1st time at Minnesota RenFest but not to a RenFest (been to Scarborough, TRF, Sherwood, Norman OK, and Colorado).
First, we LOVED it! Met up with some friends who work the circuit and made some new friends. Parking wasn't the hell I had expected. Vendors were friendly and helpful. Mead...if I could've bought every barrel I would've. I'd say food was above par for festival grub. Shows were about usual.
Even though vendors were courteous, festival staff could use some training in the area. Although I never dealt with staff personally their rudeness with others was plain to see.
Gates opening at 9am being a guideline rather then the rule is bull. Every other faire we've been to takes enormous pride in having the cannon go off promptly at opening time and those gates flying open before the first cannon-inspired car alarm goes off.
Find a way to tag someone after showing ID at a pub. Just makes the line go quicker later when ID's don't have to be continuously presented and checked.
Minor suggestions for an otherwise outstanding ren-experience. ;D
Glad you had a good time! I've only been to our faire for a few years (and usually on the inside of the gate when cannon does fire), but I don't know that I've ever noticed it be on time!
By staff, did you mean our court? Or the mundanely dressed ones who work for corporate?
As for ID, one way around it is to make nice with the same beer purveyor. If they remember you, they tend not to ask for ID a 3rd or 4th time. I understand that a marking or bracelet could make the line move more quickly, but who wants to wear a neon wristband all day??
If you see me wander by, be sure to say hi!
Speaking from a pub perspective, bracelets/stamps would be nice and all but the problem is that they tend to be easily transferable. Also, it may speed things up later in the day, but REALLY slows things down in early in the day when we have far less staff.
Sorry I missed you...had I stopped and spoke with Jim at the end of the day, as I was supposed to, we would have met. :)
Glad to hear you had a good time! If you have any comments or concerns regarding our festival, you can always send a letter (they prefer snail mail) to the corporate office.
Mid-America Festivals
1244 Canterbury Road S
Shakopee, MN 55379
Please be sure to be specific in either praise or rebuke. We have many different "divisions" among our faire, and non-specific critiques tend to get spread out to all of us. Every division has its own management and rules of behavior can vary.
Hey- I still talk about the time we went to TNRF - there weren't long lines they weren't busy and we were all very "recognizable" in garb and they had to card us each and every time, there were ABC (or the TN equivalent) folks at every bar. At one point I showed my ID to the bartender who really didn't bother to look at it and the ABC woman yelled at him and told him he had to look at it an verify the birthdate as well as the expiration date EVERY TIME.
Quote from: Ms Trish on August 22, 2012, 02:55:00 PMBy staff, did you mean our court? Or the mundanely dressed ones who work for corporate?
The mundanely dressed staff.
Staff is often a problem. But you get what you pay for and MN is known to pay poorly. And MRF does not hire educated or experienced individuals in the upper areas of management, preferring primarily girls just out of high school for important positions. Why? I do not know. But the demographics are staggering. (NOTE: Not a commentary on men vs women. Just an observation.) I can say that most of MRF's staff are awesome and the rest do the best they can with the tools allowed them. Our Safety Services crew, IMO, is second to none!
Cannot use wristbands or stamps in MN unless it is in a secured alcohol area, which would require being re-checked upon entry, tagged or otherwise. That is our law, not MRF policy.
Actually most of our staff are pretty nice, once you get passed the reserved, stoic nature of us Minnesotans.
We hope you return, we welcome returning guests!
Quote from: Ms Trish on August 22, 2012, 02:55:00 PMAs for ID, one way around it is to make nice with the same beer purveyor. If they remember you, they tend not to ask for ID a 3rd or 4th time. I understand that a marking or bracelet could make the line move more quickly, but who wants to wear a neon wristband all day??
Ding! Ding! Give the lady a cigar! :D
Seriously, though, this advice is spot on. At my pub, once we remember you, we don't card you again the rest of the day. Good tippers get more easily remembered, of course. ;)
Bracelets? Meh.
I'm curious...do you card old people too?
Quote from: Merlin the Elder on August 23, 2012, 08:51:34 AM
I'm curious...do you card old people too?
Well they carded me so yeah! :D
Admit that carding the ladies I was with made them giggle with delight "Hey look I'm getting carded"!
Quote from: Hercules on August 22, 2012, 03:40:45 PM
Quote from: Ms Trish on August 22, 2012, 02:55:00 PMBy staff, did you mean our court? Or the mundanely dressed ones who work for corporate?
The mundanely dressed staff.
Some of the mundanely dressed staff are unpaid summer interns. They usually have a deer-in-the-headlights look. The other mundanely dressed staff are either overworked/unpaid or people who genuinely enjoy making others miserable (or so it seems to me usually).
We were told to card anyone who looked under 40, some of the pubs card everyone though. The beer/wine tastings card everyone regardless of appearance.
Quote from: Sitara on August 23, 2012, 09:26:25 PM
We were told to card anyone who looked under 40, some of the pubs card everyone though. The beer/wine tastings card everyone regardless of appearance.
Thanks ( for making me thing I look under 40 ). :)
Quote from: Gauwyn of Bracknell on August 24, 2012, 05:14:20 AM
Quote from: Sitara on August 23, 2012, 09:26:25 PM
We were told to card anyone who looked under 40, some of the pubs card everyone though. The beer/wine tastings card everyone regardless of appearance.
Thanks ( for making me thing I look under 40 ). :)
heheh...heh...BWAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA!!! ;D Who am I to talk? But I think I wear 1060 years pretty well!
Quote from: Merlin the Elder on August 23, 2012, 08:51:34 AM
I'm curious...do you card old people too?
The #1 thing to remember about pubs is this: it all depends on the pub you go to. Pubmasters are free to run their pub as they wish. Some are more by-the-book, some are more lenient. This year, my pub is quite cool with the carding, letting me use my own judgement. It's been nice, to say the least.
Quote from: William_MacKean on August 22, 2012, 09:09:48 PM
Staff is often a problem. But you get what you pay for and MN is known to pay poorly. And MRF does not hire educated or experienced individuals in the upper areas of management, preferring primarily girls just out of high school for important positions. Why? I do not know.
Upper areas? Like ED or GM? If so, check the last names-I betcha they're related to someone else in charge.
Quote from: Gauwyn of Bracknell on August 23, 2012, 08:20:43 PM
Quote from: Merlin the Elder on August 23, 2012, 08:51:34 AM
I'm curious...do you card old people too?
They carded me :-\
Me too.... But then again.. I am a pirate ;)
Captain Jon Hanslow, Pirate extraordinaire!
Quote from: Hercules on August 22, 2012, 10:52:06 AM
Even though vendors were courteous, festival staff could use some training in the area. Although I never dealt with staff personally their rudeness with others was plain to see.
I'd be interested to know if you have any specific examples of what you found rude. There is a big deal about this right now in the Cast Facebook group. I don't want to go into it too much but evidently a musician was interrupted in the middle of a song and asked to show her pass to prove that she was a cast member and not an unauthorized busker. There is a big discussion as to whether this was warranted.
As always, I had a blast with my husband again this year!
We weren't in costume though, so i found it had a bit different 'feel' for sure...storekeepers definitely treat you a bit differently...didn't get help in one store this year so i didn't buy anything from them, despite seeking them out on purpose.
Weirdest one was probably some lady who found it necessary to comment on my beat up knees (id been out at the waterparks in the Wisconsin Dells, and the big wave pool knocked me into the rough floor of the pool...), seriously, could she not find ANYTHING else to comment on?
Also, the "mundane" food vendors irked me a little by their method of 'calling' to us. "Hey you in the snazzy shorts", "Hey man in the pony tail". It's not very classy, and I'd rather they talk about their FOOD and its TASTE, SMELL, and PRICE rather than comment on some piece of my clothing/look that they've decided to call attention upon.
We only went not-in-costume this year as we were doing a road trip vacation instead of a 2-day-ren-faire extravaganza, and I think aside from the added heat of garb, I definitely prefer it to mundane clothing!
Quote from: Charlotte Rowan on August 28, 2012, 03:55:12 PM
Quote from: Hercules on August 22, 2012, 10:52:06 AM
Even though vendors were courteous, festival staff could use some training in the area. Although I never dealt with staff personally their rudeness with others was plain to see.
I'd be interested to know if you have any specific examples of what you found rude. There is a big deal about this right now in the Cast Facebook group. I don't want to go into it too much but evidently a musician was interrupted in the middle of a song and asked to show her pass to prove that she was a cast member and not an unauthorized busker. There is a big discussion as to whether this was warranted.
Wow..... There are definitely some out there that take their "job" way too seriously............ I hope the musician was apologized to, but I doubt it.... :P
Quote from: Charlotte Rowan on August 28, 2012, 03:55:12 PM.... evidently a musician was interrupted in the middle of a song and asked to show her pass to prove that she was a cast member and not an unauthorized busker. There is a big discussion as to whether this was warranted.
This goes way beyond rude, and in no way could this be warranted. This was someone flexing their muscles, and if I were the management, the person would have been fired immediately. If there was a question, the offender should have waited until the end of the song, then QUIETLY spoken with the entertainer.
Quote from: Merlin the Elder on September 05, 2012, 06:52:36 AM
Quote from: Charlotte Rowan on August 28, 2012, 03:55:12 PM.... evidently a musician was interrupted in the middle of a song and asked to show her pass to prove that she was a cast member and not an unauthorized busker. There is a big discussion as to whether this was warranted.
This goes way beyond rude, and in no way could this be warranted. This was someone flexing their muscles, and if I were the management, the person would have been fired immediately. If there was a question, the offender should have waited until the end of the song, then QUIETLY spoken with the entertainer.
That's what I said, that the person should have waited until the end of the song. The argument was that safety services/site crew don't have time to give people the benefit of the doubt and wait until the end of song to ask discreetly for a pass. I was pretty much lambasted by management and well-known performers for suggesting otherwise, lol. I understand the argument that SS has a lot to deal with, and if it is an emergency I certainly can understand not waiting... but I also can't imagine a musician playing a song posing enough of a threat to call it an emergency. I also don't know if it was SS who interrupted her-- my guess is that it was more likely site crew.
I never thought advocating for common courtesy would be so controversial, but evidently I was wrong. :P
Quote from: Charlotte Rowan on September 05, 2012, 01:09:11 PM
Quote from: Merlin the Elder on September 05, 2012, 06:52:36 AM
Quote from: Charlotte Rowan on August 28, 2012, 03:55:12 PM.... evidently a musician was interrupted in the middle of a song and asked to show her pass to prove that she was a cast member and not an unauthorized busker. There is a big discussion as to whether this was warranted.
This goes way beyond rude, and in no way could this be warranted. This was someone flexing their muscles, and if I were the management, the person would have been fired immediately. If there was a question, the offender should have waited until the end of the song, then QUIETLY spoken with the entertainer.
That's what I said, that the person should have waited until the end of the song. The argument was that safety services/site crew don't have time to give people the benefit of the doubt and wait until the end of song to ask discreetly for a pass. I was pretty much lambasted by management and well-known performers for suggesting otherwise, lol. I understand the argument that SS has a lot to deal with, and if it is an emergency I certainly can understand not waiting... but I also can't imagine a musician playing a song posing enough of a threat to call it an emergency. I also don't know if it was SS who interrupted her-- my guess is that it was more likely site crew.
I never thought advocating for common courtesy would be so controversial, but evidently I was wrong. :P
Perhaps Nessa will chime in. Personally, I get my pass out and make it visible about ten to. That way, if I am in the middle of a transaction, or putting stuff away when SS comes through, I don't have to stop what I am doing to dig it out to present it. I don't envy their job at all. People are down right nasty to them, and they are usually just doing their job 99.9% of the time.
Your performers didn't agree with the courtesy idea??? Good grief! Is that festival so besieged by trouble that the SS cannot wait 2 minutes?
We get a fair amount of playtron buskers. They plop themselves down, toss out their hats, and take tips. Every dollar in their hats is a dollar out of ours.
Quote from: MissBubu on September 06, 2012, 08:28:37 AM
We get a fair amount of playtron buskers. They plop themselves down, toss out their hats, and take tips. Every dollar in their hats is a dollar out of ours.
I swear they just give me money for my good looks ;D :P :) (just kidding of course, anyone who does that should be publicly flogged)
What good looks, Gauwyn? ;)
Miss Bubu, it sounds like something needs to be done, but harassment of their own entertainers isn't it. At Scarby, for example, any and all entertainers and cast wear a large medallion prominently displayed.
Had I witnessed such a confrontation at faire, it would have left a very sour taste in my mouth.
I'd be curious to know if this pass check happened during the middle of the day or at the end of the day when they do the push? That would make a difference...
We had entertainer badges for one year, hasn't happened since. We're just happy when we get water and ice in our limited backstage area between the privies and the trash compactor.
I don't think it was SS, but more likely site crew. But I do not know for sure. I do think entertainer badges would be a good idea, but yeah, probably not going to happen. :D
Quote from: Charlotte Rowan on September 10, 2012, 11:46:17 AM
I don't think it was SS, but more likely site crew. But I do not know for sure. I do think entertainer badges would be a good idea, but yeah, probably not going to happen. :D
I thought badges were standard issue for street performers at all the large faires.
Most here use Favors or ribbons to identify the cast and performers from Patrons. Anybody walking around 'performing' in any way can be easily I.D.'d by anyone working there as Players' and 'Playtrons'.
Quote from: Kiss-me-Kate on September 05, 2012, 08:13:49 PM
Quote from: Charlotte Rowan on September 05, 2012, 01:09:11 PM
Quote from: Merlin the Elder on September 05, 2012, 06:52:36 AM
Quote from: Charlotte Rowan on August 28, 2012, 03:55:12 PM.... evidently a musician was interrupted in the middle of a song and asked to show her pass to prove that she was a cast member and not an unauthorized busker. There is a big discussion as to whether this was warranted.
This goes way beyond rude, and in no way could this be warranted. This was someone flexing their muscles, and if I were the management, the person would have been fired immediately. If there was a question, the offender should have waited until the end of the song, then QUIETLY spoken with the entertainer.
That's what I said, that the person should have waited until the end of the song. The argument was that safety services/site crew don't have time to give people the benefit of the doubt and wait until the end of song to ask discreetly for a pass. I was pretty much lambasted by management and well-known performers for suggesting otherwise, lol. I understand the argument that SS has a lot to deal with, and if it is an emergency I certainly can understand not waiting... but I also can't imagine a musician playing a song posing enough of a threat to call it an emergency. I also don't know if it was SS who interrupted her-- my guess is that it was more likely site crew.
I never thought advocating for common courtesy would be so controversial, but evidently I was wrong. :P
Perhaps Nessa will chime in. Personally, I get my pass out and make it visible about ten to. That way, if I am in the middle of a transaction, or putting stuff away when SS comes through, I don't have to stop what I am doing to dig it out to present it. I don't envy their job at all. People are down right nasty to them, and they are usually just doing their job 99.9% of the time.
Sorry, just checked in on this. First thing, this was brought up in one of our meetings and to the best of our knowledge it wasn't us. Firstly, we don't check passes during the day unless someone is in an area they shouldn't be, going through one of the gates, or doing something blatantly stupid. The performer was doing none of these things. If she was still performing during site sweep/push at the end of the day then it was warranted but I don't believe this was the case.
Yes, it could have been one of the new people but I really REALLY doubt it.
There is a contingent of people who thinks its suuuuuper funny to go around asking people for passes in an effort to either be complete a-holes or as they put it "make SS see how stupid they look when they ask".
There is one other possibility in that SS or Management or whoever may have never seen this person before and the concern was that they were not supposed to be there and were "busking" (which is playing or interacting for tips when unauthorized to do so). Regardless they should have waited until the song was done.
I have no real information regarding what actually happened. I only know it did and that we (Safety Services) are getting blamed for it both internally and externally. To the best of my knowledge we had absolutely nothing to do with it but the group mentality is "Well who else asks to see passes?" Management. Lots and lots of management.
That's the end of my part of this discussion. I will not be chiming in on this again. It's over and has been for a few weeks. Let it drop.