Opening day observations

[Queen Bonnie]

 Hugs Elizabeth! You are so beautiful- everyone wants a picture! Amazing garb!
I find it is handy being a Wizard Queen!I need no royal guard- but it might be fun?- When things get annoying-  I can just disappear! POOF!
I miss my Wizard Escort! Lord A once said NO when someone asked us to pose for a picture! It was so unlike him! He made them grovel! It works very well and is amusing too!!

[PyroMaster]

See the problem is that most mundanes have no clue that I'm not the real Queen of the fair or at least on cast there.  So if I am at all rude to them or ignore them or something, then they could end up looking unfavorably at TRF in general or making complaints to the festival staff.  I don't want that to happen either, so I play along and am usually just flattered by the attention.... it's just that Saturday was so over the top invasive and beyond annoying that by the end of the day I came close to blatantly yelling at a few rude folks.  I just hate loosing my cool composure and love of my time like that.

My Lady Elizabeth, when the hoards become unbearable. you are quite welcome to decompress in the wizard realm of Pyro City. It is a hidden kingdom that is not visible to most mortals.

However please note that we are rude too, but in a good way. 

[Blue66669]

Hey PyroMaster, what was up with us getting shorted that last *BANG* at closing cannon???

ONLY TWO NOW??

[SirRichardBear]

Lady Elizabeth any time you see me around and need an escort to get someplace just ask.  I have a little bit of practice in doing that from Four Winds and Scarby.

[Element of Air]

There we already have a Royal Guard getting put together giving their services to you!

[PyroMaster]

Hey PyroMaster, what was up with us getting shorted that last *BANG* at closing cannon???

ONLY TWO NOW??

Oh. Um. You noticed that, then?  ...  Yes, we are doing 2 booms now. 2 are as good as 3, right?  And besides, these are LOUD booms! We set off a chariot alarm for the first time in years on Sunday 

[Blue66669]

Hey PyroMaster, what was up with us getting shorted that last *BANG* at closing cannon???

ONLY TWO NOW??

Oh. Um. You noticed that, then?  ...  Yes, we are doing 2 booms now. 2 are as good as 3, right?  And besides, these are LOUD booms! We set off a chariot alarm for the first time in years on Sunday 

Think you could squeeze off 3 good booms for me next Saturday? I promise, I'll leave you alone for the rest of the season...

[knarlyknot]

I wanted to chime in that you outdid yourself on the fireworks Sunday!!  Great job!! 

[Lord Duelist]

It seemed like the crowd was a bit thin, this being a combination of observations from the portion of the drive down FM 1774 past Magnolia, through the entire day, through the drive home down TX 105 to I-45 (more on this later). The only contrary evidence was the seating in The Arena still relatively full at fireworks time. One would think discounted tickets would solve this problem (hey, the discount certainly helped my budget).

Crowd was definitely not thin! With a headcount of 26,200+, it may have been a record opening day. The areas I could see from my booth were certainly crowded.

Okay, maybe my observations missed just a bit. Wouldn't be the first time. It's entirely possible that more of them came later and/or left earlier.

As for the Drench-A-Wenches, there are more than one. The ones we have this year are veterans, but unless you stayed through all of the shift changes this year and last, you haven't seen all of them. To further confuse matters, we sometimes make a temporary change when one of the ladies is feeling bad, or if we have a young lady wanting to try her hand at it.

Wow, I guess I do indeed learn something new every day. Last year I saw the same one both times I went and assumed there weren't nearly as many. Guess my newness is showing...

Lord Duelist, I am glad you had a fantastic time at Faire this weekend and hope you get to come back soon!

Tentatively my next visit is slated for November 15th. There's a lot going on in my mundane life right now, or it would be sooner.

[Sootikin]

Element of Air, there is no WAY that TRF cast would be stopping you and asking for a picture. We aren't allowed to carry cameras, for one, and we're in character at all times inside the gates, for another.

LadyElizabeth, they'll soon enough catch on that you're not wearing a white badge. All will be well.

[eloquentXI]

It's not silly at all, Elizabeth. As your Hatchet sister and a friend, all you need to say is that I need an escort and this wench will be at your side. Great to see you this weekend, by the way, and looking forward to seeing you and your sister at All Hallows Eve, darlin!

A lot of the 'danes don't see the white badge nor do I think that they care. I was stopped for photos on a few occasions this weekend and my garb is nowhere as stunning as Elizabeths. *shrug* Sometimes they can be a bit ridiculous...I know I had a bit of an issue getting some photos of Element this weekend during the chainmaille show as a good portion of the photographers were quite pushy and rude, both returning photographers and one-time 'danes. But then again, I also snapped at two tall men who were standing in front of another short photographer and I...so I got myself to where I could see. 

[THELADYKAT]

I do want to say though that I did not allow the insanity to ruin my time at all!!! opening weekend this year will go down as a fabulous opening weekend!!

Yes this was a fabulous weekend but it would have been more fun if we found eachother sooner.


You know I am there for you any time you need me. I will keep people from bugging you too much.

I can't wait till next weekend when we run around together all weekend and play. Email me on myspace with your number.

[THELADYKAT]

I am not going to even start talking about how many times I was stopped for pictures. I am The Cat Girl of the Ren Fairer people want to take pictures with me I'm OK with it. We dress up and people are going to want to take pictures of us in our really cool outfits, But I see what you are saying some people just don't get it.

[Tudor-Diva]

I am so sorry about that. It is always really frustrating when that happens.

I got stopped a few times by mundanes AND cast. (Cast is the worst because they DON'T leave you alone) If I am busy, I tell them generally, "I don't work here or I do work here (if it is cast) and I have not eaten all day/have to use the rest room/am speaking with friends I have not seen in years, I am sorry but at this time I can not take a picture with you, perhaps later"

Most of the time I have Chris with me to escort me around so I don't have to deal with that. And if i do get stopped, he does all the talking for me.  

Just to reiterate what Mad Queen Juana said, Performance Company members (cast) DO NOT carry cameras and are not taking photos on site.  There may be some photographers who are allowed to wear the white performers medallions, but that is to designate that they fall under Jeff Baldwin's department (Entertainment).  I don't know who it was that was asking you for photos, and whom you thought was a performance company member, but I can assure you, a member of the performance company it was not.  We are there to perform, entertain, and personally engage as many people who walk through those gates as possible, not to take photos of patrons and others in attendance.  Were we doing otherwise, I can assure you that we would be in big trouble.  Do you remember who it was (assumed cast members) who were asking for your photos?  I can tell you once and for all if they actually are on cast.  Performance company members are designated by a white medallion on their left lapel, or somewhere in the vicinity of the left shoulder.  There are many performance company members who are members of this forum and would concur with me.

I just wanted to chime in on the topic of being photographed non-stop, having experienced it myself when I filled in for Rosella (Queen Catherine) for two weekends in 2006.  Wearing a gorgeous costume like that and being a high profile character, one may as well be walking around with a huge neon sign saying "HI!!!  I'M THE QUEEN!!!  STOP ME EVERY FEW STEPS AND TAKE MY PICTURE, INVADE MY PERSONAL SPACE, AND THEN GET MAD AT ME IF I CAN'T STOP BECAUSE I AM ON MY WAY TO A SHOW AND CANNOT BE LATE."  But, it is part and parcel with the role and the fabulous look.  My own personal advice is just to accept that if you are going to wear something spectactular, then be prepared for the weird phenomenon that the public feel as if they have some sort of entitlement to you.  Its strange, I know, but just be gracious and accept it as flattery, and try to keep moving.  People aren't TRYING to be rude, they just want to be able to get that beautiful photograph to keep forever.  Its not like they get to see this stuff every day.  : )

Cheers!

[JackGonzo, MD]

Can't remember the last time my feet hurt that bad, but hey it was day one and I can't remember if I sat down at any point other then to punch a hole into a hat. Though hilights of the weekend can easily be described. Meeting Dragon was a pleasure, as was meeting Blue (even if it was to give us hugs really quickly on her lunch break). Wish I had the energy to meet more of you, but after work I crashed on Saturday and headed home after inventory on Sunday.

Hopefully I'll get to meet more in the coming weeks, of course I need folks to come by Excalibur Leather and say hi since so far there hasn't been much time to take a walk around faire. Specially since I know after Faire ends this Saturday I'll probably be sitting next to my car listening to the Longhorns beat Mizzo, and now I'm rambling.