Black Gryphon Inn - Beltane

Welcome to the Beltane in the Canton of Gryphonwald!

Come join us for The Black Gryphon Inn as we celebrate Beltane, the spring to summer transitional festival.  We will welcome the warmer months with seasonal food, fun games, and good friends.  Not only will we serve up a delicious Beltane Inspire Feast, but we will also be celebrating the traditions of Beltane through our Period Dancing, Brewer’s competition, and Bardic Competition to award our Baronial Bardic Champion for the new year.  Returning from last year will be our “Works in Progress” A&S Competition.

Music in the Inn.  Whether provided by the “Bard in the Box” or by live acts
Period Dancing taught for all
And a light Day Board prior to the Feast
A Feast in Celebration of Beltane served at your table
The Canton of Gryphonwald’s A&S tournament
A Canton Brewers Competition
The Bardic Competition for the new Barony Bardic Champion
Kubb will be available to play

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Feast Menu
-Herbal Salad:  A tapestry of tender greens and fragrant herbs, this salad awakens the senses with a bounty of nature’s gifts fresh from the garden.
-Bannocks:  Rustic oat cakes carry the soul of the Highlands.  They pair as easily with sweet honey as with the salt of the North Sea.
-Scotch Broth:  Rich with the warmth of the hearth, this nourishing broth marries tender lamb, barley, and hearty root vegetables in a slow-simmered embrace.
-Haggis, Neeps, & Tatties:  A bold and timeless feast, haggis sings with the rich savor of spiced oats and tender meats, while buttery mashed parsnips and potatoes lend their earthen sweetness.  This is a dish of tradition, poetry, and the love found in a well-laid table.
-Honey Cakes:  These buttery soft, honeyed biscuits melt upon the tongue.  Served with heather honey butter and fruit jam.
Refreshments
-May Wine:  A toast to sun-dappled summer, fragrant woodruff dances with delicate white grape, laced with hints of honey and meadow flower.  Enriched by the gentle sweetness of fresh strawberries.
Feast will be limited to 60 people this year
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The Canton of Gryphonwald invites artisans from across the East Kingdom to share their love of hands-on history.  By showing off your Arts and Sciences projects in whatever state they might be:  in-progress or complete, first attempt or perfected technique.  The winter is long and cold, so come and share your works, and get the feedback you need to meet your goals!
The Arts and Sciences Competition at Black Gryphon Inn will again celebrate your passion and hubris - if not the execution.  The populace will vote on the “Project we most want to see through.” Bring your stalled project, your practice at learning techniques, and if you are brave, your failures.
Please, do not forget to include your inspiration and research for the goal that lies ahead.  Time will be allocated to discuss projects in-progress and to foster discussion on techniques bringing history to life.  Come and share your skills and your tales of projects gone rogue and enjoy the warmth of encouragement from your friends at the Black Gryphon Inn.
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The Canton of Gryphonwald invites artisans from across the East Kingdom to share their love of hands-on history by showing off your Arts and Sciences projects in whatever state they might be:  in-progress or complete, first attempt or perfected technique.  The winter is long and cold, so come and share your works, and get the feedback you need to meet your goals!
The Arts and Sciences Competition at Black Gryphon Inn will again celebrate your passion and hubris - if not the execution.  The populace will vote on the “Project we most want to see through.” Bring your stalled project, your practice at learning techniques, and if you are brave, your failures.
Please, do not forget to include your inspiration and research for the goal that lies ahead.  Time will be allocated to discuss projects in-progress and to foster discussion on techniques bringing history to life.  Come and share your skills and your tales of projects gone rogue and enjoy the warmth of encouragement from your friends at the Black Gryphon Inn.
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Brewing competition:  Newcomer and Nobles - Come one and all and test your libation skills at the Canton of Gryphonwald's brewing competition.  This year we will be hosting two separate tracks. 
The first track is to welcome our new Brewers and their work.  All entries must be less three years old. 
The second track is for those projects which have had more time to develop and evolve.  All entries in this track must be at least three years in progress.  So bring out both your newest projects and those bottles you have hidden away to age.  Please bring documentation including name, intended style, process notes, and ingredients.  We will utilize the East Kingdom Brewers Guild rubric to score entries. 
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Welcome to the year of the snake.  As we celebrate Beltane this go ‘round, let us draw inspiration from our renewing reptilian friends.  Put pen to parchment and pontificate on beginnings and endings.  Choose a story you love, read a few lines or sentences from the beginning and skip to a new ending completely your own.  Alternatively, you could take an existing ending and create the beginning to a new story.  Don’t worry about the middle- we’ll use our imaginations.  In under eight minutes, show us the infinite possibilities of storytelling.  Show us how refreshing it can be to shed our skin.  Get weird.  Have fun.  Just don’t eat your own tail.
-DO
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11:00AM Troll opens
12:00 Canton A&S Competition Begins
1:00 Kubb Begins
2:00 Dancing Begins
2:30 Brewers Competition and Judging for A&S
3:30 Bardic Competition
4:30 Court and Announcement of Winners
5:00 Feast
7:00PM Site closes

Site Opens: 11:00AM
Site Closes: 7:00PM