The Do's and Don'ts of Visiting a Renaissance Faire/ Festival

[scarletnyx]

Using cell phones might also depend on the faire.  A smaller faire, if I stay in one spot long enough, eventually everyone will pass by or within my vision.  For example, at Sherwood, there are about 4 spots from which I can spot Scarletnyx or Saheed almost anywhere in the village unless they are inside a building. 

At TRF there is no way we would do without the cells any more.  It is so crowded you can be within 10' of someone and not be able to see them.  We go in a large group, break up during the faire, then meet up every so often during the day, and at closing. 

As for immersion into faire or breaking the illusion, that is long gone with TRF for me.  With 30,000+ people coming in each day, bungee jumps, advertising, etc., people on cell phones do not even register on my consciousness. 

We have a stalker! Huzzah! But you do have a point - and I can't recall a time I have used my phone at faire at Sherwood; Celtic Festival is another story. It's so small, if I lose Alex, I can either look around for the bobbing blue head in the crowd or just wait and he will come to me. I also don't have the space on my belt pouches to keep my phone, and I love to unplug. TRF's size just outrightly... Scares me sometimes, and having my phone on me helps me feel safe if I decide to venture out from below the gaze of my faithful bodyguard. I know no one will jump me, that's silly, I am not a good piece of eye candy in my Druid/Templar robes, but it's more so if I start to panic ( I will sometimes freak out in a large crowd, but it has to be large and really hectic ) I can call Alex and find him in a flash.

Here's another DO! I couldn't think of a don't, lol.

Do! Learn to walk in a crowd. It's not that hard, and I have noticed that TRF is more or less set up to direct traffic among major lines. I hate it when people walk into a large wave of oncoming people when there is a clear path over to their right. It most gets bad at the way back, where the animals are, but I will occasionally see people stumbling through a large crowd. Sundays at TRF, walk wherever you dern well want, but on Saturday's, I would appreciate it if you helped this large wash of humanity -not- crush someone.

[Rowan MacD]

  That is so true!
  That and walking 3-4 abreast up a narrow lane, making everybody going on the opposite direction get in a queue to go around you. They seem have a stupendous capability for acting oblivious to the inconvenience they are causing everyone else.
 

[floater]

From the point of view of a non-participant, a fan who has not gone to the Reniassance Festival as much as I should, or would like to:

First off, the Klingon thing. I have made a full Kling outfit to wear  a time or two on Halloween. I would never wear it to a Renfest - i would look ridiculous! Hell, I've never even worn it to a Trek convention.

It was pretty easy for me to spot the differences between the performers and guests "dressed as". I get the idea of the fantasy of it all, but dressing outside the "spirit" of the festival can look goofy. Like the teen dressed as Willy Wonka, or the people dressed in cartoon/mascot outfits - they stuck out like a sore thumb. I hate to say it, it can distract from the mood of the festival, and those who have gone to the expense and research that goes into their impressions (which I will say are fantastic!). I'm on the fence about the whole "pirate" thing. At least they're closer to Ren than Star Trek and Steampunk are.

I wore a bit of my Western gear, which did include feathers and hairpipe pieces, but I didn't go "all-out cowboy". Kept it fairly sane. The tough part was trying to decipher Mermaid and Fairy "talk" when I was asked about the feathers. I think I did okay, and tried to keep my reactions in the spirit of the Fest.

My wife said she couldn't believe all the Ren women that were flirting with me. I'm a bit disappointed myself - didn't catch on to it a bit! Missed the whole thing!

I applaud all of your efforts. you all put on a great show!

[stonebiscuit]

Another:

Don't tip with fake money, whether that be pirate "dubloons" or religious tracts. Just don't.

[Stolenhalo6]

Do! Learn to walk in a crowd.

OOOOHHH!!! This one drives me absolutely nuts.  I get that like 90% of the people visiting our fair are "tourists", but seriously.  Don't be a moron on legs.  As someone who works at faire and has a job to do, I have to get places and it can't take me all blessed day to get there.  When I need to get through a dense cloud quickly, my favorite trick is to just (gently) push people out of the way and then apologize profusely while walking away as if I am completely surprised that I just "accidentally" collided with them.  Seems to work pretty well.  No one has gotten mad at me yet.

[Rowan MacD]

Another:

Don't tip with fake money, whether that be pirate "doubloons" or religious tracts. Just don't.

I don't like evangelists at the best of times, and I wish they would restrict themselves to leaving their propaganda in phone booths and laundromats.
   I  did get a chuckle when one of the performers a year or so ago snatched a tract from his basket, jumped up on a bench, waved it and yelled 'treason!' to the crowd.  LOL.

   The plastic or the metal doubloons?
   I hadn't heard of anybody leaving metal reproduction doubloons (some of which are kinda pricey) in a tip basket,  but some of the plastic 'money' is innocently given by children, and when that happens, it is usually accompanied by a 'real' tip from the parents especially when the performer is gracious about it ^_^. 
   However, an adult caught dumping toy money in a tip basket should be placed in the stocks.
   

[stonebiscuit]

I'm not talking about kids giving little presents (I have a collection of these), but rather about adults who should know better. Usually it's plastic, but sometimes there are metal ones.

[PollyPoPo]

Last year at Sherwood I used the gold colored dollars for food and tips (got them as a holiday gift from an adoring daughter and her generous husband   – wheee I get to go to faire).  

The entertainers had no problem with the coins as they had baskets and the like and the gold coins kind of jingled nicely.  I was concerned that food vendors wouldn't want to mess with them, depositing, etc., but all of them were anxious to take them.  More than one told me they were keeping the coins, changing it for paper money to deposit.

The only entertainer I used paper money with was a little dog named Karma, a Boston Terrier of the highest caliber.  Karma takes her own tips from patrons' hands and drops them in the basket so metal coins are not a good idea.


edit:  I am talking about real currency, not fake.

[stonebiscuit]

Gold dollars are super--they're actually easier to keep track of, for me anyway, and they look nice. I'm talking about coins that aren't actual currency.

[Hoowil]

I've heard some complaints about the gold dollars because of the weight (and I do use paper for anything over $2), but personally, I love the visual. To my kids, the gold coins are faire money, and they carry their own. Last faire we managed to hit my daughter actually spent twice as much of her coin on tipping performers as she did on a parasol and lemonade.

[uncletimcobleigh]

I like the gold dollars in my tip basket. I like the look, the sound, and the fact that the wind isn't a concern. Oh, I'm happy to take the green money, too.

The only time I was ever given plastic coins was by a friend who followed with real money later. He was portraying Drake, and had a requested a particular song. When I finished, he flung a handful of the plastic doubloons toward me. On a whim, I picked one up and bit it. The audience loved it.

I did work a faire once that included a wooden token in the admission price. These were redeemable for one dollar each by performers, the idea being to encourage to patrons to tip -- this was a first-year event.

[Ser Niall]

Agree with garbed people using cell phones c'mon really could you leave that at home.  I see some of these people with an ear wig
and I call out hey 7 of 9.     But patrons with cell phones ooohhhh what you can do with them

I.E.   'Hallo what are you doing   taking to air '  and it just goes downhill from there.

I'm guilty of phone usage during faires, but in the age of smart phones, my phone is also my camera.  I like to take a few pictures around faire, especially if we're with friends or in new garb.  I've seen wooden cell phone cases that might help with the look; I was also thinking about making a leather one myself.  My wife and I have kids, so if we go to faire without them, we want to make sure the sitter can get a hold of us.

As for storm troopers, spock, and steam punkers at faire, I know that people can dress however they want, but I really don't like seeing it.  There are comic cons, steampunk cons, and other venues where those costumes are appropriate.  I much prefer to see garb appropriate to the faire time period.

[Captain Cornelius Howard Duckman]

I did work a faire once that included a wooden token in the admission price. These were redeemable for one dollar each by performers, the idea being to encourage to patrons to tip -- this was a first-year event.

This sounds like a fantastic idea! I'd love to see it at other faires...

[Rowan MacD]

I did work a faire once that included a wooden token in the admission price. These were redeemable for one dollar each by performers, the idea being to encourage to patrons to tip -- this was a first-year event.

This sounds like a fantastic idea! I'd love to see it at other faires...

That would be a great way to 'vote' for your favorite performer, too!

[Craigmeister]

I have a new "don't".  DON'T go the the Renfaire and offer to rap for people.  Some clown was doing that at a Renfaire I was at on Saturday.  This guy was just embarrassing and waaaay out of his element.  Please spare us!