I had a friend that i worked with. for 5 years he tried to get me to go to faire, I blew him off, i had other things going on in life. Finally i went and took the family, we went as tourist in normal clothes, i didnt see anything special. Later that year my wife and i split up, the next season my friend wanted me to go, but he wanted me to dress up. I was like, i dont have a costume. so he twisted my arm and told me he had garb for me to wear. so i reluctantly accepted. OMG! i couldnt believe how much fun i had, girls i didnt know coming up from behind me kissing my neck and lots of flirting and booze, I had even got flogged mulitple times, i was in boob heaven. but the thing that really got its hooks into me was later on in the day. It started storming, raining hard as lightning flashed through the sky. The pathways filled with water and it was a huge muddy mess. reports of tornados were in the area. I looked around and all i saw were people dressed in garb, The tourist had gone home long ago, It was almost closing cannon, the last show of the evening was Pub Sing. With the rain pouring down and the darkend sky, i wondered why people were still here. Obviously something kept them here, tornado warnings did not phase them. Pub Sing started and everyone was singing, drinking, laughing and dancing with eachother. At that show i realized why people were still there. Everyone was having a time of thier life. I wanted to be a part of that. After faire we went to the parking lot and partied for a while til it was time to go home and prepare for Sunday the next day at faire. I woke up early, tried to hit the thrift stores before i left, i wanted my own garb. I looked pretty funny with the things i found. I even went by walmart and looked in the womens section for tights. I got funny looks from shoppers when i picked up a pair of those stretchy pants and held them up to my waist to see if they would fit.Lol. that day at faire i went by the shoppes and bought some more stuff. I was hooked. I couldnt even spell renaissance 3 years ago, now with all the web searches i have done for garb or even some history lessons, renaissance is a word i dont mispell anymore.
i can mispell it my poor fingers can't keep up with my brain
i've always been interested in Renaissance time period the cloths always fasinated me. i remember hearing about the Georgia Renaissance festival several times as a child but we never went i was roughly 25 when my two best friends mentioned it again and i was in i wanted to go. that year we all went in mundane cloths before the next season came around one of my best friends had garb and so did i. I've gone in Garb every year since then i actually change my costume a little every year.
It is one thing to go to faire, but it is a totally different experience when you are in garb and part of the faire.
As a kid and through jr high and high school I was always involved with theatre and choral groups. In 11th grade my theatre class took a field trip to a student day at PaRF. We all dressed up (we were performing a scene from the Merry Wives of Windsor) and I got hooked. I didn't make it back until about 5 years later but have been going every year since :)
As an aside, I still have my sweet sword I got from Isle of Man on that trip. Amazing how much his workmanship has changed and improved in 12 years.
I'm on the far right.
(http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/221682_1058349614092_1086445855_30155209_7508791_n.jpg)
Thats a great story Hidesmith... I wish i was exposed to faire a lot earlier in life
I have always been into medieval things, ever since I was a very little kid. My brother and I made our wooden swords, shields, axes, etc. I loved the MDRF the first time I went, and went for many years in street clothes due to the prohibitive prices of garb. Last year, I finally took the plunge, bought a kilt kit from USA kilts and had a blast! My Girlfriend has really gotten into it as well and now it is another of "our" things together.
When I was in high school, back in the dark ages, I had a friend in the SCA. (Her identity is another story in and of itself) She talked me into going with her the first year that Scarborough was open and I was wearing mundanes. I thought it was fun, but no big deal. A couple of years later my husband and I went and rented costumes. Oh my. What a difference. We had a blast and stayed until cannon. So many more people, performers and cast spent time interacting with us, taking our photos, etc.
We've been going as much as possible ever since though we did spend many, many years in the SCA as well.
My mom took me when I was going into 8th grade on the last day of Colorado, we made it midday and stayed till just about cannon, mom let me get a dress and we just loved it! When I got home I started to research the cloths the language everything Renaissance.
The next year we went again mom got herself kitted out and wow if I would have known where faire would take me and all I am doing thanks to it I dont think I would have belived me.
It started with a random encounter with a very muddy person at the now defunct Renaissance faire of the midlands. He was pursuing every woman; playtron, mundane or cast member for kisses or hugs with an admirably single minded intensity. Everybody was fleeing, it was hilarious!
I decided that year that I was ready to be a part of that fun. I bought my first basic wench garb the next year and never looked back.
Before that I attended faire as a mundane for many years.
I'd gone to the Ren Faire basically twice in my life up to my mid 20s and was utterly unimpressed. Then MG took me with her to beautiful Larkspurshire (fully garbed for my first time ever) in 2010 and I was hooked! I had so much fun and everyone I met was amazing! I love MN's renfaire, but I think my heart will always belong to CORF.
I remember thinking in 8th grade "I wish there was a huge mall with swords and dragons and fairies and all that cool stuff" I had always liked fantasy books and dragons and the like. I told my mom this and she said "we should go to the Renaissance festival again" Apparently they had taken me many times when I was little, but I didn't remember at all. I went for the first time my freshman year with a good friend of mine and I was hooked from the second I walked through gates! From that second on, not a day when by that I didn't dream of the next time I would go. My friends and I would put together costumes the night before using our moms old 70's flowy shirts and long skirts ;D Yeah, we looked ridiculous, but 7 years later I am happy to say I have a great garb closet now and plan about 4 trips to faires through the year! I loved it from the very beginning!
My junior year of college, a friend came to me and asked if he could pay me to make him a doublet and pumpkin pants for an upcoming Ren Faire. I had never been before, but it sounded like a cool idea, so I made myself garb as well, and tagged along. And I was hooked!
I love hearing all your stories, what an awesome common bond we all share.
My then-boyfriend-now-husband took me when we first started dating, and I've been going ever since. It only took me one time to go without garb to make me want to go in garb the next time and every other time after that. lol... :)
I grew up on fairy tales, though at OUR house it was mostly Grimm's fairy tales! ;D Running wild with six siblings we were always dressing up and such. Though when my sisters wanted to be the princess in the tower, I wanted to be the dragon slayer or even the dragon. :D
When I first heard of the MNRF, I HAD to go but soon figured it would be a lot more interesting to go in garb. I think it was the garb that REALLY got me hooked, that and reading up on the Renaissance.
I got started in 1996 at my older brothers wedding at Scarborough Faire he met his wife while they were both working at the medieval times.
The non genetic family
I can not say any specific thing turned me into a rennie. I first went to Scarborough in 1987 and fell in love with it. Each year thereafter I attended more weekends. My family and friends got tired of it so I would go alone. Being there was such a magical experience and it felt like the weight of the world lifted from my shoulders for a day. Often I would just sit under a tree and watch the world go by, occasionally being joined by someone on cast. After moving to Houston in 1991, I started going to TRF and finally acquired garb. The magical feeling intensified after that and now I can not imagine NOT going. Then a few years ago, I got StudMuffin and it got even better. Now I can traverse the whole festival and not worry about falling, even after an ale or three. All I can say is HAZZAH!
I'm not entirely sure what really started it all for me, probably a combination of things.
I spent alot of my childhood crawling around under and behind stage at one of the local theatres. My mom was one of the main hari and make up artisits for the theatre, and the groupd did annual 'Shakespear in the Park' events, complete with combat demonstrations. Dresssing up seemed pretty much normal. Conveniently enough, my mom stopped doing hair and make up to work at a fabric store and as a part time seamstress.
Aside from that I was spending my free time studying history, primarily ancient European, medival and renaissance, pretty much as far back as I can remember being able to read, so I must have been maybe seven or eight.
I used to spend my summers in San Diego, where one of my unces ran an armory when I was little, so he was always showing me swords, or whatever else he was working on. He also introduced me to the SCA when I was a preen. I think I must have been maybe 13 or 14 the first time I went out to a SCA heavy fighter practice, in full gear and had the most amount of fun getting thouroughly bruised.
It would have been about that time that I went to my first faire. Even not having gone to one before, it seemed simply wrong to go in mundanes. Since then, I've gone to as many faires as I could, and its been maybe 2 where I was out of garb. Granted, I spent a few years in rural Alaska, and didn't have good enough transportaion to get to any faires so I missed out for a time.
I guess I could say I never really had a chance.
I was always into the medieval/renaissance/fantasy type stuff when I was younger. I loved books such as The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, or disney movies that pertained to that period like The Sword in the Stone, or all the princess movies. I went to my first faire in 2006, with my family. I instantly fell in in love with it, and instantly began to look for garb, or search up vids of other faires. I have been going every year ever since then in garb, although my mother and father think of it a little crazy of me to do so. My younger brother is also beginning to turn into a rennie! I'm going to be finding garb for him during the off season. Huzzah!
As a kid, my dad told me what our last name meant in Scottish Gaelic, so I asked why are we in America instead of Scotland. He didn't know for sure, so I started working on our genealogy. I discovered that our ancestor was forced to leave Scotland in 1747 because he fought as a Jacobite at Culloden. So, I started researching the specific type of kilt, jerkins, doublets, sporrans, bonnets, etc., worn during the time. I decided to get some older period gear for the earlier Jacobites, as well. I gathered the kit over several months. My old high school buddy was a piper in school and was a frequenter at Texas Ren Fest, so I invited him and his wife to come over from Austin and meet at the TRF. I had entertained them at TRF befre, but I wasn't really into it as he was. Well that changed. My old pal was also dressed as a Jacobite while his wife dressed as Joan of Arc. It was Halloween and it was the best time I have ever had at TRF. Since that year, 1999, I have gone back with and without my Austin friends, and was happy to connect with Zardoz and the rest of the TRF regulars.
We had never heard of anything like a Ren Faire back in 1980. I ran brass rubbing workshops out of an art gallery in Safety Harbor, FL. Somehow, the Ringling Museum of Art (which held the Sarasota Medieval Faire in their grounds) got hold of my name and contacted me and asked if I would have a booth in the faire - free to us.
The art gallery owner and I thought it would be good publicity to get people to come to our classes, so we agreed. Her husband is a glass artist, so they had a tent (metal & canvas), which we decorated to look what we figured would pass for medieval.
The show was 4 days, Thursday through Sunday. She was with me on Thursday and Friday, then Steve was with me on Saturday and Sunday. We were next to Jerry Read Smith, a magnificent hammered dulcimer player, so we spent 4 days listening to his music and enjoying the sites of the faire. Steve and I got hooked! We were invited back the next year, so we did it again, and then were invited by the Largo Renaissance Festival to demonstrate at their grand opening (this faire has now become BARF).
Something funny to me now is to think back on our first garb. I wore a navy blue velvet floor length bathrobe (complete with zipper up the front), with a goldtone metal and orange plastic chain belt, and a wreath of artificial flowers on my head. Steve wore a floorlength tunic I made out of a bedsheet and dyed black, and a tall conehat I made out of black posterboard. I then made stars out of the remaining posterboard and covered them with aluminum foil. He wore a rope around his waist, thus, a wizard. I still have the pictures from then. People took our pictures like crazy, and we thought we were the cat's meow!
Little did we know that started our addiction............. ;D
Quote from: Lady Renee Buchanan on September 18, 2011, 11:01:00 AM
Something funny to me now is to think back on our first garb. I wore a navy blue velvet floor length bathrobe (complete with zipper up the front), with a goldtone metal and orange plastic chain belt, and a wreath of artificial flowers on my head. Steve wore a floorlength tunic I made out of a bedsheet and dyed black, and a tall conehat I made out of black posterboard. I then made stars out of the remaining posterboard and covered them with aluminum foil. He wore a rope around his waist, thus, a wizard. I still have the pictures from then. People took our pictures like crazy, and we thought we were the cat's meow!
Little did we know that started our addiction............. ;D
I love this... Can you post the pics here, Would love to see cardboard hat and bathrobe garb
I was eight when my dad was hired as a musician the first year of TRF. I got to go with him every weekend and pass the hat for his shows, and we'd play in front of food booths in exchange for dinner, so we never had to spend any of the money we made.
He later decided owning a booth would be less work, and leave us more time for playing. We built a 3 story then tallest booth on the land. I grew up spending every weekend skinny dipping in the lake, and giggling about how cute the mud men were.
Later my dad went back to playing music there. I really think that period was the highlight of his life.
When I married and had children, we brought them every year.
When we bought a house in the area 6 years ago, my sister said, "I can't wait 'tilting kids start working at TRF." I personally couldn't quite see that happening.
Since then, my oldest daughter has built up a business raising show goats and selling goats milk soap. She thought that having a booth would be a great way to get her company name out in the community and educate the public about sustainable farming practices.
I could not have been more surprised when her application was accepted. It has been nonstop work getting ready ever since we heard the news. It is probably a good thing that I did not know at the time how much work it would be, or how expensive either.
I feel honored to support my children's dreams. If you see us there, please come by and say hi, I'm pretty sure we will be the only booth with a goat outside.
My bestie & I started making an annual pilgrimage to Scarby in, ohh, about 2003, I think, initially going ONE DAY a year. In 2005 we decided to start making it a weekend thing, and add garb, sort of. In 2006 we bought belly dance outfits from Isis' store in Bedford and wore those one day and our other "garb" from the previous year on the other day. By then I'd met a friend through another organization and knew that she was part of the IWG, but hadn't yet gotten involved with the guild. 2007 I bought a FoF pass, went with that friend to the preview, and promptly, on opening weekend (in the snow), wasted my $ on a poorly made bodice, which was replaced with a better, borrowed one from that same friend, and bought fabric to make a couple of skirts & chemises so I could have "real" garb. I don't remember how many weekends I was there that year, but more than half, including my regular weekend with the bestie, plus that was the first year I experienced Middlefaire (3 times, I think), TRF (3 full weekends, I think, plus Saturday of Halloween weekend), and Carolina RF (one day only, as we'd been to a highland games the day before to see The Rogues). That season I developed a friendship with one of The Rogues, and, well the rest is history. I worked for The Rogues the 2008 season for the full run, was backup seller for them the 2009 season, spent 2010 running amok to take my mind off their absence, and then this year I worked for Majikah, and plan to do so next season as well. I first camped at TRF in 2008, and made it to Four Winds, PARF, as well as then MDRF. In 2010 I first went to Norman MF, and Sherwood. This year I've hit Sherwood, Norman, and Scarby, and I expect I'll be at TRF for opening weekend.
When I lost my job and had to give up my house, the family that offered me sanctuary was fairemily, not blood. A majority of my blood family just thinks I'm the weird one in the family, because I have embraced faire so completely, and that's ok, it's my life to live, not theirs.
Quote from: Seaman Blurt on September 20, 2011, 07:51:19 AM
Quote from: Lady Renee Buchanan on September 18, 2011, 11:01:00 AM
Something funny to me now is to think back on our first garb. I wore a navy blue velvet floor length bathrobe (complete with zipper up the front), with a goldtone metal and orange plastic chain belt, and a wreath of artificial flowers on my head. Steve wore a floorlength tunic I made out of a bedsheet and dyed black, and a tall conehat I made out of black posterboard. I then made stars out of the remaining posterboard and covered them with aluminum foil. He wore a rope around his waist, thus, a wizard. I still have the pictures from then. People took our pictures like crazy, and we thought we were the cat's meow!
Little did we know that started our addiction............. ;D
We had a flood in our house when it rained 15 inches in 12 hours, so everything is all over the place, and I'd have to find the pictures we took, and I have no clue where anything is. Plus, as many forum members know, I am hopeless with anything to do with the computer. Our house should be back together when our son (who designs the website for a major company) comes home for Christmas, so I can ask him if he can scan it and post it. I still have not mastered the download from the camera to the computer. Though I have explicit written directions, it messes up every time!
I love this... Can you post the pics here, Would love to see cardboard hat and bathrobe garb
In elementary school, a kid I went to school with and his family were in the Renaissance Academy and were performers or learning to be performers. Sounded cool, so I tagged along, in the 3rd grade. And got hooked. Funny thing is I am one of the few people who has been going for around 30 years who does not do garb, and hasnt in a decade!
It was my freshman year of high school, when the English Department set up their annual trip to TRF. I had never been, and wasn't really interested in going, although I had a love of all things medieval and fantasy (we were currently reading 'The Hobbit' in class). I distinctly remember the teachers telling us that we only needed to bring about $20 for food and such, as our admission tickets were taken care of by the school. Needless to say, my $20 was gone in a matter of the first few hours!
Of course, we were all in street clothes, but it was still...magical! The smells of the food, the sounds of all the different styles of music, and of course, the costumes! At this time, TRF had an 'Oriental Garden' and every boy in my class bought the rubber nunchucks from a vendor there...money well spent, I guess. All the stage acts were fantastic, and we got to try our hand at fencing and other sports. I guess you never forget your first trip!
Unfotunately, it was several years before I was able to attend again, but I convinced a few of my friends to don costumes inspired from the Costner Robin Hood flick. We had a blast! I've been back almost every year since, and started sewing my own tunics and surcoats as the years progressed. My best friend and I started collecting armor to wear, chain mail, more swords, etc.
In more recent years, we've switched to kilts and less armor, but it's still as magical now as it was 20 years ago...
When I came down to visit my then boyfriend, now husband, he was the first one who introduced me to renfaires in general. We went Dane for a couple years, being broke young lovers at the time. Now, we are slightly less broke young lovers, and will be going in garb this year!
However, I can pinpoint what exactly turned me into a rennie, besides the person. The feeling of stepping outside of our current timeframe, throwing away the cares and worries of our ( usually ) too oppressive world is just such a welcome cool breeze into my life. Add to the fact that I can do this all year round, through faires or just having "rennie" days, and I am all for it!
Something that I can exercise my creativity in is always welcome :D And I think this draws a lot of people too it - making a character, diving into the history, educating yourself on things typically thrown by the wayside in today's fast paced world. Uncovering little "treasures" if you will.
All those things slowly turned me into a rennie.
Everyone has great stories and memories. Huzzah!
I have always been a person who felt that they were born about 600 years too late. I was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and my family can trace it's roots back over a thousand years, which got me interested in history at a very young age. Being blood kin to THE Fraser of Lovat and spending two summers at Beaufort Castle, learning how a gentleman was supposed to act from my "Uncle" Shimi ( The 17th Lord Lovat and 4th Baron of Lovat), I grew up with being a Scot foremost on my mind. I collected swords and knives...learned bowmanship...and read everything i could about the middle ages, historical and fiction. In 2001, Nasty & I went to TRF on a fluke... spent over 250 bucks on beer and had a fantastic time! Somewhere near the end of our drinking binge, a gentleman in garb came up to us and told us something that I'll never forget. He said to us " You guys seem to be the right kind of people... Dress up, come back next year and forget who you are for a time..." He patted us both on the shoulder and staggered off. I didn't get a chance to act on his advice for over seven years. 2007 was a rough year for me... lost a 60k/yr. job and my life was on the rocks but i made it up, in my mind, that i would make the best of the holidays and i would start it off by going to the first Celtic Christmas on Closing weekend. Driving rain...freezing temps...a hole in my boot...soaked to the bone... none of this stopped me from having one of the most enjoyable days i've ever had. In '08, i got my first kilt that i've owned since i was a youngun and was greeted by others, at TRF, as a long lost cousin. I was hooked! I dragged Nasty into it the next year and we've been Rennies ever since. ;) ;D
Quote from: Seaman Blurt on September 20, 2011, 07:51:19 AM
Quote from: Lady Renee Buchanan on September 18, 2011, 11:01:00 AM
Something funny to me now is to think back on our first garb. I wore a navy blue velvet floor length bathrobe (complete with zipper up the front), with a goldtone metal and orange plastic chain belt, and a wreath of artificial flowers on my head. Steve wore a floorlength tunic I made out of a bedsheet and dyed black, and a tall conehat I made out of black posterboard. I then made stars out of the remaining posterboard and covered them with aluminum foil. He wore a rope around his waist, thus, a wizard. I still have the pictures from then. People took our pictures like crazy, and we thought we were the cat's meow!
Little did we know that started our addiction............. ;D
I love this... Can you post the pics here, Would love to see cardboard hat and bathrobe garb
I wish I had a pic of some friends of mine that showed up in hastily put together garb for a St. Patrick's Day parade long ago. They wanted to walk with us, since we were promoting the local ren faire opening in a couple of months.
He was a credible viking, and she was a lovely wood nymph with a flaming red wig. Her green satin tunic paired with an ivy wreath would have passed muster....except she forgot to take the green plastic rings off the top of the shower curtain she used to make it ;D.
I stared at that line of rings until I figured it out. Apparently the curtain came with them already attached, and she somehow didn't notice it. The rings were removed before the parade, and we went on to have a great time.
They were both fun people, and both passed on within a year of each other in 2008. A funny/sad memory ambush....
When I was a little kid, we went to visit relatives in Belgium and took a trip to Holland to the Efteling Park, which is an amusement park based on fairy tales. No amusement park has ever compared since, and I think I've always lived with one foot in a fantasy land of some sort. It sparked my love for all things fantasy, a love that was firmly cemented at 13 when an older, well-meaning friend gave me a copy of the hobbit to read, since he said I was so unhappy with this world, why not check out another! Fantasy and history are so often intertwined that it wasn't a far leap into all things medieval, especially once I started trying to research our family history in Belgium. My mother, however, detests all things historical, and believes all things fantasy are evil, so it wasn't until my late 20's that I finally made it out to Bristol to see just what the renaissance faire was all about. I don't know how many years we intended to go and then forgot about it and missed the entire season, LOL. We finally went with some friends, we all dressed in mundane clothes, and we had a blast. Our daughter was 4 years old at the time and she just fell in love with the place. A couple of years later, we decided to dress up in some thrown together, handmade costumes, and we had even more fun. This year was our 10th anniversary of going to Bristol and we went in full outfits that I spent a good month on making. It was the best visit ever! The day absolutely flew by and I was genuinely sorry when it ended, and so did the season. The rennie bug has bitten hard. A season pass for 2012 is at the top of my holiday list!
Short answer=Life
Now as for the story it started about the time Scarborough was shiny and new. Went with a friend. Then didnt go again for years. In the late 80's made a couple more trips out with other finds then along about 2004 or so when we started to think about doing the garb thing we went with a group to TRF that was 2005 I think. 2006 we gathered our first garb and made a couple trips to Scarby from then on we had season passes. Our visits were spurottic due to illness problems. In 2009 we had the best time ever at faire. Since I have been attending faire as often as I can wherever I can. The last 2 seasons I have been part of the Queens Own Highlanders and am having a ball. So yeah simply life and the fact that I enjoy Medieval and Renaissance history.
My son actually started me going. He asked me one year if we could go. I had always seen the commercials and advertisements but had "heard" it was extremely costly. I checked on it and they were running a half off promotion so we got tickets. When I walked through the gates that first time it was like I was transported to another world. I, like most, live a crazy life and here I really could Lift Up My Cares (the faires slogan). After that experience I started doing hours of research each night on the topic and reading everything I could. I also poured over people's photos and attended as many faires as I could. My wife and I started gathering garb and craft items to build garb. We have garbed to the faires before but this year we are very excited for the start of our home faire in a couple weeks because we have taken garb to a new level for us. A mix of mostly homemade with some store bought thrown in the mix all 7 of us are excited to be at faire this year.
Quote from: Laird Fraser of Lovatt on September 21, 2011, 08:50:32 AM
I have always been a person who felt that they were born about 600 years too late.
I had a high school history that actually put on a college letter of recommendation that I would have been better off being born in a different time. I wasn't entirely sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing at the time.
When you find the time portal, let me know... ;)
I had grown up watching all the swashbuckler, pirate, and monster movies on the TV's after school movie. Errol Flynn, Danny Kaye, etc. When Star Wars came out it only made things worse. God knows how many lightsabers my friends and I went through. Princess Bride just made it worse. When my wife and I moved to Minneapolis we took in the Ren faire there. I enjoyed it, bought a highlander shirt, and was never able to make it back there for another four years. We had moved back home and in 1990 our town actually had its first ren faire. It was small,as in a back parking lot, but that's when the addiction really hit. One local guy was giving fencing lessons and I joined up right away. We made it back to Minnesota and through the internet I found and went to faires in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Upper Michigan. Anyone remember the one weekend faire north of the Twin Cities? Sadly, most of the ones I have seen are gone now with Olde World at Twig, MN being the latest to maybe disappear.
In the rather early 80's, the SCA put on a faire in my hometown. It's tough to find an activity a twenty-something wants to join their parents in doing, and my sister & I went with Mum. I remember being fascinated by the burly men in costume, playing chess, and saying within earshot "Oh, it takes a few years to catch on" I watched and waited, but they never came back.
My beautiful sister, Auntie Lou on this forum, well - she can sew whatever she sets her mind to and costumes for community theater. They have done Much Ado About Nothing, and everything from that to Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. When the Ohio RenFair started up a few years later we would borrow from the theater wardrobe. She has since gifted me with a simple pattern set from Patterns of History, and garbing is now my full time hobby.
However -
What really turned me into a rennie is the people I have met and the big fun we have together, and of course, this website! Otherwise we would not have met the Castleteers!
Sci Fi Club mentioned once in the early 90's about going. I did, started taking pictures. As time went on, my taking pictures worked into the fantasy of Dr. Jonathan Kidd, time traveling anthropologist but the problem with that fantasy is that I was the only one who knew it.
During the cold snap at Scarborough in 2007, I was using my llama wool parka to stay warm. About 3pm, it started warming up and some passing ladies said to me, "Senor, are you not enjoying this fine weather we are having?" At that, I was no longer an outside and started coming into the group, started adding period garb to my character, and Jonathan Kidd became more and more native.........and the background of his alter persona of the past, DT Masters, grows more and more.
Granted, in many ways, it is still very much a private fantasy, but as things are added to the costume, the stories behind the accessories grow.
Hmmmm I dont think I ever turned I simply always was. Ive been donning costume and performing since the age of 12. Performed at my first Boarshead Feast at 16 so lets see Lovely Ladies, Good Bier, Good Food, and truly great people. What more do you need in life? This was all back in the 80's and unfortunately I stepped away from the lifestyle until about 6 years ago when myself and the lovely redhead attended a fair and while we enjoyed the event it was not up to par as family entertainment adult yes family no and I vowed never again I was done with the Renaissance. Moan, groan,b--ch, and bellyache, and 3 years later I am creating my own festival because even at the aforementioned fair which left a truly bad taste in my mouth it was like visiting the obnoxouse kin folk that you can not stand but they live in such a lovely part of the country you still go visit them because they are family. I am still trying to figure out why I do this mundane thing.
My brother made me do it. He began attending Faires in the mid-80's and finally dragged me kicking and screaming to Faire in the early 90's. I thought it was a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there. After attending a few more times it started to grow on me. By 2000 I was going in simple garb. I thought how could I incorporate my hobby of bubble making at Faire and designed the Renaissance Bubble Machine (RBM for short) in 2005. The technology was appropriate to the times (bellows and simple lever) and I documented that children did blow bubbles then. Since then I have brought the RBM to Faires/Events in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Washinton DC, and Virginia. It has always been well received by patron and playtron alike. It's all my brother's fault!
Photo courtesy of Diane aka Quiet One here on the Forums
(http://fast1.onesite.com/bubblesmith.renspace.com/830aa80262de7f3998377c5a914e060d.jpg?)
I'm just a sucker for a good fairy tale... and have always been the "Dress-up Queen". It was just a natural progression... :D
My Dad started taking me to TRF when I was only two, some years it was the whole family but mostly it was just a "Daddy/Daughter" day. We always went in danes. About the time I turned 14, when it wasn't "cool" to go with Dad, I started to get dropped of at fair with friends. Then in 1999 I went out to TRF on a date. I got my first set of garb that day and have been going in garb ever since. And have yet to miss a season at TRF. I cant really say what it was that "turned me into a rennie" but I can say it has a lot to do with the people, the since of community, and a love of history.
George Romero (yes, that George Romero) planted a seed way back when I was young and impressionable - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082622/ - but it had somehow escaped my attention until late last year that Ohio even had Ren Faires.
Now that I've been to GLMF a few times, I'm thinking I might be hooked.
Some friends of mine were going about 6 years ago and I decided to go with them (TNRF). I went in civvies they were all in garb. I though they were insane. We had a blast.
By the next fair I was decked out and I have been ever since.
The main thing I like about the fairs is the people. Good people, having fun and letting that freak flag fly. I can't get enough.
The Adventures of Robin Hood started it all.
Like Robert Phoenix, I too grew up watching the old swashbuckler movies. My Dad had a thing for "classic" movies and when beta recorders (precursors to VHS) came out I taped as many as I possibly could and watched them over and over. This of course led me to reading books about Robin Hood and knights which eventually led me to The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, Dragon Lance and Forgotten Realm novels.
In my teens I knew several people who were members of the SCA or who traveled to work KCRF, but being 17 or there abouts, didn't have the means to do either and swore I'd eventually make it to KCRF. (which I STILL have yet to do!)
In 2004, I discovered St Louis had a faire and went with a group of friends and was hooked. The following year I returned in garb with my 5 month old daughter in a stroller with a bindi on her forehead. We've gone every year since.
nice!!! KCRF is doing Robin Hood as their 2011 theme, you'd love it!
I am very new to this but I think I am hooked. As a child in the late 1950's a TV show about Robin Hood was my influence. I always dreamed about being an archer.
I did not get to attend a ren fair until this fall (2011). TRF was amazing. All the people haveing a wonderful time. Of course I was looking for beautiful women in scanty clothes and I found them. She-Wolf was the first denizen I took the time to talk to and she was very charming and patient with me.
But what really got me was seeing Swan Princess, sitting on the ground, playing her violin and interacting with young children. That was pure magic.
I am in the process of putting together my archers garb and hope to have at least some of it by next season.
For me I think it first started in the 9th grade, when in English class I saw Franco Zefferelis' version of Romeo and Juliet for the first time. I was completely in awe of the gorgeous clothing, and how stunning young Olivia Hussey looked. This was many years before I even knew of the existence of renaissance faires. I fell in love with medieval fantasy books from authors like Anne McCaffrey (may she rest in peace) and Piers Anthony. Oddly enough I never read The Hobbit or LOtR until my adult years. Fast forward to the early 90's, I took my first trip to Medieval Times in NJ with a good friend of mine who was majorly into all things medieval and renaissance. She told me, "this was fun, but if you liked this, you really should go with me some time to renfest." I innocently replied, "what's renfest?" She went on to explain it all to me. It sounded wonderful, but I wasn't to get the chance to attend for several more years. My husband and I moved back down to MD where we are from, and in the fall of 1993, my same friend who told me about faires announced she was planning a medieval wedding, and I was to be her matron of honor. That fall, she took me to the Maryland Renaissance Festival, and of course, I was immediately sucked in and hooked within an hour of walking in the gates! That was the first and last time I attended in mundane clothing.
I grew up in central Arkansas, where there aren't any Ren Faires, so I didn't hear about them until I was living in the Dallas, TX area as an adult.
In the late 80's, I was working at Convex Computer Corp. in Richardson, TX and they had Scarborough Faire discount tickets available through the HR department. But since I didn't know of any co-workers who went, and wasn't sure what it was, I didn't take advantage of the tickets.
Fast-Forward to 1995 --- I was a member of ORAC, a Dallas / Fort Worth area Science Fiction Fan Club, and I went on a group outing to one of the final weekends at Scarborough Faire that year. Within a few minutes of passing through the gates, I was hooked on the music and atmosphere of Scarborough Renaissance Festival. I bought a Season Pass for 1996, and began buying garb for myself on opening weekend of the 1996 season. Depending on my employment situation during the ensuing years, I've attended anywhere from 0 to 4 Ren Faires each year.
Take Care,
David Baldock
A couple of friends took me to the first "Lord Of The Rings" movie in 2001. I hadn't heard of the story before but it blew me away. The next spring, a couple of other friends took me to a couple of Renfaires. I was hooked from then on! It was the hammered dulcimer music that originally pulled me in. I began traveling as far away as Scarby, TRF and Colorado for Renfaires.
After a few years, I began to have troubles finding out where Renfaires were. At a small faire, Fugli Troll suggested I start setting up a tent. A month later, I was doing just that. I was getting info from my performer friends and handing out flyers showing where Renfaires were in this part of the country. A Renfaire owner then suggested I create a website showing the same thing. The next year, the "period police" rightly suggested I wear garb when I set up my tent. My sister-in-law made a shirt for me, I bought the rest of an archer's outfit and a longbow.
I've now served on the board for a Medieval Faire and look forward to doing so again. I wouldn't trade this great escape from reality for hardly anything.
We would have been Rennies years earlier, but since we have to travel afar to even get to a faire—and had little money available—it just wasn't in the cards. We first went to festivals around `89 when we were introduced by a long-time friend and his wife who were living in the Dallas area, and we visited Scarborough for the first time. Later that year, after hearing us talk about it so much, I guess, Nim's folks, who lived in Houston, took us to TRF. From that point, there was no doubt, we were hooked on the concept of going, but just couldn't squeeze the piggy bank hard enough to make him poop enough coinage to cover the cost of traveling. Our faire days would have to wait.
Things changed for us financially around 2000, and we began making annual pilgrimages to Scarborough, even enticing a couple of friends to join us for the trip. I think the second or third trip down, we decided to garb up. I did the kilt thing with something Nim made, but it was extremely lame up against the regalia that the Scots at Scarby wear. The following year, I began my faire life as a wizard. Nim had called me "Merlin" for many years prior because of what I could do with a computer, so that was the persona I adopted.
Typically, I would cut my beard short just after faire, then let it grow longer over the next year. Then I thought, what the hell...let's see what the boss says if I let it grow. Apparently, in academia, the long beard is accepted as just a manifestation of another crackpot professor (although I am not a teacher), so nobody gives a damn. The university president did look at me a little funny during one event.
The entire thing, for me anyway, has been supercharged by finding this site, and meeting so many people. It has greatly enhanced things for me.
I had been going since I was 14 or so with my Girl Scout troop every year. But once I got out of Girl Scouts my friend, Jinx, picked up where Girl Scouts left off. Then around 2008 she started a decent collection of bodices and other garb items and had a full garb outfit to lend me and told me she met some awesome people from this online forum (R/F.com of course) and I should meet them. Since then my once yearly trip turned into how many faires can I get to this year and how many days will I be able to go per faire.