Issue #66, August 29th, 1996

What happened at Farber Day, then?
by Pam Wells

We assembled in Bridget Hardcastle's back garden, set out our stalls and waited for people to come along. The currency of the day was the Farber Dollar (carefully crafted by Steve Davies with a real dollar bill, a photo of Gary, a laser printer and some green paper), at an exchange rate of 50p. Pat McMurray sold wads of these to people as they arrived.

Many planned events didn't happen in the end, but plenty of them did. We got Alison wet with sponges, but failed to throw pies at me. We had a women's round of the erotic fruit eating contest (at which Sue Mason was declared the winner), but the men's round sadly didn't materialise. We carried fried eggs on fishlifters up and down the garden, in a fannish version of an egg and spoon race. We played at racing cockroaches from Brooklyn to Birmingham. We sold burgers and sausages from the Farbercue (cooked by Barbie-meister McMurray), quiches and cakes on the bake stall (by Bridget Hardcastle and Simon Bradshaw), and plenty of punch (it was a very hot day), provided by Brian Ameringen.

We decorated a pair of boxer shorts for Gary to wear at Novacon. We hunted for Gary's fanzines. We bought poctsarcds. We had our fortunes told by Gipsy Rose Sue on the Crystal Lettuce. ('You will be chair of the next British Worldcon,' she said -- to all of us!) We had an auction, at which the most prized item was a squawking electric chicken which laid easter eggs as it waddled. Steve Davies produced a one-shot, and was on the way to a second when the heat overwhelmed his hard disk. Some of us talked to Gary and others via Internet Relay Chat.

We were amazed at people's generosity. Pretty much everything on the day cost money: if it moved, we charged for it. Alison Scott charged 'corkage' to people who brought their own drinks; There were less than 20 people there in all, but we still did much more than break even on the day.

Counting the profits from Farber Day along with all the other sales and donations so far, the fund currently stands at over 600 pounds. We're aiming to raise 800 pounds in all, so that Gary can come over to Novacon and stay in Britain for a month, visiting several fannish centres as he goes.

We're still selling souvenirs of the day for 10 pounds or 15 dollars the set (including airmail postage). This includes a Farber Dollar, four postcards (drawn by D West and Dave Mooring), a set of 12 'little fanzines', and the two newsletters.

I'd like to thank everyone who came to Farber Day, and everyone who already has or will send us a donation for the Fund. Dollar cheques should be made payable to Roger Robinson, or pounds to Bridget Hardcastle, and sent to 13 Lindfield Gardens, London, NW3, United Kingdom.

When we've got Gary's plane tickets booked and a rough idea of his itinerary worked out, I'll ask Andy and Victor to print it here. And then, when he arrives back home again, you can all start bugging him for his trip report!

Issue #66, August 29th, 1996

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