How to make rennie friends at faire

[iain robb]

Rebecca, if you should make another trip to BARF or another of our faires, please let me know. I have a drink now and again, but much prefer to see the shows and wander than spending time at the pub. I'd love the chance to meet up with you.

Same for you and your boyfriend Auryn. Drop a line if you plan to visit and if I,m at faire that weekend I'd love to meet you.

Same here! My wife and I also do not drink, and we'd be glad to spend time with you at shows and wandering about. And this coming season we expect to be at BARF a lot more, since our son is no longer playing soccer and my wife is no longer in the bagpipe band.

[Auryn]

Its nice to hear we are not the only non-drinkers.
I agree that a lot of times it feels like if you don't drink alcohol well, then you don't really fit in- we get that a lot in the mundane world too.

Maybe we should have a iced tea rennie meet up hehe.

Anna, I will definitely be dropping you a line once we figure out what weekend we are going to BARF- similarly if you make it down here let me know and I would happily show you around.

I will look into investing into some R/F pins.

Our new apartment has put us a lot closer to faire (less than 20 min) so hopefully that means we will be going more and be able to lolligag more at faire and hopefully strike up conversations.

[Gauwyn of Bracknell]

Auryn, you aren't alone. I have had the shop at MNRF for 13 years. I have met a few people from here, from time to time, but I can't go to their meet ups, because I am in my shop all day, from cannon to cannon. There have been a few that have come in to my shop, but this year, so far, only 2 have stopped to say hi. Sometimes, I have seen 6-8 of them standing out aways, talking with each other, but too far for me to run over to them. Some of the people from here, that say they are coming out, I don't see them and my shop is right up by the front gate. Maybe I was taking a break at the time?

As far as meeting people at the show, I have met some entertainers, then they moved out of the country. I have met people online, then they came to visit once and moved out of the country. One person I thought I was friends with, didn't even say hi for the past two years and I saw them out there. This year, I haven't seen them at all.

I will talk to people who come into my shop, but that's the thing, they have to come to me, because I can't go to them.

As far as camping for participants, I believe the rule here is you have to live more than 50 miles from the site and I don't. It wouldn't work for me anyway, for health reasons.

We also don't drink (medical and other reasons) and it seems that a lot of socializing happens around drinking, or meeting at pubs.

I have come to know the shopkeepers on either side of me, maybe a few others, that's about it.

So for anyone coming out the last two weekends of MNRF, please stop by and say hi. I won't try to hard sell my art to you! 

What shop - we will stop

[Lady Christina de Pond]

Its nice to hear we are not the only non-drinkers.
I agree that a lot of times it feels like if you don't drink alcohol well, then you don't really fit in- we get that a lot in the mundane world too.

Maybe we should have a iced tea rennie meet up hehe.

Anna, I will definitely be dropping you a line once we figure out what weekend we are going to BARF- similarly if you make it down here let me know and I would happily show you around.

I will look into investing into some R/F pins.

Our new apartment has put us a lot closer to faire (less than 20 min) so hopefully that means we will be going more and be able to lolligag more at faire and hopefully strike up conversations.

a sweet tea rennie meet up is a good idea might should try to hold one here in Ga

[Lady Rebecca]

Rebecca, if you should make another trip to BARF or another of our faires, please let me know. I have a drink now and again, but much prefer to see the shows and wander than spending time at the pub. I'd love the chance to meet up with you.

Same for you and your boyfriend Auryn. Drop a line if you plan to visit and if I,m at faire that weekend I'd love to meet you.

Same here! My wife and I also do not drink, and we'd be glad to spend time with you at shows and wandering about. And this coming season we expect to be at BARF a lot more, since our son is no longer playing soccer and my wife is no longer in the bagpipe band.

I have a show that runs through March 27, so the only weekend I think I'll be able to make it is the 1st weekend of April. And then I'm probably moving the following week. But if you all want to do a sweat tea meet up (that idea sounds delightful!) I would totally be in for that!

Anyone going to Lady of the Lakes Nov 5th?

[Lady Christina de Pond]

wish i could go i'm headed out next weekend for my big trip of the year.

[iain robb]

We're hoping to hit Lady of the Lakes. (We ought to be over our jet lag by then. We're leaving in a week for three weeks in Thailand. It's a work trip, but it should still be a lot of fun.)

Is there an iced tea tent at LotL? 

[Lady Renee Buchanan]

That seems to be what I run into. I've met people from on here before, but especially when I went to BARF this year, I felt out of place with them because I don't drink, so I sort of just drifted away.

[/quote]

I don't drink at all at faire, learned my lesson that drink + not enough food + extreme heat = face plant in the mud.

However, I was at BARF this past year, as in the past, and just about all Steve & I did was walk around and see the shows.  If you were there at St. Molden's weekend, and there were so many people, I'm sorry, I can't remember everyone who was there, we actually ran into a lot of people while watching the shows, so not everybody spends all the time in the pubs!

But to reiterate what I said above, I found the easiest way to strike up a conversation is to ask about someone's garb, especially if they look like a million bucks.     

[Captain Cornelius Howard Duckman]

Just say hi. Seriously. Or random compliments. I have loads of people who make it a point to stop by and chat me up because I talked to them out of the blue.

[Lady L]

What shop - we will stop

shop 228. Hope to see you!
Not sure about detours this weekend, due to the flooding, though.

[Lady L]

Hugs lady L, 
  I know most of the vendors at our local fairs, either personally or just a nodding acquaintance, and I try to stop to say hi and ask how business is a couple of times a day.  Sometimes it's nice to have a smaller, more intimate venue.
Having booth-sat a few times so people can get food, make a privy run, or just to allow them to take in a show (hey I get to sit and rest my feet too) I know that parking in one place all day can get boring and someone stopping to say hi or just to talk can be a godsend.   I hope your folks will take the time to drop by and check on you. 
 

*hugs* back! Thanks Rowen. 

[The Lady Mercedes]

I hear ya...the RPF board's rather dead too, & I'm also a bit intimidated by marching up to complete strangers & saying hello, but I think I'll work on that next yr. Lol. To anyone planning on attending faire next season, the meetup thread still applies! *hint hint*

[Lady Toadflinger]

I noticed that nobody suggested doing what my daughter and I did: volunteer! Do you not use volunteers at Faires outside of California? We just looked on the Faire web pages and contacted the volunteer coordinators, offered to help, and...the rest just followed.  We have run into a few volunteer coordinators who were, shall we say... not so considerate of us, but we met lots of great people. Many times we camped in actors' camp and enjoyed after hours revelry. Just last year we stumbled on Meetup.com, and joined a group of Pirates, which led to more friends!

[JJames]

Thank you Auryn as I too was pondering this exact question! I do see ppls from here at faires, or at least I think its them, and I too grow a little hesitant to approach, (even though I feel Im a people person myself!)! And I believe most people here would probably give a very warm welcome and acceptance to those of us wanting to meet new people even though some of us feel a little reluctant.  I did meet a couple people this season and just as Lady Renee has suggested, sometimes you just have to be the one to be brave-up and introduce yourself first. I just wish I had more time to conversate during a couple of those meets. Of course there are many other good suggestions here too! This year was nearly impossible as my family and I are still new to many of the faires and we spend more time in search of garb shops it seems than any thing else. I feel next season will be better for us! We have a lot of our garb and have time to gather the little add ons over the winter months! I think the R/F pin is a great idea, if anything at all, at least you have a conversation starter, and both will have an instant thing in common.

[Becky10]

I hear ya...the RPF board's rather dead too, & I'm also a bit intimidated by marching up to complete strangers & saying hello, but I think I'll work on that next yr. Lol. To anyone planning on attending faire next season, the meetup thread still applies! *hint hint*

Very dead lol.  I am not big on going up and talking to people i am dont know either but if you ever see me feel free to stop by and say hi! I am usually in the black and gold but i've learned its a pain to manuver in and will be going a bit smaller and peasantier. Short, blonde/red hair, lost looking.