Guide For Starting A Renfaire?

[Craigmeister]

I talked to an SCA member at the Gravette (AR) Renfest last Saturday who was interested in seeing new Renfaires get started.  I said that there should be a guide to the steps in getting one going.  Of course, it will help once the economy comes back as many sponsors are stingy with their advertising dollars (at least for new faires in & around Oklahoma).

I've been on two faire boards in the past five years.  I know that the most important thing is to secure funds from sponsors or a grant.  Vendor fees, gate fees & t-shirt sales help but don't usually sustain an event for years if there are no big sponsorship dollars.

Which would be the next most important thing?  A team of reliable board members or a good site for the faire?

I know that advertising is very important as well; once you have vendors, entertainers and all-day activities for children.

I have several interviews with faire organizers posted on my site but I have not seen a standard step-by-step guide to creating a successful Renfaire that can stay afloat.  Does anyone know of one?

[DonaCatalina]

Having seen so many start ups fail, I have some thoughts, although I was not intimately involved.

1. Have a decent size site.
2. First build a brick and mortar privy with handicap access and hoop skirts in mind.
3. Build a brick and mortar pub.
4. Team up with a local restaurant to build a brick and mortar eatery next door, even if its just appetizers. People think Turkey legs; but they buy cheesy potatoes.
5. Make sure you have enough financial backing that your first year attendance is not "make or break".
6. Recruit good vendors and a few musical acts. Tents work fine until you get established enough to start building shops. A stage can be a concrete slab for a good while.

[PollyPoPo]

Having seen and read about many small faires folding in failure, and a few successes, I'm surprised no one has written anything up.  Perhaps that could be a project for someone here.  Anybody interested in doing a thesis on the business of faires?

Just a few ideas to add to DonaCatalina's suggestions:

First, don't try to reinvent the wheel without first learning what a wheel is.  The research may be boring, but learning what works and what doesn't can save a lot of time, money, and heartache.

Research faires that have succeeded and those that have failed.  There is a good amount of information available on-line.  Learn everything possible about why those faires failed.  Did they not have enough money or business expertise?  Did they try to build in an unsuitable area (swamp)?  Did they jump in with great ideas but not enough workers to carry it out?  Were they attempting to use the faire as a side-line to support their new-age commune dream? 

Study the successful faires of the past decade.  Sherwood is one (the whole story is on-line, in various sources, but it's all there if someone wants to research it).  Find other successful new faires.  Study their progress.  Why did they succeed?  How were they different from those that failed?  How do they compare to the long-established (big and small) faires?

Decide what kind of faire is desired. 

Is it going to be a small intimate atmosphere with a limited patron base dedicated to a certain time period?  If so, form a group of like-minded individuals who want the same goal.  This is when to have the discussions of seeking ways to support the faire (self-pay, sponsors, volunteer labor, etc.). 

Is it going to be primarily a commercial faire that will be expected to support itself in a business sense?  If so, start with a business background or form an association with someone who does.  Do realistic projections of whether it has any chance to succeed as a business venture in the vicinity desired.

Once someone gets past the first hurdle of the decision of what kind of faire and whether it is economically feasible, it is time to move to the practical logistics.

Assuming the goal is a self-sustaining permanent faire over a period of years, the following should be accomplished:

Obtain the services of an attorney or firm (paid or someone on the board) familiar with what's going on legal-wise regarding real estate, taxes, labor, permits, local politics, etc. 

If at all possible, faire management must plan to OWN the decent size site.  Too many faires start on soft sites, rented for a season, and lose that site or find that the rent has double or tripled by the second season.

Do research on what services are available in the projected site.  Is there a reliable port-a-potty company in the area that can provide service for a large number of people in a short period of time?

Are utility services available or can they be made available to the site?

The research goes on and on.  Some people start with a vast knowledge base; others come in with an idea or a dream, but have no idea what is required to make it work.

[RenStarr]

If I were in your position the first thing I would do (as mentioned by several folks) is dig up as much research as possible on small business start-up's combined with Renn Faire companies.  Then I would contact persons that have already gone down this road.  Talk to as many of them as possible and find out from them what worked well, AND what didn't.  Try to gather as much data as possible so your focus and efforts get the desired results so your Faire can survive. 

Good Luck!

[Lady Renee Buchanan]

I'm not a business-type person (although we own a successful restaurant), but I think location plays a factor.  You need to have big enough urban areas, within say, 45minutes to an hour, to pull the patrons from.

A faire in the middle of a farming area isn't going to have as many potential customers as a more populated area.  Numbers of bodies, who pay the entrance fees, is the majority of the money that you will pay your performers, security, maintenance, etc.

Janesville (WI) Ren Faire is a great success story.  Not too far from Madison, and many commuter belt towns around.  They started small and have grown each year.  From the beginning, they had excellent entertainment and high quality vendors, each year adding more.  People WANT to come back the next year, because it is so well presented.

On the other hand, the Dubuque (IA) Ren Faire has changed locations 3 times.  They have one musical act.  The last time we went, there were less vendors than before (a lot of them are now at Janesville).  And then they changed their dates to the same weekend as Janesville.  Even though it's around a half hour from my house, we don't even go anymore.  You get so much more for your money at Janesville.  I'd go if it were on a different weekend, but making a choice, I'd go to the faire with better entertainment.

So I guess to me, location and entertainment and good vendors are the most important.

[PollyPoPo]

After reading these replies and looking back on this question as it has been asked in the past, Craigmeister, it does seem there is no set of written how-do's of starting a renfaire, per se.

You might want to refine your parameters a bit to get more precise information.  I took a look at your website and the list of faires you had put down as having attended in the past year or so.  They seemed to be more of the smaller, one-weekend variety than a season-long faire, using soft-site (rented, fairgrounds, etc.) with tents instead of permanent structures. 

The start-up factors for those types of faires could be very different than someone wanting to create a faire that could in a period of a decade rival TRF, Scarborough, Bristol, etc.

[theChuck]

First, a caveat: not a businessperson.

I don't think I'd build a board of people just for the sake of it. The route of a startup seems more intelligent to me - find a few core people who can help pull together a first version, and then iterate on it. Bring more people in as necessary without just throwing a bunch of people and making it management-heavy. Honestly, there are a lot of fairs that have gone away in the last few years, and some new ones just don't make it. The one that stands out to me the most is this festival, and Rowen's description on there makes it sound like they just decided to put something together in the hopes that it would work.

For me, the things I'd focus on are location, authenticity and legitimacy. I want to go to a fair where people are passionate about it, and they're putting their all into making it a fun, authentic-feeling (that is, not corporate) event. I think I'd try to do things that set your fair apart from other ones. For example, some well-established fairs aren't pulling in younger crowds (15-35), so you may want to target for those groups. Every so often there's been a post here asking about adult-only fairs. Maybe your fair is a regular fair during the day, but there's a few hours at night for more adult performances, language, etc. Provided, of course, that the people in your area are into that sort of thing. Maybe all the other fairs around you are corporate events sponsored by Big Brew Co., and there's a desire for a more authentic fair (e.g. Sterling in upstate NY), so target that.

[Hoowil]

My first question would be if you wanted a longer running hard sited faire or a shorter soft sited one. While a lot of the planning would be the same, the execution is very different. The start up costs are lower for a soft site, sine it is short term site rentals instead of land purchasing or long term leases and building construction. But at the same time there is a big difference in the theme and atmosphere between the two. I've been to hard site faires (granted a long time ago), and it was awesome to see the buildings, and have the sense of a village. At soft sites, its more played up as being like a market faire, or festival, and the entertainment and gigs are planned accordingly.

[Rowan MacD]

    If you build a hard site (and assuming you wish to maintain sole ownership of the venue) you will need to find something at least semi profitable to do with the buildings and land during the rest of the year.
    Most of the big faires share their venue with haunted houses, berry picking, other festivals and living history events, wedding venues, rental halls and catering services to support themselves in the off season.  In many cases the faire is the not the big moneymaker, which helps in those years with bad attendance.
   Nebraska Ren faire doesn't own it's site, but is very fortunate in that the owner is willing to build a few new booths, buildings, stages and maintain the landscaping with an eye to making the ranch an attractive venue for all of the above.

[Butch]

Craigmeister, re-read your original question.  This link contains some points about AMUSEMENT parks, but could be translated for use when considering starting a Renfaire:  http://www.bplans.com/amusement_park_business_plan/executive_summary_fc.php

[LoganthePirate]

I don't know if this will help you. But this is the best document I've found regarding starting a Renfaire.

http://scribe.faire.net/faqs/Renstart.Htm

[Craigmeister]

There is a lot of good input here.  Thank you everyone.  The links included are quite helpful.

In Oklahoma and the states around it, it seems that most of the newer faires in the past few years have been small and organized by a vendor or two with good ideas and a group of helpers.  The only large faire I know of that has started recently in the region is the Sherwood Forest Faire near Austin, TX.  It sounds like it is succeeding.

I do visit mostly soft site faires because they have more of a family feel to them.  I visit OKRF each year, KCRF the past couple of years and just got home today from Scarby.  I enjoy these larger faires for the variety of entertainment and to see the buildings that provide atmosphere.

I'll do what I can to pass on the info provided to give guidance to all who want to start a Renfaire, large or small.  I would love to see the good ones succeed as we need more faires throughout the country.

[Craigmeister]

Here's something I was reminded of today.  Don't have a Renfaire when the temperature is over 95 degrees.  It kills attendance!  If your attendance drops off, your vendors drop off.  If you lose both of those, goodbye faire.

The Oklahoma Renaissance Festival learned this in its infancy.  During their first year or two, the fest was held in August.  They have since switched to May.  This has resulted in good attendance.  Scarby, south of Dallas, goes on in April and May.  It can still get warm there in May.  They have adapted by having an area or two that have misters for people to cool off in.

Hot faires can also be very dangerous to those who are in garb.  Once dressed in garb, it's hard to switch to mundanes as it is not as fun to not be dressed up.  However, if your garb is too hot, you gotta' do something to stay cool.

In order to keep everyone healthy, just don't have your faire in really hot weather.  Even if other  weekends during the year have other events going on, it is not worth risking anyone's health.

[BLAKDUKE]

Here's something I was reminded of today.  Don't have a Renfaire when the temperature is over 95 degrees.  It kills attendance!  If your attendance drops off, your vendors drop off.  If you lose both of those, goodbye faire.


Hot faires can also be very dangerous to those who are in garb.  Once dressed in garb, it's hard to switch to mundanes as it is not as fun to not be dressed up.  However, if your garb is too hot, you gotta' do something to stay cool.

In order to keep everyone healthy, just don't have your faire in really hot weather.  Even if other  weekends during the year have other events going on, it is not worth risking anyone's health.

This is why you see very few faires in Florida in the summertime.