Festival at the Edge

I did promise a post about this, but in the end I wrote it up in my notebook rather than here, and promptly forgot about it. Since I've finished that notebook and I'm working my way through it (which publication did I write that flash fic for, I wonder?) I though I ought to finally post this!

FatE was an interesitng experience. The closes thing to it that I've done before is Dance Camp East, which has a very different feel. At DCE tends are arranged around fires and communal cooking is encouraged, whereas due to FatE's site fires and not allowed, and being significantly shorter there is less encouragement to get to know your neighbours. Camping on a grid system, the only people I got to know were the man who gave me a ride from the station and the other person he gave a lift to.

The 'village' was a separate field where the various food stalls, cider and ale tent, market stalls and central stage were. That was a nice place to hang out when there was nothing on and the food was delicious.

It was rare, actually, for there to be nothing on. Workshops and performances were well arranged, spread throughout multiple marquees across the site. I was concerned about the level of contribution that might be expected of me, but nothing was; one could easile spend the weekend floating from storyteller to storyteller. I did attend some workshops which were informal and friendly, and picked up a few strategies for learning and telling stories. I also drank quite a lot of cider and ate many friend plantains!

It was a good weekend, different to my expectations. While I would like to attend again I probably wouldn't go alone. Most people attended in groups of families and did not socialise much outisde of that. The lack of community saddened me a little, but in terms of organisation and content FatE definitely provided.

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In related news, I'm hoping to go to a couple of Sheffield's Literary Festival's events, if I'm not at work.