 2 PM. Visit their website for more information, and when you call them at (802) 496 3084, be sure to mention that you are with the SCA to get $10 off your room rate per night.