I was just watching the Steeler game and they had a commercial for the Ren Fest! And it was us! Every scene was Morelandshire. I saw the King and Queen and a good shot of Captain Fortune. I am sure there were many more but I was stunned to see it so I spent most of it yelling HEY TERRY, IT'S US!!!!!
This was on KDKA. This is the first one I have seen. Just a little over a week now!
Jan
I just saw it too!! So exciting! I'm sure we'll see you on Sunday Jan!
I saw the same ad but it was this afternoon. BTW everyone looked great...even Burger King. :P
I don't know how I missed it - we were watching the game last night too. I did, however, see print ads start last week in the Post and they are the same as last year. ie. not our king.
Yes yes. It appears that the good Captain is now a bit of a celebrity.
I am working out of town and my phone began ringing off the hook that I was on TV.
Well as luck would have it I will be flying...errrr Sailing into the good shire for opening weekend festivities.
I will be available for autograph signings and pictures outside the Morgans Bounty booth. LOL!
Hope to see you all there.
Fair Winds my friends
Heard aboth the ads but have not seen them yet
The LIVING Section of the Sunday Tribune Review has a nice little article about the fair. The highlight, for me anyway, is a lovely picture of the queen and the ladies of court from last year.
Thanks for the tip M. I found the article online along with accompanying photos. Sounds like we'll see a few more changes & improvements next weekend. Here's the link folks:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/living/events/s_583299.html
In today's Post Gazette's Weekend section, the Faire takes the front cover and the centerfold. Here's the link to the online version:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08234/905746-42.stm
Those are great articles! Thanks for posting the links, Scarlett.
If anyone stumbles across a link for the commercial, please post it.
I see some familiar faces in that article! Anticipation building....
thanks for posting Scarlett! Be seeing you soon!
While we're at it, there was an article in The Pittsburgh Business Times. The online version doesn't show the whole article, but the first few paragraphs have some surprising news.
http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2008/08/18/story12.html?ana=from_rss
BTW, if anyone can get their hands on the whole article I'd love to see the rest of it.
Whoo Hoo! I never thought I would ever be a centerfold model! This must be the stock photo they are using this year. It is the one that was in the Tribune Review. We surely are getting the publicity this year, aren't we? I would love to see that Business times article also.
In 48 hours, We will all be at the shire!!!!!! Wave to me when you come in, I will be up on parapet. And our modest professor will be introducing the acts at the front gate.
LOL. I said almost the same thing Jan - that I now knew a centerfold!
Can't wait to see everyone. SOON, very soon!
WOW nice feature article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette Weekend magazine. Even a banner headline on the front page. I'm impressed! Some very nice pictures of our lovely Queen and her court too.
Quote from: Professor M on August 21, 2008, 09:25:04 AM
While we're at it, there was an article in The Pittsburgh Business Times. The online version doesn't show the whole article, but the first few paragraphs have some surprising news.
http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2008/08/18/story12.html?ana=from_rss
BTW, if anyone can get their hands on the whole article I'd love to see the rest of it.
Here you go Professor. :)
http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2008/08/18/story12.html?b=1219032000%5E1685793 (http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2008/08/18/story12.html?b=1219032000%5E1685793)
This morning I heard a radio commercial for the festival on 105.9 the X and apparently it sponsered the traffic report :P
I remember the old TV commercials with that jingle - "The time of your life is back in time/The renaissance festival is back in time!" or something like that.
I don't watch TV, do they still do that?
Thanks for posting the link to the Pittsburgh Business Times Dru! I'm curious to see if JP's speculation on attendance comes true. I found his vision of expanding/doubling the size of the faire and extending it to 8 weeks most interesting.
I think it would be wonderful to see the Faire extended but also a little disconcerting at first.
The size of the faire hasn't changed since I was 14 and had my very first job in the kitchens for the festival two years in a row. (I doubt anyone remembers from back then but I was the girl with bright fuchsia colored hair in the kitchen beside the pub when Scott was in charge.)
I think the expansion would attract people who, unlike me, may be looking for bigger changes than what has already taken place.
It would also be interesting to see if they would add the mud show back into the mix once the expansion was complete. I think that was the one thing I heard the absolute most complaints about last year as far as shows were concerned.
Drusilia, I'm sure our nephew would remember you! (he worked painting and such)
I stayed at work longer than need be just to see KDKA's Crowley Country visit the shire at the end of the news. Okay, so I 'work' behind the bar and simply moved to the other side and yes, everyone thinks I'm a tad, ah, eccentric, but I am excited!
Don't know how I feel about the 'bigger and better' changes. I so loved the smaller, more intimate, and the more 'real' of the unconstructed paths etc. Hey, that's show-biz uh? Better to make the big bucks than lose it all again. Plus, I can afford to like it small as it is not that big a drive where those further away may need enticed.
Thanks Dru, for the rest of the article from the Business Times. There are some interesting claims in there.
Not only are they advertising on the X, but the Washing Well Wenches even got to play are you smarter than a renaissance wench on the morning show today. My daughter-in-law heard them and told me about it...and you can listen too.
http://www.wxdx.com/cc-common/podcast.html
Just find them on the list....podcast or quicktime....
Funny! Thanks Mumsies!
Quote from: Drusilia on August 21, 2008, 10:11:11 PM
(I doubt anyone remembers from back then but I was the girl with bright fuchsia colored hair in the kitchen beside the pub when Scott was in charge.)
Dru Darling...I remember your beautiful hair. Some mornings it was the first thing that got me to grin! But alas...bright hair colors have gone the way of mud shows for this shire I'm afraid!
If it makes you feel any better - I'm still calling today (Monday) UNday! (You know when the accent still tries to sneak out in conversations and the mundane clothes just don't feel "normal"!)
I saw several ads on tv and in the paper! I am gettin excited! Not sure I like the sound of the coblestone paths and such, also I loved to walk into the artisan tents and now they are replaced by buildings. Well I guess we will just have to see how it all turns out. As long as I see some of my favorite acts from past years I will be fine.
Worry not, Bershok. The cobblestones are barely there. The artisan's buildings are beautiful and really make the place looking even more charming than before. Some beloved acts have returned, and there are several new ones that I'm sure you'll love, too.
Did you know the Ren Faire is at the Laural Highlands? That's what TMZ(the PMZ segment) just told me lol
Quote from: PesterTheJester on September 04, 2008, 06:56:57 PM
Did you know the Ren Faire is at the Laural Highlands? That's what TMZ(the PMZ segment) just told me lol
Yes. Most of the rolling hills in that part of the state are referred to as the Laurel Highlands. The Laurel Highlands Visitor's Bureau always lists the faire on their annual events list. I'm sure if there are any clearly defined borders (I doubt it), but the faire is most certainly in the middle of it all.
http://www.thetartan.org/2008/9/8/pillbox/renfest
Quite an interesting, amusing article. Thanks for posting the link!
Quote from: jayadancer on September 08, 2008, 03:53:08 PM
http://www.thetartan.org/2008/9/8/pillbox/renfest
Cool article, nice too see a few people got interviewed too!
QuoteThe entire park is filled with festival workers ... speaking in slightly awful English accents, ... although if you keep them talking long enough, they revert back to Pittsburghese.
When I first read that quote, I took exception to the generalization. But I can think of one or two cast members who would leave that impression. :-[ I actually like the playful way the article points out those little flaws. It lets the general public know we don't take ourselves so seriously.
OK, I did say "Slippy" one day, but it was in accent!!!
Quote from: Professor M on September 09, 2008, 06:24:55 AM
Quotethey revert back to Pittsburghese.
or Denverese as the case may be!! ;)
Since I'm the "mute sister," (whose tongue was in fact NOT torn out by rabid wolverines) I have a few seconds to think before I speak. I've learned to translate what I'm going to say from Pittsburghese into Dorkish (like Turkish, but less regal!) before it actually comes out of my mouth.
Sometimes a colloquialism is so bad that I just can't figure out a way to translate it. Sharing a stage with a Minnesotan has been a very linguistically-educational experience!
(Really now, how many of you are sitting there trying to say "slippy" and "Jahnt Iggle" and "Stillers" in your cast accent now? And how many of you had to ditch an obnoxious pop culture catchphrase that had woven your way into your daily speech unnoticed? "I know, right?") ;D
I found this link interesting as well. I think Terry and Seamus should be as proud as we are to be included under the caption "some random musicians and scantily-clad women." It has been the pinnacle of my career so far. ;D
http://lovinglifeintheburgh.blogspot.com/2008/08/renaissance-festival.html
This is the second post I've seen where people have complained about the child-appropriateness of the festival. (The other is included below.)
I heard a number of cast members making serious attempts at toning it down for children's weekend, and many of the stage jokes are of the double-entendre type that you don't even understand unless you're "old enough." Additionally, renn fests are sort of famous (infamous, perhaps?) for their specific type of humor. So I was a bit surprised people were that upset.
I take these with a grain of salt knowing that they are "just" personal blogs, but I never want to discount a single patron's experience if we can somehow make it better. I have a severe allergy to children, so I wondered what others thought about the concern these bloggers seem to share:
http://myblessedhome.wordpress.com/
I wasn't diabetic until I read that blog. I'm surprised that anyone that naive has children. How can anyone be so unaware that they think we have a different act for every weekend?
We are family friendly, just not so sickenly sweet that it ruins the experience for adults. This is a Renaissance Festival that tries to transport the patrons to another time when things were REAL and not sugar coated. That's what Kennywood is there for. I think one complaint about being authentically human is much better than all the complaints that we would have had if the faire would have been ruined for adults.
Can you see the teenage angst when that bubble bursts?
So my response of "toilet-trained at gunpoint" wasn't over-the-top just because I'm not a fan of children? ;D
Quote from: jayadancer on September 09, 2008, 09:08:27 AM
I take these with a grain of salt knowing that they are "just" personal blogs, but I never want to discount a single patron's experience if we can somehow make it better. I have a severe allergy to children, so I wondered what others thought about the concern these bloggers seem to share:
http://myblessedhome.wordpress.com/
That's certainly not the typical response, but this family seems to come from an extreme point of view. The woman felt she needed to remove letters from the word
naughty, for heavens sake! She described some shows as "pretty na***ty." If she can't utter the word
naughty, you know she's on the extreme fringe.
I have noticed in past years that we had an unusual amount of patrons who were religious extremists. We don't draw our audience only from the Pittsburgh metro area. We also get them from the south central PA farm country, as well as West Va and Eastern Ohio. Those areas are not widely known for their tolerance. I wonder what "na***ty" acts she was forced to walk past, given that they're all at the Pirates Pub?
One of our stage acts once started a Sunday morning by saying to the crowd "Wow! There are a lot of you here today! I thought you'd all be in church!" One of the patrons went back to his church and reported that they were an anti-Christian act, because of that one statement! He got several church members
who had never even been to the faire to call and protest the act. Management wisely shrugged it off. That same year, that same act, was photographed with a nun who was a big fan of theirs, and she gave them permission to use her photo on their web site.
I could tell you half-a-dozen more stories, but I'm verbose enough already. Suffice it to say that we can't please everyone, and if we try to please the fringe elements we'd disappoint 99% of the remaining patrons.
Quote from: jayadancer on September 09, 2008, 09:08:27 AM
http://lovinglifeintheburgh.blogspot.com/2008/08/renaissance-festival.html
http://myblessedhome.wordpress.com/
Some people just dont "get" faire, 2 blogs out of howmany people that have atteneded already? I aint worrying about it....& now back to my regulary scheduled reminisce about all the fun & naughty :o thighs I laugh at at fair.....
Quote from: TiaLD77 on September 09, 2008, 12:30:33 PM
Quote from: jayadancer on September 09, 2008, 09:08:27 AM
http://lovinglifeintheburgh.blogspot.com/2008/08/renaissance-festival.html
http://myblessedhome.wordpress.com/
Some people just dont "get" faire, 2 blogs out of howmany people that have atteneded already? I aint worrying about it....& now back to my regulary scheduled reminisce about all the fun & naughty :o thighs I laugh at at fair.....
Is that a typo, or do you really laugh at naughty "thighs"? :o LOL!
*pardon me... I think your freudian slip is showing*
Quote from: anne of oaktower on September 09, 2008, 03:26:34 PM
Quote from: TiaLD77 on September 09, 2008, 12:30:33 PM
Quote from: jayadancer on September 09, 2008, 09:08:27 AM
http://lovinglifeintheburgh.blogspot.com/2008/08/renaissance-festival.html
http://myblessedhome.wordpress.com/
Some people just dont "get" faire, 2 blogs out of howmany people that have atteneded already? I aint worrying about it....& now back to my regulary scheduled reminisce about all the fun & naughty :o thighs I laugh at at fair.....
Is that a typo, or do you really laugh at naughty "thighs"? :o LOL!
*pardon me... I think your freudian slip is showing*
HAHAHAHAH freudian in deed.....things I meant things.....do you remember that person in the micro jean skirt from last year?? must have been channelling that image at the time ::)
Oh pa-leeze. Naughty thighs and bodacious ta-tas are THE main attraction in getting a previously uninterested male to go to faire. You've seen a few of my customers (I work at a private club) with their families visiting this year because of these enticements ("Oh, there's something there for me too?") Not one complaint about anything from moms or wives, but many comments about going back. There was one guy at least who went to his job a Monday to comment how many "hot chicks" were at faire, thus promoting faire to those who might otherwise have never tried it.
Opening day we arrived with family and friends including a 4yo and 7yo. No complaints.
I found it amusing in one blog the joust is complained about as too violent, yet playing with weapons is considered great fun for the kiddies. Can we say mixed signals?
"Toilet-trained at gunpoint" indeed.
Massive insecurity and self-esteem issues among those women also. Sorry, exiting my soap-box.