Greetings Calafia!

I hope everyone who went had a blast at Comic-Con. As always, we would like to give a huge thank you to Duchess Kara and Duke Patrick for organizing, running, and helping to staff our annual demo, and to all the wonderful volunteers who took time out of their weekend to showcase the SCA. The recruitment potential of this demo cannot be understated. While we in Calafia may not always feel a huge impact, the exposure of the SCA to so many people from across the world is so important. July also saw our new King and Queen crowned in Angels. This reign promises to be fun-filled, with a particular emphasis on youth. We look forward to supporting Their Majesties in their goals of making youth activities a more central part of our day to day SCA experience.

And as we move into the month of August, Arts in the Park is upon us! This is another very important demo, not only for potential recruits identified during Comic-Con, but for our newcomers as well. This demo is where we display the vast array of what we do in the SCA. I have always felt that one of the great strengths of the SCA is its inclusiveness of ALL things medieval. Please come and help us make Calafia and the Society look great. So bring out your best art work, armor, garb and smiles. Thank you to Mistress Ellyn and our busy Arts and Sciences staff for putting together this wonderful event. We cannot do this without all of you, so please come and participate.

And if you do not get enough arts and festivities at Arts in the Park, we also have Her Majesty Marisa's Festival of the Rose coming in Lyondemere. There will be Bardic activities, an Arts Display, and open Arts Fair. This will be a great chance to get a gauge on the competition for next year's Pentathlon. as well as get feedback from Artisans all over Caid. If you can, please consider traveling to this event and support our new Queen Her first reign.

On August 27th, in Calafia, we have our annual Leodamas of Thebes tourney. Our Stewards, Kyra and Cassandra, are doing lots of work to provide a great day of fighting, games, and all things Greek. Come join us as we celebrate the life and work of a great Calafian. We will also be polling for the Order of Leodamas of Thebes award that day. For those of you are not aware of this order or what it means, it is an order that was created in memory of Leodamas, a renowned peacemaker in our early tumultuous days as a Barony. If you feel that someone in the populace has helped make peace in our Barony or has fostered good will and cheer through our Lands, please make sure to cast a vote for that person when the ballots come around. If you have any questions, please ask Her Excellency or any other member of the Order, whom you can recognize by the lion medallion they wear.

On a separate note, I would like to thank everyone who has donated and helped raise funds for the new Baronial coronets. We have been inquiring about Artisans and have a few potentials. At upcoming populace meetings, we will be asking the populace to think about their favored design elements and what parts of the coronets are important to them. To be clear, we will not be holding a design contest, but simply asking the populace for input on the design to pass on to the selected artists. What does this mean for you? If you have an interest in what the future coronets will look like, please come to the August populace meeting. Tell us what parts of the current Coronets you feel are iconic, what feels understated or what does need to be there. After this discussion, I will be sending the choice recommendations to our artisans for design considerations and we will see what designs come back to us. Our hope is that the new coronets will serve the Barony for many years to come and will be made with input from the populace.

In service to Calafia,
Guy Rand and Muirrenn
Baron & Baroness of Calafia