Can someone explain Renaissance Faires?

Cafe Society
21

Yeah, I’ve seen P&S.

I’ve been going to Faire’s since the early 80s and we usually hit two or three per year (different ones, always Pennsylvania and Maryland, though).

In a most cynical evaluation, they’re an open air shopping mall (with entertainment) in which the mall has persuaded the shoppers to pay for entry and be part of the scenery.

It’s more than that in any other evaluation, of course. It’s a chance to see and be seen as well as enjoy yourself with others who are into the same things. It’s fun.

22

If I started in Larkspur, how could I have missed Puke & Snot? :slight_smile:

I did Scarborough down around Dallas for the most part, though, with one trip to TRF down around Houston (wouldn’t mind going back!). Now that I’m in Missouri, there’s a small one out around Wentzville that I’ve been to once.

23

Indeed I very well may! I never had the Sunshine Coast down as a haven of Culture or Psuedo-Geekery… :wink:

They do need to advertise it more- I didn’t see any ads in the Courier-Mail, although I may have missed them…

The SCA at Uni asked if I was interested in joining as an Arquebusier, on account of how they had bowyers, swordsmiths, armourers (guys that made armour, as opposed to it’s modern meaning), etc etc, but not one single person with any sort of firearms expertise.

There were three things stopping me from doing so:

Firstly, I’d have to get another endorsement on my licence (MR1, for Military Re-Enactment), and trying to convince the Weapons Licensing Bureau that I wanted to dress up as a Conquistadore and fire a matchlock musket during events populated by people dressed as extras from Monty Python & The Holy Grail was really pushing my luck. :wink:

Secondly, and most importantly, there aren’t any period-appropriate reproduction matchlock arquebuses or muskets available for sale in the state, as far as I could tell at the time. I would have to get one shipped in from overseas at an astronomical and mind-boggling cost, just to occaisonally fire it whilst dressed up in a silly costume- it’d be totally useless for hunting or range shooting. Black Powder is surpisingly expensive, and on a cost per discharge level it’s about the same as a large-calibre centrefire rifle- ie, over $1.50 a shot, without being able to accurately hit a piece of paper or an animal that can be turned into food/eliminated as a pest.

Thirdly, I’m not comfortable dressing up in Renaissance costume. It’s the same reason I don’t do Single Action Shooting (AKA Cowboy Action Shooting)- the dressing up is a major deal-breaker for me.

Interesting that so many people have said “Hot chicks showing lots of cleavage, and ale!” as a reason… My local pub has both in abundant supply on a Saturday night. :smiley:

24

Never miss their show. :slight_smile:

Unfortunately, this may be the last year that the faire is at the Larkspur site. The Guy who runs it and the Mayor of Larkspur are having some sort of dispute. There is talk of moving the faire to either Palmer Lake or the Black Forrest. Too bad, because the current venue is very well set up and conveniently located.

25

They still do; that is the one we are going to, Rosie. I love where he catches her on the bridge and gives her a kiss, what a steaming hot kiss it is.

I go to a Ren faire every year. I love it. Last year I made a costume and dressed up. I wasn’t planning to this year but I seem to be going with other dress-up people so I may, got cleavage, show it off, right?

But you don’t have to dress up. Plenty of people come in shorts/jeans/whatever. And lots of people come “semi” dressed up, like in a long pleated skirt or whatever.

I am getting really excited this year because it looks like we may be holding a semi-Dopefest at the Faire! Woohoo!

26

The Kansas City RenFest is really great. It runs for 6 weekends in September and October so you have lots of chances to go and the heat isn’t in the triple digits.

I love it because it’s fun. There isn’t really another reason. We go and drink expensive mead, eat giant turkey legs, watch people make fools of themselves (the unpaid participants, not the cast ones). KC does a Midsummer Night’s Dream-esque ongoing skit in an “enchanted forest” part of the setup.

A performer once summed it up for us. I was standing out side the Royal Privy (flush toilets!!) holding A’s walking stick he had just purchased. A performer came by, and said “having a good time?”. I smiled and nodded. He smiled and said “you came to the woods and bought a stick!”.

I love that place.

27

I can’t seem to find any in Canada? Are they just a US thing?

28

I think we need pictures to… umm… check for historical accurancy. Yeah, that’s it! :wink:

It definitely can be. I’ve went to Faires wearing 10-15lbs of black leather on 85-90 degree days. It gets warm. Putting a little ice in your hat helps on the really hot days.

I hate to admit it, but I find myself slowly being worn down by the majority belief that dressing up in garb is a silly thing to do. The casual jabs that get thrown around about “people unable to deal with reality” just get old. I see similar comments here often enough. I’m supposed to be going to the Bristol Renaissance Festival next month. I’m having a hard time convincing myself that I want to dig out the garb.

Having said that, at worst, I’ve always had a good time at a Ren Faire. At best I’ve had days that I still laugh about with friends any time we get to telling stories. The friends that I go with are usually what separates a merely good day from an outstanding day. I’m kind of shy and introverted when left to my own devices, but get me with the right friends and I can snap out of it. Those can be some really fun days.

Are there any faires where wearing some kind of garb is mandatory?

29

Who cares what people say? Anyone who thinks that way can honestly go to hell. I’ve got no problem with people who don’t want to dres sup but people who look down on me because I dress up, why should I care about their opinion anyway? If I am having a good time I don’t care about anything else.

As for the heat factor, I highly recommend packing a Camelbak, then freezing it. In the morning, drink your bottles of water or whatever. By the afternoon, the Camelbak will have melted enough to drink icy cold frosty water, yum!

30

My husband and I were planning on going to the Renn Faire today, but heat + malaise + really needing to clean up downstairs kinda won out.

We don’t dress in garb when we go. I mean, if I’m going to wander around outside in the heat and humidity all day, I’m going for comfy, not for showy. I enjoy it because there are a lot of vendors that I can buy stuff from that I can’t necessarily get outside the Faire. I also really like the atmosphere. It’s fun! To me, the one we go to (Bristol, just across the IL border in Wisconsin) is more kitschy and irreverant than the SCA events we’ve been to; it’s more like going to Six Flags, except more fun and way cheaper.

As to why they’ve become popular to lay-persons. . .well, I happened to catch an episode of Mind of Mencia where Carlos went to his local Renn Faire. He grasped the entirety of the lay-person (well, lay-hetero-male) appeal of the Faire: boobies. Lots and lots of boobies, almost all of which are out on display. Often, these boobies are possessed by women who don’t mind you looking at them. A few of the more outgoing and, ah, liberated ones might not mind you touching them a little! I think that covers much of it ;).

31

we go to King Richard’s Faire every year. It’s a hoot. It’s a bastard production, because it’s nowhere near historically accurate, mixes years and countries and styles, and includes hordes of downright anachronisms. (I mean, they sell digeridoos there, fer cryin’ out loud!

On the other hand, it’s a lotta fun, and you get to see and do odd things. They always have a Giant Cat show there that we catch – tigers and other such beasts, including a humongous liger.

We got our wedding rings there – they’re puzzle rings

Plus the cleavage. It appeals to my baser prejudices. Look up “wubbies” – a practice that, I’;m sad to say, hasn’t made its way up here yet.

32

Ideally I would like to say that I don’t give a rat’s ass what people say. Obviously that’s not the case though if I’m feeling like I’ve been gradually worn down by it. It does piss me off, but to comment on it a lot would just get this thread thrown in The Pit. I’ll just say that most likely I’ll keep fighting the good fight.

I’ll have to look at the Camelbaks and see if there is any way to hide one (or some variation) in my garb. It would definitely help with the dehydration that comes with walking around in full garb on a hot day whilst imbibing large quantities of adult beverages.

Commenting about specific Faires, I’ve been to Bristol (near Milwaukee, WI), the Minnesota RF (near Minneapolis, MN), Scarborough (Dallas, TX area), and Sterling (Sterling, NY). I’ve been to a few small local faires too, but they were one time events and haven’t been ran in years. Of those faires, Scarborough was the first. I have a lot of fond memories of that faire. Sterling was my favorite though. The size seemed just about perfect. It was big enough to have permanent buildings and all the things you would expect at a faire, but small enough to still feel intimate. The grounds were great. It’s nestled into some woods so there is a lot of shade. I liked both Bristol and the Minnesota Faire, but they are both so big and commercial feeling. The Minnesota Faire seemed the worst for being commercial. That’s not to take anything away from the performers, artists, and craftsmen. Maybe it’s just that there are so many people there that the percentage of people in garb is too low to get immersed in the faire feeling?

So, any recommendations on faires, especially in the Midwest where I’m hanging my hat these days?

33

I have to agree. I feel very sorry for those who lack the imagination and ability to play once they become adults. What’s wrong with them? When did all those fun things you did as a kid suddenly become “silly” and beneath your dignity? They miss out on so much fun, and worse, they try to ruin it for the rest of us. I guess their lives are so grim and joyless they resent seeing anyone having a good time.

For me, the best part about being a grown-up is that I can play as much as I want to. I can go out and dance in the rain and jump in the puddles. I can dress up in a costume and speak in Shakespearian English. I can color for hours and make clay sculptures. (I guess I have moved on from Play-Doh in that regard.) I can make a snowman or fly a kite in the park. And no one tells me to eat my vegetables!

A few months ago, Hubby and I made a pillow fort in the living room and had a battle. (Rolled up socks make great “grenades”.) There was a knock at the door, and Hubby opened it to admit our neighbor lady. She looked at the mess in the living room, me, still crouching behind the fort, wearing my toboggan “army helmet” and her face twisted in a look of puzzlement. She clearly thought we were lunatics when we explained what we’d been doing.

I think she’s the lunatic for thinking she’s above playing. She has kids. Maybe they wouldn’t have grown into such hooligans if she’d got down on the floor and built a fort with them a few times. Maybe she wouldn’t be so crabby if she had a pillow-fight once in a while, or went down to the Ren Fest in her best “wench” outfit.

Don’t listen to them, RogueRacer. Instead, pity them for forgetting how to have fun.

34

Someone made an interesting point in the documentary Trekkies; he said something about how an NFL fan isn’t considered at all weird for putting on a team jersey to attend the football game on Sunday, but the Trekkie (or the RenFaire fan) is considered weird for wearing a costume to his event.

35

Indeed. Anyone who cares to call my garb silly had better be prepared to get a lecture on the silliness of their pursuits…like, say, spending most of a day and/or substantial money watching grown men in plastic armor hitting each other repeatedly over possession of a funny-shaped ball. :smiley:

The performers, particularly the musicians, are what originally hooked me on Faires. When I first started attending, Scarborough was blessed with an exceptional batch of singers and musicians–Amberhawke, the Corsairs, and many others. For years now, every CD I’ve bought has come straight from the hands of the performers.

Another aspect of Faires that I don’t think has been mentioned yet: If you like to entertain people, but don’t want to try to do so professionally, a Faire is a great venue. Depending on who’s around, you may find me entertaining kids with a shoulder puppet, or sitting around with my friends singing drinking songs or shanties, or any number of other things. Since my family has all gotten into pirate garb lately, I’m even trying to come up with a Dead Pirate Sketch for us to do occasionally. :slight_smile:

36

I have to say that the Ren Faire folks look positively normal compared to those Raider Nation people. :eek:

To answer my own question about Midwest (centered around Cheddarland) faires, I found this: Wisconsin Renaissance Faire

It’s a first year faire in Chippewa Falls, WI (which is less than a 2 hour drive for me). Unfortunately, the last day is tomorrow. We are supposed to have a heat index of 106 tomorrow, so I’m not sure if I want to spend the day outside at a faire. Still, I would love to support a newly starting faire in hopes that they will be back next year. I’m going to have to see if I can find out more.

Lissa, funny story about the pillows. A few years back my GF and I bought some plastic swords (Sting replicas) for her little nieces and nephews. They lit up and made clanging noises when struck against something. We ended up keeping the first batch for ourselves and having to get more for the nieces and nephews. :smiley:

One of the funniest things I ever heard at a faire was said by a performer heckling the exiting crowd at the end of the day. He said something like, “How many of you are going to wake up in the morning and say, what the hell did I buy that for!?” The timing was everything I’m sure, since it was at the Minnesota Faire and there were all of these civilian dressed people walking out carrying staffs, mugs, paintings, and all sorts of other Ren faire items that were completely out of place with their clothes.

37

When I was in high school, we took a field trip (twice) to a RenFair over in Sarasota(?). It was loads of fun, but for the life of me I can’t find it again. Maybe they went away.

Off to Google…

38

It’s not the playacting that keeps me from returning; it’s the the really, really bad English accents.

39

ivylass, do you mean the one that was held next to the Ringling Museum?

First Ren Faire I ever went to. It was great :slight_smile:

40

When I lived in Germany we went to what we in the states would call a Ren Faire in Bavaria. There was jousting, sword fighting, falconry, music, and people running around in funny costumes. It’s possible that it had a larger purpose then being a “ren faire” but that’s what it looked like to me.

Marc