What turned you into a rennie?

[Bobaganush]

Some friends of mine were going about 6 years ago and I decided to go with them (TNRF).  I went in civvies they were all in garb.  I though they were insane.  We had a blast.

By the next fair I was decked out and I have been ever since. 

The main thing I like about  the  fairs is the people.  Good people, having fun and letting that freak flag fly.  I can't get enough.

[Once Debauched]

The Adventures of Robin Hood started it all.

Like Robert Phoenix, I too grew up watching the old swashbuckler movies.  My Dad had a thing for "classic" movies  and when beta recorders (precursors to VHS) came out I taped as many as I possibly could and watched them over and over.  This of course led me to reading books about Robin Hood and knights which eventually led me to The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, Dragon Lance and Forgotten Realm novels.

In my teens I knew several people who were members of the SCA or who traveled to work KCRF, but being 17 or there abouts, didn't have the means to do either and swore I'd eventually make it to KCRF.  (which I STILL have yet to do!)

In 2004, I discovered St Louis had a faire and went with a group of friends and was hooked. The following year I returned in garb with my 5 month old daughter in a stroller with a bindi on her forehead.  We've gone every year since.

[kcdcchef]

nice!!! KCRF is doing Robin Hood as their 2011 theme, you'd love it!

[Stephan of Glendorren]

I am very new to this but I think I am hooked. As a child in the late 1950's a TV show about Robin Hood was my influence. I always dreamed about being an archer.
I did not get to attend a ren fair until this fall (2011). TRF was amazing. All the people haveing a wonderful time. Of course I was looking for beautiful women in scanty clothes and I found them. She-Wolf was the first denizen I took the time to talk to and she was very charming and patient with me.
But what really got me was seeing Swan Princess, sitting on the ground, playing her violin and interacting with young children. That was pure magic.
I am in the process of putting together my archers garb and hope to have at least some of it by next season.

[Lady Neysa]

For me I think it first started in the 9th grade, when in English class I saw Franco Zefferelis' version of Romeo and Juliet for the first time.  I was completely in awe of the gorgeous clothing, and how stunning young Olivia Hussey looked.  This was many years before I even knew of the existence of renaissance faires.  I fell in love with medieval fantasy books from authors like Anne McCaffrey (may she rest in peace) and Piers Anthony. Oddly enough I never read The Hobbit or LOtR until my adult years.  Fast forward to the early 90's, I took my first trip to Medieval Times in NJ with a good friend of mine who was majorly into all things medieval and renaissance.  She told me, "this was fun, but if you liked this, you really should go with me some time to renfest."  I innocently replied, "what's renfest?"  She went on to explain it all to me.  It sounded wonderful, but I wasn't to get the chance to attend for several more years.  My husband and I moved back down to MD where we are from, and in the fall of 1993, my same friend who told me about faires announced she was planning a medieval wedding, and I was to be her matron of honor.  That fall, she took me to the Maryland Renaissance Festival, and of course, I was immediately sucked in and hooked within an hour of walking in the gates!  That was the first and last time I attended in mundane clothing. 

[dbaldock]

I grew up in central Arkansas, where there aren't any Ren Faires, so I didn't hear about them until I was living in the Dallas, TX area as an adult.

In the late 80's, I was working at Convex Computer Corp. in Richardson, TX and they had Scarborough Faire discount tickets available through the HR department. But since I didn't know of any co-workers who went, and wasn't sure what it was, I didn't take advantage of the tickets.

Fast-Forward to 1995 --- I was a member of ORAC, a Dallas / Fort Worth area Science Fiction Fan Club, and I went on a group outing to one of the final weekends at Scarborough Faire that year.  Within a few minutes of passing through the gates, I was hooked on the music and atmosphere of Scarborough Renaissance Festival.  I bought a Season Pass for 1996, and began buying garb for myself on opening weekend of the 1996 season.  Depending on my employment situation during the ensuing years, I've attended anywhere from 0 to 4 Ren Faires each year.


Take Care,
David Baldock

[Craigmeister]

A couple of friends took me to the first "Lord Of The Rings" movie in 2001.  I hadn't heard of the story before but it blew me away.  The next spring, a couple of other friends took me to a couple of Renfaires.  I was hooked from then on!  It was the hammered dulcimer music that originally pulled me in.  I began traveling as far away as Scarby, TRF and Colorado for Renfaires.

After a few years, I began to have troubles finding out where Renfaires were.  At a small faire, Fugli Troll suggested I start setting up a tent.  A month later, I was doing just that.  I was getting info from my performer friends and handing out flyers showing where Renfaires were in this part of the country.  A Renfaire owner then suggested I create a website showing the same thing.  The next year, the "period police" rightly suggested I wear garb when I set up my tent.  My sister-in-law made a shirt for me, I bought the rest of an archer's outfit and a longbow.

I've now served on the board for a Medieval Faire and look forward to doing so again.  I wouldn't trade this great escape from reality for hardly anything.

[Merlin the Elder]

We would have been Rennies years earlier, but since we have to travel afar to even get to a faire—and had little money available—it just wasn't in the cards. We first went to festivals around `89 when we were introduced by a long-time friend and his wife who were living in the Dallas area, and we visited Scarborough for the first time. Later that year, after hearing us talk about it so much, I guess, Nim's folks, who lived in Houston, took us to TRF. From that point, there was no doubt, we were hooked on the concept of going, but just couldn't squeeze the piggy bank hard enough to make him poop enough coinage to cover the cost of traveling. Our faire days would have to wait.

Things changed for us financially around 2000, and we began making annual pilgrimages to Scarborough, even enticing a couple of friends to join us for the trip. I think the second or third trip down, we decided to garb up. I did the kilt thing with something Nim made, but it was extremely lame up against the regalia that the Scots at Scarby wear. The following year, I began my faire life as a wizard. Nim had called me "Merlin" for many years prior because of what I could do with a computer, so that was the persona I adopted.

Typically, I would cut my beard short just after faire, then let it grow longer over the next year. Then I thought, what the hell...let's see what the boss says if I let it grow. Apparently, in academia, the long beard is accepted as just a manifestation of another crackpot professor (although I am not a teacher), so nobody gives a damn. The university president did look at me a little funny during one event.

The entire thing, for me anyway, has been supercharged by finding this site, and meeting so many people. It has greatly enhanced things for me.

[Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury]

I had been going since I was 14 or so with my Girl Scout troop every year. But once I got out of Girl Scouts my friend, Jinx, picked up where Girl Scouts left off. Then around 2008 she started a decent collection of bodices and other garb items and had a full garb outfit to lend me and told me she met some awesome people from this online forum (R/F.com of course) and I should meet them. Since then my once yearly trip turned into how many faires can I get to this year and how many days will I  be able to go per faire.