Swashbuckling in public

[Larrison]

My opinion on this, is that is you want to fence in a park and you're not having a huge group do it -- you shouldn't have to ask permission.

But.. that's assuming you'll do it in a safe and considerate manner. Things like make sure folks or kids can wander between two fencers and accidently get stuck by a foil or saber, and don't set up somwhere that might be contenscious. For example, if the basketball court is really busy in the afternoons, don't set up there and hog the court.

But a half dozen folks want to show up and "practice together" at the park -- fine. If you're not being unsafe, rude, or disruptive to other folks there shouldn't be any problems with fencing at the park.

This would change of course, if the park was really crowded, you were occupying a large share of space at the park for a small group, you did this with a large group each weekend, you charged for lessons to be held at the park, you were disruptive to other persons, you operated in an unsafe manner, or you allowed other persons "untrained and unfamiliar with the sport" to join in. etc etc

[Svidrigailov]

In Costa Rica we used to have epee tournaments in the park every other weekend. The trophy was a brass chamberpot facilitated by someone's grandfather. We weren't worried about the cops as much as we were worried about muggers...nothing ever happened to us though. I guess the muggers just didn't have big enough switchblades.

[wpotere]

The park is no problem, but I would make sure that your insurance has no problems with it. If for some reason a freak accident should occur that includes a passerby, you might find a lawsuit at your front door. So, I would at the very minimum contact your insurace agency and ask them if you are covered for your demonstration.

[prototoast]

I've seen people practicing juggling lit torches...

All the same, it may not hurt talking to your local police branch and asking... some people see a (relatively) harmless practice weapon and immediately think "SWORD!!!"

Speaking as one of those people (not specifically a juggler you saw, but someone who juggles fire), before I juggle fire in a public place, I always get permission from at least one authority.

Juggling danger props (knives, torches) is probably similar to fencing in the problems it encounters. Both are quite safe, but they remind people of danger (weapons, fire). In particular, I have had children break into tears at the sight of juggling knives. It doesn't matter that no one got hurt. It doesn't matter that I clearly wouldn't have been doing it if it was an actual danger. Children are weird, and so if you happen to cause irrational terror in a small child because you're trying to "stab" each other, there may be some problems.