What's your reaction/critique of the faire in this it's Fifth Season?

[prothos]

We made it out this past weekend and camped in the RV section. We had a great time also. We liked the smaller feel of the fair. I would say the the pota potties could use a cleaning 2 times a day on busy weekends.

[Trillium]

Polly, I'm sorry we missed you too!  We had a wonderful time and made a new friend/rennie also.  We had a lady and her daughter set up camp behind us, they never been to a ren faire before and decided to spend their spring break weekend at Sherwood.  We welcomed them to our fire and our kids played together all weekend.  They had a great time and plan to come back next year in garb!

[KiltedPrivateer]

So, we finally made it to Sherwood this weekend for our first time and we love it. Plan to be back next year.  ...

Wish we had known you were coming, we could have squeezed ya in to Clan P's site in Clan Camping.
However, it sounds like your spot may have been a blessing to the new comers.

[Trillium]

Thank you KP!  We truly didn't know for sure we would make it until Thursday night.  My niece cancelled on us Thursday so we cancelled the hotel, debated if we could afford to go even if we camped, then decided to go for it.  The family area can definitely use some more clearing but we enjoyed the quiet.  At TRF, we enjoy the general camping area but Sherwood's general camping was so packed with RV's we would have been miserable.

[FreyBjorn]

Our take on it first time out  ... Mike did a tremendous job keeping the campground in order especially with how busy it got this weekend. Could have used one more toilet in family camping, could have used more family space. We may have enjoyed a central bonfire type area but at the same time, not having it made us go on walkabout and meet some folks like KiltedPrivateer and Lady Hawke over at Free Spirit which was nice and might not have happened with a central fire/party.

As for the faire itself, definitely more intimate. It seemed that more performers here were willing to take the time to chat about their skill and we had some nice talks with Jason from Drones n Drums and with Mordred. There seemed to be a higher ratio of handcrafted vendors here and fewer who buy wholesale stuff and sell it at faire. I liked that quite a bit. It would be nice to see a bit more small group improv throughout the grounds. The food was definitely of better quality than at other faires we have been to. Keep that up!! :-)

Overall we had a great time and look forward to doing it again.

P.S. I heard a rumor that Scarborough might come into the Sherwood family. If that was the case, and the idea was to make Scarby more like Sherwood, including camping, then I am 100% on board if that rumor is true.

[prothos]

we did have a very nice run in with one of the hand crafted vendors. Sorry but the shop name escapes me they setup by the kids jousting ride.  The husband and wife craft hand made chainmail jewlery and clothes. they crafted my wife a custom necklace and ear rings to match the colors of one her outfits. she lost one of the ear rings some how within the first hour of having them. we went to lost and found and reported it but no luck with its return. We returned to the booth and they maded her a replacement and changed out the clasp type on both ear rings to avoid it happening again. We offered to pay for the replacement several times but they refused payment. 
Huzzah to them

[Lady Kaalyn]

I want to say this is my second year going to sherwood and I loved it more than last year.  The faire has such a relaxed atmosphere and authentic feel.  Had an interesting expriance camping due to us waking up to some random man walking down the roads screaming he was going to kill everyone and hoped the rest of us died on the way home.  But security showed up super quick and took care of the mater.  It scared my sister but I was glad at the responce time. 
The only thing I would add to the faire is more signage for the camping area.  Lots of us get there friday night in the dark and we had to do a u-turn in the dark on the highway for the second year in a row.

[Riff Raff]

Just realized I never responded for this year's thread. I suppose I was too busy just enjoying myself! As before, Sherwood is head and shoulders above all other faires in my mind. The limited areas I can think of that could use specific improvements:

- Showers near the general camping area.
- More signage within the general camping area (i.e. "This way to the faire ->"), and prominent signs at major intersections pointing out the way to the faire entrance.  I was never lost, but met plenty of people who were (and in some cases had walked in circles already).
- Signage from the highway was covered above, though that seems difficult with all the construction changes afoot on 290.
- More overall involvement in the parade, preferably including some of the clans. Sherwood's parade always seems like a bit of an afterthought (and matching that, it lasts about one minute).
- Move the closing pub sing out of Trip To Jerusalem. It's just not a good area for it anymore. There's no room for dancers, and the acoustics are awful. I've stood at the top of the hill thinking pub sing hadn't started yet, but come to find out I just couldn't hear a thing from it. Three Stags comes to mind as a potentially better location, if we could arrange an area for musicians near all the outdoor tables.
- Make sure there's a good sized fire going at the Seven Sisters on cool days.  There were a couple of days where I bugged out early because the cold had seeped into my bones, and I left in favor of starting my own fire after discovering there wasn't one at the Sisters.
- Reopen the upstairs of Como Ristorante Italiano.  There's a big sign on the way up warning about the bell up there, yet it was shut down entirely because somebody complained the bell was loud apparently.  Really?

With that said, the faire overall is better than ever.  The Great Hall is awesome!

[KiltedPrivateer]

I second the upstairs eating at Comos.  Who in the world thought it was a good idea to punish everyone else because of a jackass?  Even the FoF'ers couldn't get access.

With the feast and wine tasting moving to the keep, I hope that the tent outside Comos will remain for some covered outdoor seating area.

We had an opportunity to visit with the Gypsy camp palm readers (The ones by the maze).  We had a lot of fun with them.  Hope they will stick around.

The jousters need to stick to jousting.  Their crappy sword play acting is - well - crappy.  If any of them have actual sword knowledge, the certainly don't display it.

The funniest thing I saw this year, and I wish I had taken a picture, was not an act.  It was a young boy about 4 or 5 years old, with his small wooden dagger, attacking the king from behind.  The king never saw it coming.  Poor King George -  Taken out by the son of a pauper.  (o:  I think the boy may have even been a viking.  Too funny.

Want more Rambling Sailors.  Love the Washing Well Wenches.  Love the additions to the candy store.

[Merlin the Elder]

What happened at Comos? It was closed upstairs LAST year, too, wasn't it?  I never heard why...was just disappointed because I thought it was a really nice place to dine...

[KiltedPrivateer]

Last year we ate upstairs several times.  If they closed it last year I am unaware of it.  There are times that the door is closed but the seating was still open.

[PollyPoPo]

KP,

Were they actually serving upstairs or did you buy at the window and go up?

[KiltedPrivateer]

Upstairs was seating only.

[Riff Raff]

Agreed about the jousting. Have felt that way since the departure of Knights of Mayhem. With the new group's shows this year and last year, it seems like there's only about five minutes in there that's actually worthwhile to see (i.e. the jousting).

Regarding the upstairs of Comos, I believe it was shut down the last two weekends of faire this year.  Their staff told me the reason was because of someone complaining about the loudness of the bell.

[Merlin the Elder]

The time that we ate upstairs, it was full service, with a wait staff. I believe that was SWFF Year 2.  I don't recall it even being open in the years following. We always came opening weekend.