Obernewtyn.net holds an annual online Moonfair. This page explains the origins and history of the Obernewtyn.net Moonfair. Moonfair began as a point-earning exercise for the four guilds. It's purpose was, and still is, to have a pre-determined period of time in which site members compete in a variety of art, writing, puzzle, quiz and forum competitions. Each Moonfair has a theme around which the competitions are based, such as gypsies, the guilds of Obernewtyn, and even non-book related things like the four seasons of the year. Planning for Moonfair begins in June for the main organisers (the Moonfairies), and for the majority of members, the middle of July. Moonfair itself runs from September 1st to October 31st every year. During Moonfair itself, the aim is to earn as many points for your guild as possible, and to have as much fun as possible too! The guild that earns the most points wins the illustrious Moonfair Cup. Moonfair began in around 2001. It was very small, unofficial, and no records remain, unfortunately, of it's existence. A year later, in 2002, Sustinare Ridiculum hosted a Moonfair, which was again small, unofficial, and the only records that remain are patchy (via the wayback machine, here: Welcome to Moonfair!). Moonfair's first year (that we still have records of) with competition website of it's own and organisers (moonfairies), was 2003. Which was called Moonfair, version 3, indicating that there must have been 2 previous incarnations of Moonfair prior to it, so we didn't just imagine the first two now lost Moonfairs :P

Moonfair 2003

Looked like this: It was the brainchild of Seagullia (aka Lauren). She organised and directed everything, with assistance from a lot of people - Emerald, Arien, Kayt, Warrmae, Bunne, Avra, Viv, Min, etc. But - just as Obernet wouldn't have existed without Shannon, Moonfair would never have existed without Seagullia's drive and determination for Moonfair to happen. The first Moonfair was structured quite a bit differently to the established pattern of today. The Guilds, plus Sus Rid and the AoC (Alliance of Cheese, now disbanded) - hosted a portion for a two week period each:

Wanderers and Ashlings will host from August 1 - 14 Dreamweavers and Mystics will host from August 15 - 28 AoC and SusRid will host from August 29 - September 12

During each guild/sect's turn, they had to build their own portion of the Moonfair website. There were also a couple of Obernewtyn.net-hosted competitions (such as the original Twentyfamilies tattoo competition). For example, the Mystics section was: ~Link~ (all the other guild/sect moonfair 2003 sites seem to have vanished) You'll see from this that quite a lot of the original competitions in the first structured moonfair still exist today - such as the Mystics fortunes, and Min's good ol' Uber-impossible quiz. Guild placings: 1st: Ashlings, 2nd: Wanderers, 3rd: Mystics, 4th: Dreamweavers

From 2004 onwards...

Following the success of that initial structured Moonfair, we decided to make Moonfair a regular, annual event, to start on and celebrate Obernewtyn.net's anniversary each year (September 1st). Seagullia, Emerald and Min organised the bulk of it and we shaped it into a similar form that you'd find today - guild comps, forum comps, and incorporating a dual-layered theme. The first theme is a visual one around which the Moonfair site is designed, and is always the traditional and modern gifts of the anniversary that Obernet is celebrating that year. So, for the 2005 Moonfair - Obernet's 6th year online - the traditional anniversary gifts are Iron and Candy, so the website took on a sort of boiled-sweet look, merged with some cast iron shapes. The secondary theme was one that we'd give the guilds, so they could have something to base their competitions around. For 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, we asked the guilds to come up with at least 10 comps each. From 2008 that changed - to take pressure off everyone! Competitions were no longer the responsibility of the guilds, but of the individual to come up with. Guilds are still welcome to arrange competitions to be officially hosted by their Guild - but they are under no pressure to come up with anything, if they're finding it hard to rally participation at that time of year. Below is each year, theme and layout listed.

Moonfair 2004

Visual theme: Wood Guild theme: 'the Ober Groups' (which we happened to use in a couple of years time again ~:| ) Guild placings: 1st: Mystics, 2nd: Dreamweavers, 3rd: Ashlings, 4th: Wanderers Layout:

Moonfair 2005

Visual theme: Iron/Candy Guilds theme: The Obernewtyn Guilds

• Ashlings: Beast Council & Beastspeaking
• Dreamies: Coecers & Empaths
• Mystics: Teknoguild & Futuretellers
• Wandies: Farseekers & Healers

Guild placings: 1st: Mystics, 2nd: Ashlings, 3rd: Dreamweavers, 4th: Wanderers Layout:

Moonfair 2006

Visual theme: Wool/Copper Guilds theme: The Seasons

• Ashlings: Coldwhite
• Dreamies: Days of Rain
• Mystics: Autumn
• Wandies: Summer

Guild placings: 1st: Mystics, 2nd: Dreamweavers, 3rd: Ashlings, 4th: Wanderers Layout:

Moonfair 2007

Visual theme: Bronze/rubber Guilds theme: Groups of Ober

• Ashlings: Herders & Council
• Dreamies: Slavers & Pirates
• Mystics: Misfits & Sadorians
• Wandies: Gypsies & Agyllians

Guild placings: 1st: Mystics, 2nd: Dreamweavers, 3rd: Wanderers, 4th: Ashlings Layout:

Moonfair 2008

Visual theme: Pottery/Leather Comp theme: 2008 Moonfair was the first time where we didn't have separate guild themes - overall it was Gypsies. We introduced the coming up with competitions in teams (regardless of guild) and asked the guilds to only come up with one or two comps each (to take pressure off the guild leaders, who usually ended up doing the bulk if not all the work during the planning phase). Guild placings: 1st: Mystics, 2nd: Dreamweavers, 3rd: Ashlings, 4th: Wanderers Layout:

Moonfair 2009

Visual theme: Tin/Diamonds Comp theme: the Land of the Red Queen 2009's Moonfair was to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Obernewtyn.net, and two weeks prior to Moonfair, an event called The Ten Days of Obernet ran in the Function Hall message board as an additional celebration for this extra-special milestone. You can check out the 10th anniversary event here: The Ten Days of Obernet and the party (by way of hilarious RPG cruise to the Land of the Red Queen) here: The Sea Dancer. Guild placings: 1st: Mystics, 2nd: Dreamweavers, 3rd: Ashlings, 4th: Wanderers Layout:

Moonfair 2010

Visual theme: Steel Comp theme: The Beforetime Guild placings: 1st: Mystics, 2nd: Dreamweavers, 3rd: Ashlings, 4th: Wanderers Layout:

Moonfair 2011

Visual theme: Silk, Linen and coloured gemstones Comp theme: Sador Guild placings: 1st: Mystics, 2nd: Dreamweavers, 3rd: Ashlings, 4th: Wanderers Layout:

Moonfair 2012

The 10th Moonfair website is still live (though obviously, you can't enter the competitions any more); head over to the site and check it out: Moonfair 2012: 10 years of Moonfairing.