It’s a medieval festival, so we want you to dress in costume! Almost everyone does, and those who turn up in jeans and a t-shirt end up feeling rather silly. Dressing in theme (Vikings) will score you points in the Best Costume Contest, but don’t let that limit your imagination. Medieval ladies, knights, swashbuckling barons, kilted highlanders, belly-dancers, fairies, hobbits, witches, wizards, elves and anything else you can think of will be warmly welcomed at Avalon Gathering. There will also be a Best Costume Contest for children, so don’t forget to dress up the kids!

Yes, you can bring your SCA gear, ritual garb, and any other medieval toys such as swords (blunted please), throwing axes, bows, drinking horns, drums, and whatever else takes your fancy. Please note we do not have a liquor licence, so BYOB (or flagon, or horn, or tankard) and if thee gets rowdy, we reserve the right to throw thee in the stocks. To keep you occupied (and out of the stocks) we will have: Archery School Axe-throwing Wall Sword Circle Drumming Circle Bardic Competition Best Costume Contest Merchants Alley Ye Olde Pot Luck Feast and more ...

The Bardic Competition (a fancy medieval name for a talent contest) is one of the highlights of Avalon Gathering. Saturday evening around the bonfire, once everyone has partaken of the feast (and drained a few drinking horns, forsooth) those who have signed up will be called upon to entertain us. Sing, dance, tell a joke, tell a tale, in the tradition of the bards of old any talent is welcome around the fire. The judges are bribable (we hear that alcohol & chocolate are a safe bet) and there will be a nice prize for the winner. The children’s bardic will be held earlier in the evening, so get those little ones working on some tunes or stories!