TRF Press Release On The City Of Magnolia

[MrHyde]

From The TRF Website:


Media Contact: Gina Rotolo

Texas Renaissance Festival

gina@texrenfest.com OR 800-458-3435 ext 233

OR

Mandy Love

mandy@texrenfest.com OR 800-458-3435 ext 224



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 13, 2011



CITY OF MAGNOLIA NAMED HOST CITY FOR THE TEXAS RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL



Festival and City Agree to Three-Year Partnership With Plans to Host Local Shop Contests, Meet & Greet With Festival Artists, Performers and More!



          Plantersville, Texas (April 13, 2011)—The Texas Renaissance Festival (www.texrenfest.com) has named the City of Magnolia (www.cityofmagnolia.com) its host city for the 2011-2013 festivals.   During the festival months the city will be branded as the Gateway to the Texas Renaissance Festival.



          As part of this partnership, TRF will work with city officials to alleviate traffic during the festival months and provide a shuttle service for fans coming to and from the festival.  In addition, TRF and the city will coordinate a contest for local businesses, encouraging business owners to adorn their storefronts with Renaissance-themed décor.  TRF will award a $500 prize to the best Renaissance-themed store.




          "With more than 450,000 festival-goers this past year, we look to bring a lot of new faces to the area as well as drive business to the City of Magnolia," commented Terre Albert, TRF General Manager. "TRF has 50,000 campers and 2,000 employees that the festival will encourage to do business with local city business owners."



          "The city is looking forward to the start of a new era of cooperation with the Texas Renaissance Festival," said Paul Mendes, Administrator for the City of Magnolia. "Each year the festival has gotten bigger and better and it's time we work together. We, the City of Magnolia, are excited to be named the Gateway to the Texas Renaissance Festival."

The 2011 Texas Renaissance Festival will be held Saturdays, Sundays and Thanksgiving Friday, October 8 through November 27, 2011.  School Days will take place November 1 & 2, 2011.  For more information, group sales and wedding bookings, please call 800-458-3435 or visit www.texrenfest.com.



          The Texas Renaissance Festival (TRF) is the Nation's largest and most acclaimed Renaissance theme park where the sights, sounds, tastes and beauty of the 16th Century come alive for eight magically-themed weekends.  TRF welcomes more the 450,000 guests annually and features nearly 500 costumed performers on 17 stages; 340 shoppes including international food purveyors, unique artisans, merchants and craft vendors; human-powered rides; an abundance of strolling performers and the Royal Fireworks display at dusk.  The Festival is held Saturdays, Sundays and Thanksgiving Friday.  TRF is located 50 miles Northwest of Houston on more than 50 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds on FM 1774, between Magnolia and Plantersville, Texas.  For more information, visit www.texrenfest.com.

[Bonny Pearl]

That's cool.  I've always kind of considered Magnolia the 'gateway'.... the closest grocery store to TRF is in a shopping center with the word Renaissance in its name lol. 

[Breandan]

Does this mean that rennies might actually be able to go places without local LEOs stalking them?

[Zaubon]

Does this mean that rennies might actually be able to go places without local LEOs stalking them?

I'll believe that when I see it. Until I hear that things have gotten safe, I will continue to pass through Magnolia without stopping while maintaining as low a profile as possible.

Zaubon

[Laird Fraser of Lovatt]

What, Z?  You don't like the cavity serches given by Magnolia's finest?

[Mouse]

What, Z?  You don't like the cavity serches given by Magnolia's finest?

"...and don't stop until you get to the back of his teeth!"

[Merlin the Elder]

There's an obvious story here somewhere...anyone wish to relate it?

[Mouse]

There's an obvious story here somewhere...anyone wish to relate it?

Robert Stack
as the agent in Beavis and Butthead Do America...I may have watched that movie 1 or 299394 times.

[Zardoz]

There's an obvious story here somewhere...anyone wish to relate it?

Beats me what it might be?
Besides faire, I've been to like a hundred biker rallies up there over the years, and we frequently patronize local stores and resturants etc.. About the only times I see the local PD is to say hi to them going through the 1488/ 1774 intersection.

Curious about the 'shuttle service' thing though, unless it flys I don't see how it will help the traffic jam.

[Rani Zemirah]

I've spoken to a very few locals there in town, on a couple of occasions, and each time I mentioned we were there for Faire I was either given the suspicious, beady-eyed stare, or the eye roll with exasperated "oh, that!" and the whole list of why no one who lives and/or works in Magnolia likes "those people", or "that place".  Of course, most of it really seemed to be traffic related, but I would imagine that if an alternate route were created to keep all that traffic from funneling through town, then likely tens of thousands of dollars in local business revenue every season would probably go to stores in towns closer to the interstate. 

[maeven]

I haven't really had any run-in's with people except for the occasional strange look when we get out of the car to get gas or something to drink from the Burger King at the intersection. Still, encouraging some of the local business to participate in the decorating and themes is kinda neat, but it's one of those things where you obviously aren't going to see on EVERY store or business. The shuttle thing is alright, but like it was mentioned before, it might not help traffic. It might keep some drunk drivers off the road, so that could be a plus.

[ravic]

Curious as to where parking for the shuttle might be. Not a lot of spare parking in Magnolia. Can't see any of the merchants allowing any non-customer vehicles cluttering up their lots all day. AND if the parking is established outside of Magnolia proper, the city loses any economic benefit to it's stores & restaurants that drivers-thru might provide. As in, loss of sales-tax revenue.

As I said, curious.

[Rani Zemirah]

I would guess it might be a shuttle service from the Faire campgrounds going back and forth to the Magnolia shopping and dining areas during the evening after Faire, maybe?  To try and alleviate some of the problems there have been with drinking and driving, I'm guessing...  Or maybe bringing people in from the hotels/motels so they don't have to drive in?  Although I'm not really sure how large the traffic impact is from that...

It would be a benefit for Faire employees, as well, since I read there are around 2000 employees of the Faire, itself, and this might be a good way for lots of them to be able to go pick up things they need without having to drive into town...?  I'm not sure how many of those employees actually stay in participants during the run, but I would imagine it's a pretty large number, and I know with the fire bans it can sometimes be hard on some of them to be stuck there for the whole evening.  

Pure speculation, however...

[Zardoz]

I've spoken to a very few locals there in town, on a couple of occasions, and each time I mentioned we were there for Faire I was either given the suspicious, beady-eyed stare, or the eye roll with exasperated "oh, that!" and the whole list of why no one who lives and/or works in Magnolia likes "those people", or "that place".  Of course, most of it really seemed to be traffic related, but I would imagine that if an alternate route were created to keep all that traffic from funneling through town, then likely tens of thousands of dollars in local business revenue every season would probably go to stores in towns closer to the interstate.  

Well yeah, It's all about the traffic.  If thousands of people jammed up the roads around any of our neighbourhoods every weekend for 2 months, I think we'd all get tired of it!
But I really wonder though, how many of us playtrons who daytrip through Magnolia actually do stop and patronize any local businesses besides the gas stations? I bet most just drive through. Some of the Girltorage and I frequently have breakfast at the Magnolia Diner on 1488, and I'd say 8 out of 10 times we are the only costumed folks there, I'm sure mundanes visit there too, but they are 'under the radar' somewhat to the locals.


oops, continued below....

[Zardoz]

It's a two way street though, If we roll into a business and get treated poorly simply because we're dressed funny, or are part of the traffic jam... well, I'm not too likely to go there again. And I'll tell my friends.

I hope this 'new era of cooperation' works out, I can't imagine a business not trying to take advantage of the TRF crowd. It would be nice to see some "Welcome Rennies" signs around this season.