Day of Wrong: Your feelings but keep it polite

[LadyFae]

I'm torn on this topic.  While I find many DoW get-ups to be amusing and others to be complete wastes of time and effort involved in putting them together- I don't begrudge those that choose to take part in DoW.  However, after this year at MNRF I am leaning more towards the side of NOT liking it at all.  DoW at MNRF this year ended up coinciding with the Queen's Coronation and I found it quite distasteful and disrespectful for DoW participants to be sitting right up front in full view during this "serious" event.  Granted, DoW was set up BEFORE the Coronation finally landed on the same date (it had to be moved quite a few times due to the Queen's health and wellness) so I can't truly be too upset about it, but it does irk me a bit.  If you are a paying customer, by all means, wear whatever the heck you want, just try to be conciencious about the event you are attending.  Now when performers or staff choose to blatently ruin the atmostphere of Fest for a bit of "inside fun" that is a HUGE area of concern to me.  And an entirely different thread...

[raevyncait]

I don't know of any of the performers or cast at Scarby who actually participate in DOW, honestly, or really shop staff either. I think THAT would be a problem for newbies and first time attendees, as they wouldn't understand WHAT is going on. 

Another thing to consider is that there is a LOT of what I personally consider WRONG coming through those gates every single day of the festival (not to be snarky, but spandex and chainmaille do NOT work on all body types) that I would think is far more damaging to the atmosphere than the fact that there is a whole gang of us wearing matching court dresses, bodices, corsets, kilts and other sundry accessories that are within the accepted "period" styles, made from a garish tropical print.

[xed]

Have to agree with Zardoz here.  I've never been to a faire with a DoW, but every year I accept storm troopers in kilts  at TRF as an unavoidable norm.


TRF seems to be a costume party more often than not anyway, but I would hate to see what would happen if the management would encourage the madness...

[DonaCatalina]

I'm torn on this topic.  While I find many DoW get-ups to be amusing and others to be complete wastes of time and effort involved in putting them together- I don't begrudge those that choose to take part in DoW.  However, after this year at MNRF I am leaning more towards the side of NOT liking it at all.  DoW at MNRF this year ended up coinciding with the Queen's Coronation and I found it quite distasteful and disrespectful for DoW participants to be sitting right up front in full view during this "serious" event.  Granted, DoW was set up BEFORE the Coronation finally landed on the same date (it had to be moved quite a few times due to the Queen's health and wellness) so I can't truly be too upset about it, but it does irk me a bit.  If you are a paying customer, by all means, wear whatever the heck you want, just try to be conciencious about the event you are attending.  Now when performers or staff choose to blatently ruin the atmostphere of Fest for a bit of "inside fun" that is a HUGE area of concern to me.  And an entirely different thread...

Of the three faires that I known cast and management, I have been given to understand that cast, staff, vendors, etc. has been discouraged or outright forbidden to participate in DoW. Specifically because this would detract from the random paying patron experience of the Renaissance or Middle Ages.

[Anna Iram]

Does anyone know the origins of DOW? How and where it to began? I'd always thought it was a sanctioned event. Not frowned upon. Our smaller fairest here in Florida don't do this so I have no frame of reference as far as cast thoughts on the subject.

[lys1022]

I don't know of any of the performers or cast at Scarby who actually participate in DOW, honestly, or really shop staff either. I think THAT would be a problem for newbies and first time attendees, as they wouldn't understand WHAT is going on. 

Another thing to consider is that there is a LOT of what I personally consider WRONG coming through those gates every single day of the festival (not to be snarky, but spandex and chainmaille do NOT work on all body types) that I would think is far more damaging to the atmosphere than the fact that there is a whole gang of us wearing matching court dresses, bodices, corsets, kilts and other sundry accessories that are within the accepted "period" styles, made from a garish tropical print.

Cast does not participate in DoW.  Few performers do.  There is a contingent of shop folke who do.  However, what you need to remember is this:

To the average T-shirt and jeans patron EVERYONE wearing garb works for the faire.  They don't know, and rarely do they care, that a number of the folks in garb are patrons like themselves.  So every time someone in garb does something that breaks the illusion in any way, they are assumed to be cast by many of the people around them.

Faire often gets complaints about something that "someone who works here" did, and it turns out to be another patron.  Hell, even when I was a performer I had a playtron get in my face and shove me out of his way because his CHARACTER was a ship captain and thus "more important" than me.  (Luckily for him, my husband was working the other end of the festival at that moment.)

The vast majority of patrons and playtrons are awesome people, and are completely and totally appreciated by the performers for their enthusiasm and desire to keep that fragile bubble I talked about earlier in place.  And then DoW happens and that fragile bubble shatters and the performers are left to frantically try and superglue it back together because out of the 25,000 people who enter the gates that day, perhaps 1,000 get the joke (at most) and the rest just assume that is what the illusion looks like all of the time.

I don't say this to tell anyone not to do it.  You paid for you ticket, you wear what you want as long as it is legal.  I am simply answering the question from a (former) performer's point of view.  An inside joke is an inside joke because most people don't know about it.  It is fun for the people in the know, but for the vast majority on the outside it is confusing at best.

[Captain Teague]

Specifically because this would detract from the random paying patron experience of the Renaissance or Middle Ages.

Which is why I would not do it.


And I have never understood the stormtroopers, potter, etc paying customers who show up, but those are usually a small number. Those are obviously not part of the effect as viewed by most all attendees, staff or customers. To me it would be like attending a Science Fiction Convention in total Ren HA apparel. I just wouldn't feel right at all about doing it. Guess it doesn't bother them.

Of the three faires that I known cast and management, I have been given to understand that cast, staff, vendors, etc. has been discouraged or outright forbidden to participate in DoW.

Not to stir the pot, but doesn't the Queens own guard participate in DoW at Scarby? Or at least someone informed me of that when we visited there this year for the first time. And it should be noted that they did NOT participate with cast in any way on that day.

Very much an on the fence topic for me. And I am certainly not judging as none of what I wear comes close to HA. But I do try my best to further the magic and feel of Ren. I suppose it runs alongside of what patterns I have seen in books, movies, events etc over the past few years. And that being that for the most part everyone seems to be taking old stories, old movies and old events and retelling it THEIR way by adding things that were never there in the first place. The latest 3 Musketeers movie is one example. Whatever happened to the differences between "Tradition and "Originality?" Seems at least to me those lines are being blurred more and more. I have always encouraged free expression, but also at the same time personally remember lines between genres. Sometimes I worry one day I will open up a site and it says "Opening this weekend!!! The biggest RenTrek Steam Faire ever seen!"

But that is just me and my views. Thoughts from the mind of a Madman.

Wear what ya want. However I do reserve the right to point and laugh. 

[Auryn]

This is a very interesting topic.
To be honest I had never even heard of DoW until recently here on the forum.

When I first saw this topic open up my first thought was 'whats the big deal? why would anyone be against it" and decided to keep my mouth shut and just follow along.
After reading everything here are my thoughts

My home faire is FLARF- the people who own and run the faire treat it as purely a money making activity- why do I say that??
-Port a potties in plain sight without any kind of shrubbery to hide them
- inflatable bounce castles and other county fair like activities for kids,
-no one on staff or as a vendor are encouraged to speak in accent - the few that do, do it out of their own choice

So my original basis of 'why not who cares' is based on the fact that there is really so little attention paid to be H/A or even relevant at my home faire that it really wouldn't make much of a difference if there was a DoW because its not like they are creating any kind of fantasy realm anyway.
However we get very very few 'time travelers' storm troopers or the like. 

Now if I attended one of these wonderful faires where the employees and shop keepers actually put on a facade of the renaissance, as a paytron I would be  bothered by DoW, especially if I wasn't aware of it. Even more so if my financial situation allowed me to attend only one day or weekend so I would have no other day to 'make up for it'

[DonaCatalina]

Lord Dragon,
Queen Margaret's Own at Scarby are paying playtrons. They are not official members of the cast. At least eight of them I consider good friends.

Auryn,
you are welcome to come and stay with us anytime you wish to visit Scarby and see what a well played Renaissance Faire is like.

[Auryn]

Oh LordDragon
I forgot

The biggest RenTrek Steam Faire ever seen!"

that already exists and its called DragonCon- totally awesome 

[SirRichardBear]

Not to stir the pot, but doesn't the Queens own guard participate in DoW at Scarby? Or at least someone informed me of that when we visited there this year for the first time. And it should be noted that they did NOT participate with cast in any way on that day.

Yes and no the Queens own Highlanders and the Royal Highland division aka the queens body guards are all playtrons and are not members of the cast, performers, or official part of the faire.  The group does not participate as a group in the DoW.   Several of our members do participate in the DoW as individual playtrons.   Several are good friends and I enjoy their teasing during Dow.  

As a personal choice I don't participate but its just because its not my thing, don't have a problem with those that do.  Kinda the same for Anime and Science fiction conventions I enjoy them but I don't do the cosplay its just not my thing.    I can understand the other side that have a DoW makes the cast job more difficult but on the other hand I've seen "T-shirt and Jean" crowd wearing stuff that was more wrong then most of the DoW grab

[Captain Teague]

And so I stand rightfully corrected. Appreciate that, I was merely curious anyway. 

Doing a staff DoW would, in my opinion only, be another matter.

I think any traditions on it would be hard to find as I personally am led to believe it was started by Playtrons, not any sort of staff.



/offtopic

Oh LordDragon
I forgot

The biggest RenTrek Steam Faire ever seen!"

that already exists and its called DragonCon- totally awesome 

Good point.  And I cannot tell you how much I would dearly love to attend one, it is certainly on my bucket list. And I would do everything in my power to honor it by the most appropriate garb as possible ( I do have some theoretical mechamagicsteampunkanimefantasy massive creations already in the works ). I just as yet have been unable to make the reservations/money needed/etc to make that happen....YET. 

/topic

[SirRichardBear]

Lord Dragon not corrected just clarified  the QOH is so large and involved many people are surprised we are not cast.   And it easy to see when some of our officers are doing DoW that its easy to think its a group activity.

I've got DragonCon on my list too.  Might be interesting to do a leather armour invasion of DragonCon some year.

[Merlin the Elder]

I'd have to go back to another thread where we were talking about folks being in costumes/garb of different eras or contexts... His Majesty Himself stated that the primary idea was to have fun, so He didn't really care one way or another what the patrons were dressing as.

I find it much less confusing to see a large group of DoWers, because to me it's perfectly clear that something odd is up, than to have someone come up to me, a bit oddly dressed (obviously not completely `dane), spouting some spiel that made no sense at all to me. This happened at Scarby, and left the poor young man embarrassed, and me totally confused. Someone who overhead explained that the young man was supposed to be Dr Who. It may seem odd, but I've never seen Dr Who.

For when Scarborough's DoW falls, I wonder just how much damage, if any, is done by it. It happens on the final Sunday of the faire's run, and when we were there, it was a rather light crowd. Temps were 100+...

I dunno... I don't think I personally want to do it, but I did get a kick out of seeing some of the outfits.  I have no strong feelings either way.

[Captain Teague]

Might be interesting to do a leather armour invasion of DragonCon some year.

I'm IN!!!!