COVID and Reenacting Activity in 2020

[patterson]

I was wondering what everyone has been up to while the COVID wrecking ball continues to swing around. Has anyone been to any events? If not, what are you doing to keep active in the hobby? Continuing to collect? Research? Etc. How has COVID effected your hobby and life in general?

I began building a new USAAF impression just before COVID showed up here in the USA. There were two events at which I hoped to debut my impression and officially make my return to WWII reenacting, but as with many events, they have been cancelled. I have also hesitated in joining a couple of living history organizations as a result. Paying dues without being able to participate is a factor.

I am a professional firefighter/EMT in Connecticut. I also work part time for a railroad as a locomotive engineer and a conductor. We have been under some of the most stringent regulations in the country. I have been going to work the entire time as both of my jobs are considered essential. My wife and children started venturing out again with the recent changes in lock-down regulations.

[Chris P.]

I imagine when the above post in this thread was written in the summer of 2020, few would have imagined Covid would still be affecting the hobby in 2022.

My reenactment group had our annual planning meeting last weekend. We realized that we would probably have to be content with doing fewer events, with most of them being small. Planning anything out past the summer seemed futile as nobody can predict what this year will be like. We decided to have a second meeting later in the year.

I had hoped that after the pandemic, there would be a boost in interest in reenacting because people had been forced to put the hobby on hold. It seems to me that what actually happened is that some people decided to keep trying to do events, even small or infrequent ones, while others faded away, perhaps never to return.