What time is opening at your faire and should it be earlier?

[Celtic_Fae]

I think 10:00 is a good time, esp if there are a number of people that are coming from out of town.  Would be a killer if it were at say 9am cannon with 8am cast meeting, and you have an hour drive, on day 3.  JMO

As one of those people: EXACTLY!  Only we have a 4 hour drive.

[Dayna]

Bristol doesn't have a cannon, we have a series of bells and gongs that begin at the front gate and resonate through the site once the gates open.  I much prefer that, as it wakes the village gently and happily rather than scaring us all to death!  Bells begin to ring at 10 a.m., morning meeting is at 9 a.m., hench call is 8:30 a.m.

Dayna

[Jinglebum]

I like TRF's 9:00 cannon, and I always try to make it in time for it. Normally on Saturdays I do, but Sundays I normally make it right after. I have no clue how I manage that though, considering the fact that I camp and normally sleep at around 5 or 6 am... >>; haha

I like the fact that it opens at 9. I think it's perfect, because that's early enough in the morning that you're still enjoying that nice morning weather out at faire but not SO early that you're wishing you were back at the camp asleep.

[Celtic_Fae]

Let's put it this way:
BARF's 10:00 cannon is perfect due to our commute.
TRF's 9:00 cannon was perfect because we were camping in Participant's and didn't have to get up insanely early to get ready, drive, find a parking space, walk in, finish prepping, etc. We were right there, so it was wake up, get dressed, grab breakfast inside, and we were...there! Ah, the wonder of camping onsite!

[Synikul]

ORF cannon is at 10:30.

What I'd like to see, even as a vendor, is for a fair like ours which runs for eight weekends to take one or two of those weekends and start much later, say 1 or 2PM, then stay open into the evening until 9 or 10PM. A renfair at night would be simply awesome.

[GirlChris]

I'm glad for the title change of this thread- we don't have cannon!

Most of the faires I attend open around 10. This makes getting there for a 9 o'clock call time not terribly painful. One faire, however, opens at 11. An hour later, but it seems so LATE!

[DonaCatalina]

ORF cannon is at 10:30.

What I'd like to see, even as a vendor, is for a fair like ours which runs for eight weekends to take one or two of those weekends and start much later, say 1 or 2PM, then stay open into the evening until 9 or 10PM. A renfair at night would be simply awesome.

I don't see that ever happening- The lighting required by Insurance would put the fair out of business as an expense.

[Lady Christina de Pond]

Garf is 10 and i'm ok with it being at 10 if it were earlier i would be ok with it being then too i just might not show up until 10

[Sir Michael Geare]

ORF cannon is at 10:30.

What I'd like to see, even as a vendor, is for a fair like ours which runs for eight weekends to take one or two of those weekends and start much later, say 1 or 2PM, then stay open into the evening until 9 or 10PM. A renfair at night would be simply awesome.

There are a lot of logistics involved in having a night faire.  As DonaCatalina pointed out, lighting for safety would be an issue.  As participants, we signed a "hold harmless" type clause but the patrons are a different story all together.  Which also brings up another matter.  How do you keep the area lit?  Non-period portable lights or kerosine laterns.  Depending on where the faire is located, dangers of a fire are an issue along with burns to patrons.  Openning late in the afternoon, IMHO, is faire suicide even if you were to have a night event. 

The fact that it may look very period and nice for the participants from a business stand point, the profits aren't there to make it work since the customer base will be significantly less.

[GirlChris]

Several faires in Ontario do night shows- usually a feast, music, dancing, and some of the stage acts do short performances.

[brooke]

As many people have said TRF opens the gate at 9 am, but I can't confirm this since I have never made it there by that time (not a morning person!)   

Our gang usually tries to make it by 10 (either camping or taking the 45 minute drive) but somehow it always ends up being more like 10:30 no matter what we do.

[lys1022]

Several faires in Ontario do night shows- usually a feast, music, dancing, and some of the stage acts do short performances.

This is different from having the entire faire open at night.  You can keep the crowd contained in a relatively small area and funnel them easily toward the exit when it's done.  The only faire that I know that is open after dark is TRF.  There may be others, I'm not sure, but I'm just as glad that Scarby closes at 7.  Considering that the performing company starts their "workday" at 8 a.m. or so (depending on whether we have to be there for a fight call), going til 9 or 10 at night would make me pretty grumpy.

[Lady_Claira]

In all honesty, when I was just a guest to faires, I always wished they opened earlier. NYRF opens at 10 and so does CTRF and that really bugged me cause I wanted as much faire as I could get.

Then this year I joined the cast of CTRF and I must say I almost wish it could open later than 10. Though I realize that would probably bug patrons and guests coming in who like me wanted as much as they could. But when I have to be there at 7:30 every morning to make sure that I am in costume, ready, and went to all my morning rehearsals and meetings I now have a much greater appreciation of a 10 am opening time.

[Jay Byrd]

Lady Claira,  That is what I was going to say.  As a paytron I wish it would open earlier and stay later.  But for those who work the faire, even though it is faire it is still work and the days are long.  10am to 7pm is*9 hours with few breaks in the hot sun, usually.  But if they want to open it earlier I'm all for it.

Jay Byrd

[Lady Mikayla of Phoenicia]

CRF has hours of 10 - 5, the opening is fyne but the closing is WAY to early IMHO!  More please!