On Wednesday, July 15th, 2009, my two sons, Brandon and Devin, and I made our way to Lancaster Pennsylvania for the 25th Anniversary Celebration of Historicon...along the miles of construction through winding mountainous roads where the construction barriers narrowed to mere inches on either side of the mirrors.  Anyone coming from our part of the globe mused about the experience especially those doing it at night, in the fog (Right Pete??)!!  Fortunately, our trip was during sunny skies (which we've not seen in Southern Ontario since May) with light traffic.  Very little truck traffic was evident, likely due to the long recession hammering the world. 

The three of us worked at the pre-registration desk each day and in the afternoons we enjoyed a variety of painting and historical seminars, gaming, and catching up with good friends south of our border.  A big highlight for me was meeting my good friend Jason Salkey (Rifleman Harris of the Sharpe movie series) and spending time getting to know him.  Devin enjoyed handling the seven barrel Nock volley gun which probably weighed half his own weight without powder, musket balls and wading. 

            
Devin holding the Nock Volley Gun with Jason.    A 60th Rifle Officer Re-enactor

Jason had his DVD Recollections of Rifleman Harris available for sale.  This DVD set shows and talks about the behind the scenes experience in making the Sharpe series movies.  I purchased the entire 8 DVD set and highly recommend it to anyone interested in the Sharpe movies. The boys and I also listened to Jason read from the memoirs of Rifleman Harris, and were so enthralled by his reading that we bought Jason's CD copy of the reading and listened to it twice on the way home. His English accent made the readings all the more authentic and enjoyable.

Waiting for Historicon each year is like waiting for Christmas.  The anticipation and hype leading up to it is so exciting... seeing good friends again, enjoying their commaderie and excitement just like a bunch of little kids ourselves, and best of all sharing this excitement with my two boys!!  This is something I was really looking forward to again this year.  As my wife Alison said, "It's a great annual tradition, that I am glad you can share with the boys!", and you know, she is right!! Unfortunately, like Christmas, Historicon is over with just as quickly...and you wish so hard that it would last just a bit longer, so it's a good thing I increased my mountain of lead, at least until next year...and you know, I have actually painted a fair bit of my "new toys" already since our return home. I have even been staying in regular touch with Jason!!


              
Devin and Robin with Jason                   Devin and Brandon with Uncle Duke