Fest Site 2010

[groomporter]

I was speaking to the new crafter contact and asked about the Hall of Masters and she said they are not going to be able to rebuild it this year.

I was also on site to check on our booth today and saw no new construction work yet on any other lines of food booths nor on the Feast kitchens. (I had heard a rumor the Feast kitchens were one of the next rebuilds being forced by the county to bring them back up to code)

Gravel excavation has moved further south along the east side to take over the jousters' camp and horse paddock, and now stops at the First Aid gate road, but the actual pit has not spread that far so my guess is it will not expand any further this season.

[groomporter]

but the actual pit has not spread that far so my guess is it will not expand any further this season.

To clarify, they have removed the top soil to that point, but the excavated pit has not advanced that far -as was the case last year.

[Lady Renee Buchanan]

Friends going to MN in September.  Does the Friends of Fest offer weekend passes, like Bristol does?  You pay $5 a day and have access to the garden.

[Goody]

At Bristol it's $5 a wkend for Friends of Faire at MN it's $5 per day at Fest Friends (at least it was last yr). Still well worth it!

[groomporter]

The campground director heard they aren't finding as much much usable rock and therefore the excavations may expand further south this year, but I'm taking that with a grain of salt based on last year.

[dbaldock]

Does the MN Ren Faire own the property that it's on, or is the property owned by the gravel/mining company?

From looking at the Google Maps aerial view of the Faire, it appears that the mining company has wrecked the land north and east of the faire grounds.  I hope they aren't planning to mine the property that the faire sits on.  I got to visit the MN Ren Faire in 1996, and didn't notice all the mining in the area - but wasn't looking for it either.

As and aside --- Has the MN Ren Faire always been on that site?

Take Care,
David Baldock

[groomporter]

The site is leased from the land owners. A couple years ago the lease was renewed for 15 years, and the rumor is that the land owners have first option to take over the show if the aging owner dies before the lease runs out. They are supposed to be continuing to excavate the gravel south-ward along the east side of the site (which has traditionally been mainly participant parking) for the next couple years.

The first 2-3 years(?) the site was in one of the first 1970's "planned communities" nearby called "Jonathon" which has been consumed by one of the local suburbs. After that the site was moved to the current location where it has been for over 35 years.

Apparently the gravel is unique as one of the last known midwest sources for that type of rock and is used for things like baseball diamonds and certain types if landscaping.

[groomporter]

By the way got this elsewhere a while ago

if you use Google Earth:
If you bring up the festival site, and use the "History" slider you can get aerial views of the festival site dating back to 1991! There is one shot dated Sept.15, 2008, which was taken on a festival day. The oldest photo is in black and white and is low resolution, but you can still make things out.

Although the April 2004 image must be a wrong date since the participant's campground just north of site seems to be full.

[Capt. Bacardi]

Well if any rebuilding is done it will probably be like last year and be done with less then a month before opening day. 

[Muffin]

Last I heard there were no plans to rebuild anything in our line GP... but as it always goes, who really knows?   I hope not though, I would prefer not to work in a renaissance saloon.. ha!

We're hoping to get out to fest this weekend to check things out... (weather permitting) I'll be sure to post some pictures of what we find...

[Lady Kathleen of Olmsted]

I was sure I had heard a rumor that The Bad Manor was going to be rebuilt and be up to code. It would be nice to have a nicer dining hall for feasts and entertainment.

[Charlotte Rowan]

What about Renifying the new food booths they built last year? I had heard that they built them to they way they are (saloon-looking) because it was quicker and they were running out of time (gee, I wonder why!), but that they planned to put up different facades for this year?

[William_MacKean]

Some crafters are doing some light remodeling (myself included).

One booth (610) is gone.  It was between the 2 leather shops.

The 600 Mead tent will be a tent again this year.  This tells me that there will not be much remodeling of Bad Manor or 600 this year.  But that might change.  I did not ask.  Was not my business past my tent & booth.

[Tarac]

  Nana was told she had to rebuild her Booth they would not approve it the way it was, The big problem that is having on New Pterodactyl is that we now have no access to the second floor of the shop.

   The power lines to Bad Manor ran behind Nana's Booth also so they had to be cut I saw that on Friday when I was out there getting Manikins for Dawn to use in Chippewa Falls.

[William_MacKean]

Just try to have her booth rebuilt with stairs like before?