What was your initial impression of faire?

[Delireus]

I've always loved history and fantasy and I remember looking on the internet for hours at pewter dragon and fairy things, swords, crappy hot topic bodices, stuff like that and wishing there was something like a huge mall just for that kind of stuff. Then, my freshman year of high school, I saw a commercial for TRF on TV and I flipped out. I begged my parents to take my friends and I, I had no idea what I was in for and I rememeber sort of apologizing to my friend about how I had no idea what it would be like, the prices, size, anything and I hoped we would have fun

Oh. My. God. My first time at faire is literally in my top 3 happiest days ever. Especially being at TRF I was so overwhelmed but I think my friend and I did as much as we could being first timers. I loved it because we felt out of place because we did NOT dress up! We had another friend who was not able to go that year and we made her swear she'd go with us next year. Hah, I remember talking about renfest for weeks afterwards with both of them in class, getting in trouble for talking. Every year during high school we'd go over to each others houses the night before faire and make garb out of anything we had, old skirts, peasanty looking tops from Target or something. Once Charlotte Russe (a clothing store) had a sale on their "corsets" for like 15 dollars and we flipped and bought these got awful colored ones with cardboard boning To us they were amazing and we wore them with pride no matte how terrible they looked  (my choices in garb have improved, I promise)

But yeah, faire was magical and a place I never wanted to leave. 6 years later, not much has changed

[Merlin]

Fun.


It looked like it was going to be a lot of fun.

Then I felt out of place because we were danes. So we rented costumes and had a blast. The next 2 years...we rented costumes again and soon realized we were now rental-danes.

So we began to put together costumes and have been making costumes ever since.

Behind the wall of faire is a place that there are no nerds...no weirdos... no freaks. Only people wishing to escape reality for a day and have fun. I can't think of a place where I feel more comfortable.

I have made a living for 2 decades doing the unreal. My life is full of the unreal. I never do anything at faire to make someone feel uncomfortable. If they seem to be happy in jeans and a football jersey but apparently don't wish to be approached in the lane.... leave them be. I toned down my make-up because the dark wizard Merlin seemed to scare the children.

Faire is a happy place.


oh...and boobs.

[Laird Fraser of Lovatt]

that picture has NO Rennies in it! shocking!

anyway, my first time to faire was after many years of convincing my parents I was old enough to go- they had gone to TRF several times when I was small and I was absolutely enchanted by the IDEA of it.

For me, it was all rolled into one feeling, which I still get every time I walk into TRF- a sight/smell/sound that just envelops you!

That's the same effect that i get, walking up to the gates of TRF... it almost reaches out to you, embraces you and leads you inside.  Like an old friend you haven't seen in a long time...

[LadyDracolich]

First impression: AWESOME!!!  Second thought: I have GOT to get some garb!!!!!!   And now, I've got some of the coolest friends in the world that I met at faire (including my BFF!) and tons of garb!   I love faire, it's so relaxing.

[isisdy]

My first time was at TRF in 2006. My husband at the time took me there on my birthday. When we first walked through the gate I was blown away by all the sites and smells and what caused me to really fall in love was the people. I'm not the most social person in the world because my whole life I have always felt like I was out of place. I've never felt like I really fit anywhere because my instrest in history and culture and just anything and everything exotic to the way I was raised has always pulled me in. Because of this I have always been the odd girl. It was the first time I didn't feel like I was out of place. Although I am quite slow to expressing myself among strangers I found it much easier for me to feel free around people with like minds. I must say though that I completely romantisied it after the first time wayyyy too much . I went back every weekend until it ended . I was almost ready to quit my job , home school my son , sale everything I owned to start a business there and follow Renfest through out the country. I was quickly pulled out of my fantasy and have since learned the realities of faire but i love it all the same as I believe I always will. But for me intially I thought i had found my Utopia. That it would be songs around campfire, conflict behind me forever and always, and friends that would be family. That was before I had ever camped!!!

[Ginette]

I guess my first impression was that I really didn't get it, any of it.  The people, the clothing, food, shows, any of it. 

My husband, daughter and I had gone with some cousins years ago.  They dressed in garb but we didn't, I personally was still in the mindset that it was a little to odd for me.  We ended up going the next year and my husband got his first kilt and wooden tankard, the season after that I got my first set of garb.  I stumbled across the forums in my attempt to understand the whole faire thing and fell in love.  My husband, daughter and I are bigger rennies then the cousins that introduced us to faire.  My rennie friends now outnumber my mundane friends and the family, we have turned a few mundane into rennies and our costumes turned into garb. 

[Lady Neysa]

that picture has NO Rennies in it! shocking!

I was thinking the same thing! 

What faire is this?  Beautiful pic!   

I first attended MDRF in 1993.  A friend of mine was having a ren wedding (outside of faire)  and was showing us what our bridesmaids dresses would look like.  Within the first few minutes of looking everywhere at once, I was completely hooked.  That was the first and last time I attended as a mundane.  Walking around Revel Grove for the first time in the chilly fall air was such an undescribable, amazing experience.  As much as I still love faire, and the feeling I get walking through those gates,  it doesn't compare to the magic of that first time.  I wish I could feel that way again. 

[Rikki the Trickster]

I'd have to agree with 'home'.

I'd been going to conventions for a few years when my chance to finally visit a renaissance festival came up. The first time I went to TRF, it was with an older friend who's aunt worked at a ticket agency of some sort and invited us along. Simply put, we got lucky. I felt a little funny walking through the gates in a dress borrowed from my school's drama department but I forgot that soon enough. My friend's mom didn't enjoy herself that much but my friend and I had a blast watching shows, looking at garb, buying weapons, and just exploring. As soon as I was in the car on the way home, I was already planning my first garb. Even though it was a few years until I was able to go back, it felt like home all over again as soon as we set foot on the grounds.

[DonaCatalina]

It was Scarby back in the '80's. I loved it. I rented a peasant dress and went barefooted in the mud all day.
(This is Scarby, you know?)
It took some time before we went more than once or twice a season. (Putting a daughter through school)
But now its our primary vacation.

[Mairte]

I loved it and felt at home immediately. I didnt want to and still never want to leave! 

[Merlin the Elder]

I'm not 100% sure which faire, TRF or Scarborough, was our first one. I remember it was a lot of fun! At the time, we were not financially able to make it a regular thing by any stretch of the imagination. That didn't come until 2001.  Now, like the Doña and the Don, it's become what we do for vacation. I didn't realize just how much a part of us it had become until we skipped a year (2008) because we were taking an extended trip to New York. I don't think we'll ever skip a faire year again.

[irishgirl]

I was pretty young, seventh grade if I remember correctly. I went to TRF with a small school group and we left really early in the morning. It was one if those beautiful foggy days in Plantersville and the gypsy camp used to be down in a muddy section that has since been expanded. That was my favorite part of the faire and I would just sit down there under a tree, mesmerized. The whole experience called up a strong feeling in me that I had been born in a world too modern and I was thoroughly enchanted. By the next year, I had found a friend who felt the same way and whose mother would take us to faire. That's when I started wearing the garb (and refusing to wear shoes!).