Visitors from Far Away

[Lady Renee Buchanan]

Lord Stephen and I are very limited in where we can go for faire, because we have a restaurant that is open on Saturday nights.  The only time we can get away for a "long" weekend is on holidays like Memorial Day or Labor Day, because the restaurant is closed on Sundays and Mondays.

Our trips consist of getting up very early on Sunday, driving to a faire, usually arriving around noon, spending the rest of the day, staying overnight, going to the faire until Monday afternoon, then the long drive back.  In the past, we've done this over Labor Day a few times to MN.

I noticed that the St. Louis faire is over Memorial Day weekend, and it would be between 5-6 hours driving, which we consider do-able.  I am starting to plan out our trips for 2009 and would like some info about the St. Louis faire. Not the stuff I can read on the website, but from people who actually go there.

Is it large, small, mid-sized?  Will there be enough to do, or too much to do, in the time frame we could attend?  What kind of musical entertainment is there?  That's the main reason we go to faire.  We don't usually go to the mud show, the washing well wenches, because we have them at our home faire (Bristol), and we've seen them numerous times before, but we love the music.

Are there places to stay near to the faire that are reasonably priced?  I can't camp (long story, but I can't), and we can't afford the Hilton, just someplace that is clean and in a safe area.  Is there a big forum group that attends this faire?  Do you set up Meet & Greets?

How much are the tickets?  Are there 2 day passes?  Any discount coupons available?

Thank you for any information you can provide.

Renee   

[Cormac]

Lord Stephen and I are very limited in where we can go for faire, because we have a restaurant that is open on Saturday nights.  The only time we can get away for a "long" weekend is on holidays like Memorial Day or Labor Day, because the restaurant is closed on Sundays and Mondays.

Our trips consist of getting up very early on Sunday, driving to a faire, usually arriving around noon, spending the rest of the day, staying overnight, going to the faire until Monday afternoon, then the long drive back.  In the past, we've done this over Labor Day a few times to MN.

I noticed that the St. Louis faire is over Memorial Day weekend, and it would be between 5-6 hours driving, which we consider do-able.  I am starting to plan out our trips for 2009 and would like some info about the St. Louis faire. Not the stuff I can read on the website, but from people who actually go there.

Is it large, small, mid-sized?  Will there be enough to do, or too much to do, in the time frame we could attend?  What kind of musical entertainment is there?  That's the main reason we go to faire.  We don't usually go to the mud show, the washing well wenches, because we have them at our home faire (Bristol), and we've seen them numerous times before, but we love the music.

Are there places to stay near to the faire that are reasonably priced?  I can't camp (long story, but I can't), and we can't afford the Hilton, just someplace that is clean and in a safe area.  Is there a big forum group that attends this faire?  Do you set up Meet & Greets?

How much are the tickets?  Are there 2 day passes?  Any discount coupons available?

Thank you for any information you can provide.

Renee   

I would consider St. Louis mid sized.  I had the oppurtunity to take my youngest daughter for half a day while my oldest was taking a dance class.  If I had a full day from cannon to close I would say I could take it all in and not feel like I missed half of it like I do at KCRF. Tickets were $13 for adults and I believe there are coupons available on line.

Three Pints Gone was by far my favorite musical group, there was also someone playing water glasses which was worth a few minutes to stop and enjoy, Elven Drums was good, and while not musical there were a couple of aerialist that we enjoyed watching.  We were very limited on time and I am looking forward to going back and catching more.

Not much I can offer in the way of accomadation information.  We day trip from Springfield which is 3 or so hours.

I don't know if there is a big forum group that attends, but we could certainly start one.  Not sure which weekend we'll be attending yet but will post before hand.  It would be a pleasure to meet some folks from the forums.

Hope this was helpful.

[jcbanner]

Theres a handfull of us from the forums that are on cast. I cant say that I've personally run into everyone from the forums that goes to STL, but I understand that theres a good amount that do. and a few decent sized groups that head out there.  I believe that Malcom and Sir Clisto have some decent photos of the site posted online somewhere.  (sorry, I don't have the URL)

As far as music and stage shows, I read a review published in one of the renfaire mags thats biggest complaint about our shows was that there were too many schedualed per stage.  hey, if thats a complaint, we're doing good by my book.
Good news, the pirateship stage is in sight of one of our pubs.

Some of our musical acts, are:  Three Pints Gone, Musical Blades, Chuvani drums and belly dancers, The Limey Birds, Vince Conaway (always a favorite with his hammer dulcimer), and Melissa Purvis (celtic harp)
We have more performers, but this is just a short list of regular musical performers.



I'd say we are a medium sized faire, but our costumed cast is just as large as many of the larger faires across the country, and we take pride in our reputation of being one of the friendlier faires.  we may not yet have as much of a well settled look as Bristol, but we're still carving out among the trees, so the grounds are very well shaded.

2 day passes are $20, and for a weekend of listening to good music, watching swordfights, a joust of two, as many stage acts as you could want, learn a thing or two about historic crafts, have a great time joking around with danes and rennies alike, its a hard deal to beat.



                   

[Cap'n Hunnar Graybeard]

We've been attending the St. Louis Faire for the last two years and I agree with JC that if someone complains about the number of acts per stage, that it's a good thing. A lot of variety for adults and kids.

We got to meet a few R/F people such as Lord and Lady Alberon and Amyj and her husband. It would be nice to have a meet & greet to see other R/F members there.

For lodging, we found a Best Western in Foristell that is about 5 minutes from the Faire site. Rates were about $70/night. The rooms were clean and the staff pretty friendly.

Best Western West 70 Inn
12 Highway W
Foristell, Missouri, 63348-1201
Phone: 636/673-2900
Fax: 636/673-7222
Toll Free Reservations: 888-869-6990

The cast has been very friendly and entertaining. We have made this one of our must attend Faires.

Hope this helps you come to a decision.

[Malcolm]

A good view of the Greater St Louis Renaissance Faire can be found here:
http://www.sirclisto.com/stl/stl.html
http://www.pbase.com/lordmalcolm/gslrf
and
http://www.pbase.com/lordmalcolm/gslrf2

One could not find a place more friendly in both people and grounds. Gentle rolling, tree covered hills lead through a maze of enchantments.

[jcbanner]

One could not find a place more friendly in both people and grounds. Gentle rolling, tree covered hills lead through a maze of enchantments.

gentle rolling  right. untill you co round the corner, its straight up from there

no, there are hills, but theres really only one that could really be called a hill.

Thanks for posting the links

[Amyj]

C'mon out, you want a good time, we'll show you a good time!  Having visited Bristol one time over Memorial day and only getting to really spend one day...I would say ours could be kind of like seeing Bristol when it was a "pre-teen".  The booths are permanent or in the process of going permanent.  The lanes wind through wooded areas (Deep Woods Off...we do get ticks), and we have a very good mix of "big name" faire acts and up and coming performers.  I'd like to think that the performers have a lot of fun in St. Louis because the fans are so great too.  We have ample free parking, 3 pubs (one within...3 chat stops of front gate), 4 (or more?) food vendor areas with a good variety of different offerings, and enough of a variety of other vendors to tempt anyone.  But by far, I would have to say that the draw for me (despite being local) is the people...everyone here makes you feel like family...it's like the faire version of Cheers!  So please, do come out...we would love to show you around and raise a pint with ye!
Just pay VERY close attention to the weather for the weekend...St. Louis in the summer can be unpredictable at best, and you will want to be fully prepared to enjoy our lovely faire in both sun and rain (sometimes the rain is more fun...huddled under a small canopy with good looking pirates...go figure  )

[Lady Renee Buchanan]

Thanks for your input, it all sounds wonderful.  Steve and I talked about it on the way to my surgery this morning, and we think we might be able to swing down for the Sunday/Monday of Memorial Day weekend.

Amyj, thank you for the info on the weather.  I was going to ask what kind of temperatures we could expect.  Another question, very important to a person who had a kidney transplant (how could I forget to ask this in the first post???!!!):  are there flush-able privies?  Or at least 1, maybe in the First Aid area or in a managment area that perhaps I could get special permission to use?

I can manage with porta-privies if I keep liquid intake to a minimum, usually not a good thing, as I must keep hydrated, but the doctors really frown on me using them due to the open germs.  When we've gone to MN, groomsporter let me use his privately rented one, and at BARF in Tampa, I brought my own sanitizers and wipes to clean it before I used it, and 1 of the merchants let me keep the stuff in his booth so I didn't have to carry it around all day.

For the love of faire, we find a way!  If we come, I'd love to meet everyone in a Meet & Greet!  Thanks again, and if anyone has more suggestions, we'd love to hear them.    

[jcbanner]

I'm sorry to say that there are not flush privies anywhere on the faire grounds or even in the rest of the part the faire is located in.  the utilityies availible just don't allow for the facilities. 

Sorry, wish my answer was diffrent

[Amyj]

Yea, no flushies...but the first aid people are fantastic (they helped diagnose Bob's gall bladder problem and helped us get him to a doctor in time to get it out before REALLY bad stuff).  I don't know if the Knights pub had flushies or not...something to look into...at the very least, they or the first aid people would be really cool about storing the sanatizer stuff.  And heck, if you came out...we STL R/Fers could take care of the pre-pee cleaning too (pre-pee...fun to say, sorry)!  We could be your squires!!!

Anyway, hope you can make it...we'll take care of ya real fine...midwestern hospitality and all that! 

[Mythrin]

I am also on cast at St Louis. We try to make everyone's experience to be a positive one and would love to have you  visit.

There is a "private" porta-pot in the private garden of the "friends of faire" club for a want of a better way to describe it.  It has much more limited use than the public ones and therefore might be safer for you to use.  You might be able to arrange a head of time to use it due to your medical condition if you made contact with director of the program a head of time.  If you want to PM me I would share her contact info. 

Another option might be to get stamped, leave the site and go 3 minutes down the road to a gas station and use the flush facilities there.  A lot of trouble but doable if necessary.

I second the positive comments about our first aide staff, they are the best!  We have a very high ratio of professionals to cast/patrons and they are very knowledgeable, visible, active and we have secret weapons - several RNs and a emergency room doctor on cast who have stepped in when needed.  I was on cast at a huge commercial faire somewhere to the West of St Louis and their med staff was practically invisible with our First Aid/Med Staff they are very visible and good at what they do.

[Lady Renee Buchanan]

We are really going to try to come, but have to make it as inexpensive as possible.  I found these lodgings, could anyone comment on them please, if you know where they are, are they decent?  Decent + clean, just a place to sleep for 1 night.

Days Inn, Lake Saint Louis
Super 8, O'Fallon
Super 8, Wentzville
Economy Inn, Wentzville
Extended Stay America, St. Louis.  Says it's approx 14 miles from Wentzville

Thanks for your input. 

[Genievea Brookstone]

Hi Lady Renee,

Although I have never stayed at any of the mentioned I do live in the St Charles/St Peters area which is about 20 minutes away from the faire.  There is a Red Roof Inn on hwy 70 that numerous friends and family have stayed and I believe it is fairly decently priced $45 a night I believe.  They also have renovated it recently.

Hope that Helps!

Gens~

[Mythrin]

If I remember correctly the Super 8 of Wentzville used to be a Holiday Inn and seems to be nice - I have been in the lobby but not the rooms, same with the Days Inn at Lake St Louis - I pass it on the way to a friends home (also one of the costume mistresses) - it seems to be a nice building and very convenient to the Interstate.  Both can be seen from I-70.   

Do hope to see you there.  If you would like the Les Ames leaders contact info to discuss the possibility of using the private gardens facilities you could get to them by going to the bottom of this page http://stlrenfaire.com/les_amis/index2.html#New2009

[Amyj]

Bob and I stayed at the Super 8 last summer.  It's nice.  Nothing spectacular, but like you say, clean and a comfortable place to sleep for one night.  Plus it's about 5 minutes from the fairegrounds...so, hellooooo, sleeping in and STILL making cannon?  Sweet!  As for getting stamped and leaving to use flushies...not a horrible option since there is a Quick Trip just minutes from the faire.

Hope to see you here!!!!