Fair Information Booth Beginner's Q & A on the "Ren Fair" Community - by Jaroduane Preunner from the Renaissance Shopper Nov 93 I've been involved in faire activities for several years and often hear the same questions from first time faire goers. When I started, I was pretty reserved, even shy, & it took me a couple of seasons of faires to pick up most of the information in the articles to start in November. The contents of these articles are accurate to the best of my knowledge - any errors, let me know and I'll try to make it right. There may be fair amount of redundancy in the answers, and the overall organization is pretty casual but I'll try to address the most common queries. So look for my first column coming in the November issue of the Shopper! If you have any questions of a general interest about faires, write to The Information Booth care of the Renaissance Shopper, either I or someone else may write a suppliment to this column - if there's interest, it will become a regular feature. The Renaissance Shopper can be reached at the following address: Renaissance Shopper P.O. Box 422 Riverside, CA 92502 For subscriptions: $7.00 for permanent mailing list at bulk rate $5.00 per year for first class mailing QUESTION - How long have these been happening? Historical re-creation events have a long and venerable history. At "Acres of Books" in Long Beach, I came across several copies of a book called "Pageants". Written in the 50's it's a How-To book written by a man who specialized in organizing outdoor pageants recreating historical events and periods, including Elizabethan, Middle Ages, etc. The book addressed such problems as parking for the event, proper layout of food vendors, scheduling performances and how to ensure appropriate costuming among the participants. Especially interesting was the inclusion of several photos of Elizabethan-garbed crowds from the turn of the century, when the author's grandfather had been doing much the same thing. There were, of course, differences between these historical pageants and our current "A day at an old-tyme country faire" events, but the seeds for the basic notion of enthusiastic folk making period costumes and performing as historical persons at huge outdoor events for the general public go back pretty far. Our "Modern Era" of faire-type events can be traced back at least 30 years. The oldest and largest such event still occurring in our local (California) community is The Living History Centre's Renaissance Pleasure Faire. The oldest, the most authentic, and still the grandest - 8 weekends in the spring in Southern California, 6 weekends in the fall in Northern California. Many smaller, unrelated events are scheduled throughout the year by other groups. A peek at the calendar section in the back of the Renaissance Shopper will verify that, wherever & whenever it really started, the original notion has spread through the country. I've read of long established fairs in Florida, Texas, Minnesota, Georgia, Arizona, etc. I've spoken to members of several groups of "Faire Followers" that make their living by circulating among the various faires. Not only performers, but merchants, food vendors, jousting knights, and even some well-to-do or retired enthusiasts follow regular year-round schedules from faire to faire. ("Sigh!" Too bad I have to rely on a "real-world" job.) QUESTION - Where are "you guys" going from here? This question is based on a common misconception - to a lot of Faire-Goers it seems that a faire is much like an old-fashioned traveling carnival, existing & traveling as one big enterprise. Most are surprised to learn that each faire is comprised of many independent parts. Generally speaking every faire is separate and independent from all others. Some are fund raisers for charity or needy causes. Many are held by various Chambers of Commerce or other civic groups to stimulate tourism and local interest, some are outright commercial activities organized by a few friends for fun and profit. QUESTION - If each faire is made up of many parts, what are they? It actually varies from faire to faire, but most faires include: The Organizer - this is the person, persons, or group that originally decided to "put on" a faire - they are responsible for procuring a site, providing parking, security, sanitary facilities, advertising & promotion, etc. Most get their "seed money" for this from contributions (if a charity), charging "booth fees" to the merchants who wish to operate at the faire, soliciting "sponsorships" from companies (beer distributors, travel agencies, etc.) who wish to profit from the event, profits from previous events, or out of their own pockets. To the Organizer goes the lion's share of the risk, headaches, responsibilities, & potential profit of a well run faire. The Vendors - Sometimes called boothies, tradesmen, merchants, etc. - these are all independant businesses or individuals who respond to the Organizer's mailings & advertising. They pay a fee for use of a specific area of the faire for their booth, cart, etc. The amount & type of fee varies from faire to faire. Many faires (especially the larger & older ones) in their desire to stage a really authentic & educational event, have established stringent requirements as to the type of merchandise that may or may not be displayed, how it is displayed, the appearance & construction of the booths, clothing & behavior of employees, etc. Some hold educational "Workshops" prior to the event to teach vendors & other participants the customes, attitudes, & even speach of the period. Newer & smaller faires are considerably looser & you sometimes see such big-faire no-no's as merchants in t-shirts & jeans selling sunblock, bumper stickers, & sunglasses under a plastic awning at these. The Entertainment - Actors, members of the official noble courts, dancers, singers, jugglers, etc. - Some are employed by faire to enrich the faire experience (noble court, plays, etc.), but many are "Pass-the-hatters". These are specialty acts, who often pay a fee similar to the vendors for the right to perform & then solicit the crowd for contributions (passing-the-hat). All pass-the-hat acts must obtain permission from the faire Organizer. Encampments - there are many groups of enthusiasts who have formed independant theme groups for their own pleasure, these groups often apply to faires for plots of ground, generally called encampments, they can use for their group activities during a faire. Usually unpaid, they provide their tents, buildings, accessories, garb, etc. at their own expense. Many become so well known & popular that they are a real attraction. Their activities generally include feasting, skits, processions thru faire, sometimes music, dancing, chorreographed battles & skirmishes, & whatever else their fertile minds conceive as being appropriate to their theme. I've seen groups built around themes like arabian harems (one of my favorites), pirates (very popular), German mercenaries, noble courts, Celtic villages, fantasy warriors, gypsies, tartars, Arabian knights, Japanese samaurai, & more than I can remember. Jousts - talented equestrians (almost always paid by the Organizers) who enact a knights at tourney. Parking Control, Security, Ticket takers, Grounds maintenance, etc. - these are always direct employees (paid or not) of the faire Organizer. Often volunteers, these are often the least appriciated folk at faire - & the most essential for a successful & enjoyable event. (I can't think of anything that I would rather NOT do at a faire than stand for hours in a filthy, sweltering parking field, hassling with car after car wanting to "just drive up front" to see if there's a spot nearer the entrance. - it salves my conscience to pass out a couple of cold sodas from my cooler to these poor souls). Food Vendors - See Vendors, above. Ale Stands - usually operated either by the faire Organizers directly, manned by employees or volunteers, or by an official faire Sponsor. Many Ale Stand Servers are actually volunteers, helping out for fun, or for tips - most tend to enrich the faire experience with their boisterous and sometimes bawdy behavior & add enormously to the fun. Enthusiasts - members of the paying public, these are people who so enjoy the faire experience that they provide their own garb (sometimes incredibly elaborate garb), travel hundreds of miles (sometimes), rent motel rooms to attend both days, & often "work" & play with the crowd like professionals just for the love of it. A few faires I know of have official groups of "friends", "boosters", "executive faire patrons", or whatever they choose to call thm, to give these folke a semi-official faire status, but even there, they pay for their memberships & often their admissions just like the public. (Bravo & 3 Huzzahs to the Enthusiasts! - That's how I started out, & they include some of my best friends even now.)