At the Front - World War II Reenacting

	World War II Reenacting Events Last Updated: August 26, 2008 This page is dedicated to WWII events, specifically Reenactments, Air Shows and Military Shows. Despite their apparent similarity, regular gun or gun and knife shows will not be listed. There are simply too many of them and it would be a full time job to keep up with. Look in Shotgun News for gun show schedules or check the Gun Show Calendar website for gunshows across the US. Only WWII Reenactments (Aka Living History shindigs) and Militaria Shows will be listed here: I reserve the right to refuse any listing for any reason that strikes me. Listings are free. Listings lacking a date, location or anything I deem inappropriate or irrelevant. This includes but is not limited to: white power roundups, action doll orgies, nazi paint ball tournaments, Buchenwald Bashes, etc, etc.

Tips for Event Organizers
I've been re-enacting since 1980.
Here are my unsolicited two-cents on a few things that can be help your event be more successful:1. Make a Website: To increase attendance to your event, a website is very helpful.
2. Good Directions: Equally important are legible directions that humans of normal intelligence can follow. You and your buddies may know darned well where the Possum Holler Sod Farm is, but the people wanting to come there may be city folk who are unfamiliar with the landmarks of Southeastern Arkansas. Good directions (a map if possible) are a great help.
3. Requiring preregistration will hurt your attendance. If you charge extra for signing up at the gate, that will work. Most people will want to save the $10, but reenactors are notoriously poor at planning ahead.
4. Don't forget to post your own event: If you've waited until 2 weeks before your event to submit it to us, you've already screwed it. It's not our fault....especially if your "preregistration deadline" was 2 days ago.
5. Canceling events 24 hours before they are supposed to start is bad: I know, this sometimes happens due to lightening strikes or insurance policy problems, but it really pisses people off. However, if it goes haywire a month before and you don't let us (and everyone else) know until the day before, perhaps you shouldn't be running/ planning events.
6. Keep your scenarios simple-stupid. Most reenactors (and some real soldiers to boot) can't read a map much less operate a compass. Keep the opposing forces within 500 meters or have a few guys on either side who know the area. There's nothing that creates angry living historians more than having them huff about in the woods for 8 hours without ever seeing the anyone to shoot at.

READ THIS!
Before Submitting an Event
Please.

Submissions: We have several simple criteria for event postings. Please follow them or we will not post your information. All we will post is the basic information. If you want to offer more details, that is great. Put it on a website (not ours) and we will include a link in your listing.
1. The event must have a date. A concrete, definite day, month and year. Events that are still at the "to be announced" stage will not be posted.
2. Point of contact. Preferably an email and phone number.
3. A location. "Veteran's Park" is too vague. I need little things. Like city...state. A basic orientation (20mi SE of St. Louis) doesn't hurt either.
4. Type of event. If it is a battle/ reenactment, please let us know what theater it is. (Pacific, Western Front, Eastern Front or "Group Hug".)

No Attachments: Please do NOT send me document files or crazy emails full of carrots (<>) and other gibberish. What am I supposed to do with pdf. files? Scan them and post pics?

Gibberish: I'm sorry, but this is getting insane and I don't have time to edit, correct, massage, translate or repair the cocked-up submissions some people are sending. You might want to use spell check. If you mis-spell "Ohio" I'm not going to fix it. And....SUBMISSIONS TYPED IN CAPS ARE BEYOND ANNOYING AND WON'T GET POSTED.

Posting Speed/ Impatience: Although I try to post events as quickly as possible, this doesn't always happen. Again, as this is a free service, be careful about getting snotty lest the "delete" key accidentally gets pressed. "As quickly as possible" translates as between 1 day and 2 weeks depending on the demands of my real job, mood swings and alcohol consumption. Lately, we've had several panic stricken types submit their event 3-4 times per week in a vain attempt to get it posted right away. Guess what happened to those!

My surly text: If my draconian demands piss you off because you might have to type 20-30 words, fine. Don't bother. Imagine getting a dozen links of one sort or another every day in wildly differing formats, fonts and text sizes not to mention bad links and corrupted attachments.

PLEASE: Just make me happy and use the text format below: It's very easy....Just cut and paste the text below, fill in the blanks, send it over and I'll post it.

Thank you.

Please use the this format for your submission:

What: (Event Name, Campaign, Whatever)
When: (Date: month, day(s), year)
Where: (City, State, etc)
Sponsor: (Organization or unit putting the event on.)
Cost: (If any)
Notes: (No alcohol, free beer, strippers, cat roast Sat nite, etc)
Contact: (Name, email, phone, weblink etc.)

Other Calenders:
Although I try to keep ours as up to date as possible, I will link other website's events calenders here in case I miss a few. These calenders I have found to be well maintained and up to date:

MVPA Event Calender: This calender has many events worldwide, mostly dedicated to military vehicles and swap meets. Most of these events we do not have on our calender.
RKKA Events: The Bolshevik's events page. Russian Front events in the US.
HRS Event Calender: WWII Historical Reenactment Society's calender.
20th Century G.I.: Evenst calender for the Mid-west.
CHG Calender: California and western events.

If you guys run across any other well done and legible calenders, let me know and I'll post them.
Thanks.

ATF at Events:
Which Events will we attend? Easy. The ones that say "ATF will attend" right on the listing. If it's not there, we won't be either.
Why don't we attend more/ every event? Time and money. Packing, traveling and unpacking for events are major undertakings in themselves. Labor, fuel, hotels, meals, titty bar and liquor bills can total several thousand dollars. Only the larger events are financially viable. There are a few medium sized events we do (like Iola) because the owner has a particular fetish for the location or someone in the area of the event. Don't ask. It's just plain wrong like a lot of other things I do...
I have this event and we'd really like ATF to come. Send the info over, I'll look at it, but don't be surprised when I pass. My fickle choices on which events we attend, and those we don't, are nothing personal. They are simply practical business decisions. So don't get your feelings hurt if we don't come. But if you are going to have a pissy-fit, please make it a good one so I can use it for rant material. Thanks!