waning SCA groups?

A member of another large SCA group recently posted about changing patterns of activity and participation. This got me thinking about my own barony, which is one of the older and larger groups around (30+ years, around 250 people).

For several years now I think our group has been in decline, and that the slope has increased in the last couple years. There is always a danger, of course, that the "glorious early years" I remember were nothing of the sort and that my brain has become adled after (pause to count) 23 years, but I don't think that accounts for all of it. Or, at least, if that's it then such factors are affecting several of my friends, including some who are not dinosaurs.

This is not a whine. I don't expect anyone else to "fix" whatever problems are there. I don't make any promises about my own efforts to fix problems I perceive, either. I'm just trying to analyze it from a sociological/anthropological point of view, because I'm curious about how such things happen, what can be done to reverse trends, and -- most importantly -- what can be done by groups that aren't yet there to improve their odds of not getting there. ( Read more... )

No answers here -- just possibly-flawed observations and speculation.

a few garden pictures

I don't know what this bush is, but it's a nice addition to our back yard. ( large images behind the cut )