Olustee 2018

If you come to Gettysburg we'll have to see if I can get you into the ball so you can see for yourself.
I would imagine the event already has oodles of photographers, but if they wanted two more who would be happy to provide free photos, we'd be game.

Tom Davison has photographed some dances (you don't know how I laughed before I switched that last word). I think I would love to plop myself down somewhere low and take photos of the reenactors dancing. :happy: That's how I got this one. I really like the angle and how they are looking at one another.
 
I would imagine the event already has oodles of photographers, but if they wanted two more who would be happy to provide free photos, we'd be game.

Tom Davison has photographed some dances (you don't know how I laughed before I switched that last word). I think I would love to plop myself down somewhere low and take photos of the reenactors dancing. :happy: That's how I got this one. I really like the angle and how they are looking at one another.
That's a great picture, I hope those folks got to see it
 
In the past they have had the 54th Mass. there,i didn't see any USCT in any of the pics.were thet a no show this year.
There were a few there. They had a station on Friday for the school kids along with a Fredrick Douglas actor. I did not see them from where I was in the battles but Beth did, she said she thought there was about 10 of them. There's a bunch more pictures to look through if I can pick them out in any of them I'll post it for you.
 
I'm loving all of these pics!! Thanks so much for sharing them with your CWT friends! I don't suppose any JRs showed up.
Looks like the cannon in the top pic blew a giant smoke ring :smoke: As if cannons weren't cool enough already!

Awesome shots Drew. Maybe some of them can find their way into the POTM contest :D
Thank you both, can't enter any of them nor can take any credit, they were all Beth's doing. The only one I took out of the bunch was the night artillery fire.
 
I was there on Saturday, along with my 9 year old and his buddy. New recruits! I used to reenact Olustee when I lived in Jax and was with 3rd Fla Company A. I have a lot of great memories of Olustee. My current avatar was shot there.

I agree that attendance was down. It seems all they talked about was who didn't make it because they were sick. Couldn't help but notice that there were way fewer vendors. Someone said the rates for spaces went way up. I did stop by my old unit and there was only 1 guy that I recognized, but it was fun chatting with the newer guys.

Great photos!
 
It appears that attendance at reenactments is shrinking at many venues. So why should Olustee be different? I do think some of these reenactment sites need to study why attendance is shrinking. Without some good answers some reenactment events may stop. One opinion I keep seeing is the reenactors are aging and young people are not replacing them in the needed numbers.

So has the average age of those attending the Olustee event over the years become older or stayed about the same?
 
It appears that attendance at reenactments is shrinking at many venues. So why should Olustee be different? I do think some of these reenactment sites need to study why attendance is shrinking. Without some good answers some reenactment events may stop. One opinion I keep seeing is the reenactors are aging and young people are not replacing them in the needed numbers.

So has the average age of those attending the Olustee event over the years become older or stayed about the same?

As I 19 year old reenactor I’d say suprisingky younger. The left wing of the battalion I was end had to be reigned in several times because there was a full company of young guys and my company had about 10 out 20 who were below 25. What I am seeing is companies af campaigners forming where the average age is probably 20-25 (me and a buddy are forming one right now) and they’re usually present in good numbers. The one at olustee was a confederate heavy artillery unit and had about 25 men in it. The one we’re putting together now already has 10 men in it the oldest being 24. It’s not that these young ree actors aren’t reenacting, it’s that they don’t go to mainstream events like olustee but favor the immersion events and tacticals with no spectators. These events are preferred because there are less safety rules (elevate! and no close quarters) so they are in my opinion more entertaining. I’ll always do olustee though.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top