My Sherwood Trip (3/5)

[gaerdon]

Hey guys read here alot but dont post much but know the sherwood guys read this and mainly just wanted to tell them we had great fun at sherwood and give a quick run down. 
Sunday was mine and my wifes anniversary so we decided to do what we love most to do together, oil the leathers, polish the sharp shiney things, and go try out a new fair for us.  We honestly were not expecting much, even with the praise it was getting from many people on here, but we had a blast.  Actually got a chance to talk to the shop owners about there items which I rly miss at trf.  Drinks and food were reasonably priced.  Good mead.  For the first time in forever we actually sat and watched the joust at a faire and rly enjoyed it, though think my wife was enjoying the horses more than the actual joust lol.  I know next to nothing about horses but she had owned one that could have been the solid black horses twin a couple of years ago but had to get rid of him because of price of feeding his giant butt. 
Only had two bad experiences.  First it is abit hard to spot some of the stages even with a map, easily solved by asking just about any shop who were more than happy to point u in the right direction but still something.  And two was a very angry little woman the worked for the faire. We brought a couple who had never been to a renfest before and the guy wore one of my cheap and cheerful wallhanger swords because he had always wanted to, its buttoned into its scabbard and cant be taken out without undoing the 5 buttons, i generaly take this to be peace tied enough.  I strap mine on my back after years of knocking it into my wifes knees and being abit scared to enter any shop with breakables on racks for those reasons as well as having a bad moment a few years ago at scarby were about a ten year old boy ran up and tried his hardest to draw it while we were sitting at a show.  Anyway i keep a leather cord tied between the hilt and the sling even though u would have to either be about 7'5in tall or have gorilla arms to actually draw it.  Me and the guy were standing around the chocolate covered strawberry place while the women hit the restroom when a woman came up and askedto c our swords to make sure they were peace tied.  Well np i think and show her the one hes wearing (him giving me a look that says what does peace tied mean) and she instantly looks at it and says its not tied in u have to get rid of it.  Show her the buttons and she relunctly agrees after trying to draw it several times that u cant get more than an inch of blade out.  Then she asks to c mine I bend over to let her check (actually being able to c my own back very well) and again she says there is no cord. I reach back and true enough cant feel one, i apologize to the woman and say it must have come untied somewhere and asks if she has a cord or leather thong I can use. 
(showing my a dagger she has) Yes i work for the faire and have mine peace tied and if you have to tie yours
(thinking umm yeah but thats not what i said) Yes mam, but do you have a tie
(again showing me her dagger and getting angry) Mine is tied in and all blades at the faire must be peace tied
(giving up any hope and getting through to her now that shes angry) Ok, as soon as our women folk are out of the restroom ill hit one of the booths nearby, one of them will probably have some ribbon or cord i can buy off of them.
(giving us an angry look) Fine ill check you if I see you again to be sure
(me turning back to guy) Well thats abit annoying, which shop do you think will have something to tie it
(laughing abit) Yeah she just couldnt understand you, but i bet you could get a cord from the coin press place
(the woman comes stamping back up behind me almost yelling)  Look you can tie your sword or leave the faire but if you are not going to tie it im going to have to have someone escort you out.
(giving her a look that says obviously WTF and admittly now speaking to her as if she were 5 years old) Yes, as soon as the women are out of the toilet we will tie it, i have nothing on me to tie it with at the moment, and we cannot leave until the women come out, but when they do we will talk over there (pointing) and ask to buy a cord, i will then tie the sword and it will b good, ok?
(huffing with no replay she stomps about thirty feet away angrily turns and glares at us)
Wife comes out of restroom i say a silent prayer that she had not been out there when the woman was speaking to us because she probably would have decked her for talking to us like that.  We explain to her what happened as the other woman comes out, she says let me c, i take a knee so she can get a good look, says oh yeah your tie has come done and reties it since the cord was still tied to the sling.

I know long story and its a little gripe but only thing that ruined a great day lol had me grumbling under my breathe until my wife bought me some more mead to shut me up.

Now if your still reading after my overally long story that has my wife looking over my shoulder shaking her head right now going no one cares why are you typeing that Ill conclude.  Was a great faire, we will be returning next year and will be trying to convince all the rennies we know here in nacogdoches to go.  Hopefully next year we will camp as well (weather report had us worried).  Best part is we introduced two new people to faires and before we left for the day she was asking people were and when to apply for jobs at the faire because she wanted to spend the rest of her life there.  And with that a new rennie was born.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=752365251&aid=633919

think she has her photos public....

[dbaldock]

Glad you had a generally good day at Sherwood!

The photo album doesn't appear to be visible if you're not her Facebook Friend.


Take Care,
David Baldock

[rengypsy]

Well, I am one of the faire owners and I know of no one on staff that fits that description. Sometime, because of our sense of building community, some patrons or participants will intervene.

Apologies for the intrusion of what was an otherwise good experience for you.

We take all critiques and suggestions to heart...as we believe this is your faire as much as ours. 

Sherwood is and will be in a constant.state of becoming.

Thanks for your comments.

Rengypsy

[Antioch]

Hi there,
Would u mind emailing me privately at george@sherwoodforestfaire.com with a description of the unfriendly employee. Friendly staff are one of our key strengths so I'd like to understand this one a bit better.
Thanks,
George

[RenShirts]

Thank you for keeping your cool.  Please come back to the Farie and stop in Booth #203, RenShirts - would like to say hello and Happy Annv.  After your post lots of friendlys would help you have another Great Day.

[DonaCatalina]

gaerdon, I for one am sorry you had any bad experience at this wonderful faire.
I'm sorry we didn't get to meet you there, but maybe next year.
The whole scenario that you described sounds like a patron who got a bee up her bonnet. The people at the gate checked his Lordship's weapons before they even let us pass through.
Again, I hope to meet you at another Faire, maybe even Scarby in a few weeks.

[mpullen]

Gaerdon, let me add my 2.5 cents worth here.

I have no idea who the ranting lady might be, as there are no female members of the Faire roving security staff. If it was a Vendor, it may have been a result of my observation on Sunday that I reported to the Vendor manager for his action. I saw a youth (around 8 years old) draw a steel blade around the Seven Sisters area (where I often hang out). Weapons vendors are supposed to provide peace ties for the weapons they sell. This apparently wasn't being done. The vendor manager probably chewed out the weapons vendors and so it flowed down-hill from there.

If it was a Patron with a sense of "what is correctness", we will educate them that the Faire staff is quite capable on enforcing the Faire rules.

Be assured that the security staff will be totally pleasant when we find a weapons volation. We will identify the problem and help you obtain the necessary ties.

[gaerdon]

I had thought it was a patron myself until she said i work for the faire.  Was a black lady in garb couldnt tell u the exact age.  But hey i rly rly did have a wonderful time and we are definatly going back next year, was a great faire and if it wasnt for the 4.5 hour drive we would probably be going back this year.  My wife tells me I have the habit of remembering the negative more than the positive.  Dont want anyone to think we didnt have alot of fun and if u are thinking about going to sherwood and not sure take my advice and go!

She is making her albums public when she gets home from work so give her a few

Was sad i didnt get to see marc gunn and would love to go back just to c him.  He makes up 90% of my going to and from faire playlist and 75% of my getting drunk with buddies list lol

I did buy a shirt from renshirts by the way, last trf i lost one of my shirts due to a horrible jager accident and the one thing i had to buy was a new one.

Oh and for when she does get the pics up and working the ones of random sky and trees are from when shes going around in the skychair swing thing lol.

Anyway time to get rdy for scarby and my new sword from valiant armoury arrived today (http://www.valiant-armoury.com/catalog/txt_CF402.html) so its a nice day