Patron's camping - new thread

[Ryk Rakham]

Count us in. We are forming a Ren Faire society up along the Red River and we've talked about travelling and camping at various faires. T'would be a large group and would likely camp at Scarby 4 or 5 times a year.

[Alerrick Afon Adou]

Me and my Airstream are waiting on this to happen.I live only 30 min from scarby, and I would camp out if you guys put this together. See all of you soon.......Huzzah

[ladybriony]

I would LOVE camping at Scarborough! I went for the first time last year and it really takes away from the experience to have to return to a Motel 6 off the Highway 20 minutes away.  Also, I personally found that the atmosphere was less welcoming to playtrons as other faires in Texas and I feel that camping is a big contributor to that.  PLEASE add camping!  My friends and I would come more than twice from Houston if you added camping.  I don't see why they don't make use of that giant field next to the faire.  Buy it and turn it into a campground!

[Merlin the Elder]

"...less welcoming..." Really?!? You must have been in the wrong place. Tremendous camaraderie there!

[ladybriony]

"...less welcoming..." Really?!? You must have been in the wrong place. Tremendous camaraderie there!

We went twice: once in April and once in May.  The second weekend of the season was fine, but the weekend we went that was later in the season was a weirder experience.  Mundanes far outnumbered playtrons, which is normal for TRF, but the mundanes sort of gawked at people in costume.  At one point, a mundane went up to a friend of mine who was dressed as a barbarian and told her she looked like a slut.  She wasn't even wearing something that revealing!  I think the lack of camping breeds this atmosphere where more mundanes come to the faire than playtrons and they treat us like sideshow people, which I've noticed doesn't happen at TRF.  That's just my experience, though.

[Merlin the Elder]

I've never been treated poorly by any patron at Scarborough. One incident shouldn't cloud your judgment.

I'm not sure what to say about there being too many mundanes. Without them, there is no faire, because there isn't enough money to keep it going.  ...and camping has nothing to do with how someone is going to treat you on the inside of the faire.  There will be jerks everywhere, including in the camps.

[ladybriony]

I'm not saying there shouldn't be mundanes.  I went to the faire as a mundane for years when I was a kid, and look where I am now!  I'm just saying that I felt it had a less welcoming atmosphere than TRF or Sherwood, like I was being gawked enough to make me uncomfortable.  It just seemed like more people from Dallas came down with their kids to have a fun day and look at all the "weird people" than people who genuinely love faires coming together to have a great weekend.  Again, it's just my experience, but I think opening a camping ground would bring in way more playtrons and make the overall atmosphere more fun and welcoming. 

[DonaCatalina]

I am indeed sorry that you did not feel welcome at Scarborough.
It has always seemed to me that there were quite a few people in garb.
I have been stepped on, shoved, bumped and elbowed by mundanes over the years; but those have been isolated incidents. Don't let one mundane troll ruin your perception of the entire fair.
You will hardly find a friendlier group than the FOF breakfast tailgaters on Rows 12-10.
Yes,
we have expanded.