Tipping Etiquette at Faire

[Merlin the Elder]

Interesting question...maybe if they do the same show each time, then take the discount...new show: full faire fair fare   

[Jade Sapphire Emerald]

When I attend a faire for many weekends and watch the same show (knowing that I would be) again and again, sometimes I will hold off on a tip until closer towars the end (or a paycheck) and usually will cover for all of the weekends I attend...

I have a friend that I watch perform every chance I can...he doesn't like me giving him tips because he knows the financial situation my fiancee and I are in, but generally, I tip him towards the best monetary time and generously...(To this day he doesn't know that everytime he gets a bill larger than a 10 it's me...and many other performers don't know that either....)

Overall, my general rule of thumb on tipping (and, for a college student, I am too generous at times) I usually do about 3 to five dollars (unless there are more than 3-5 performers....) If I really enjoyed the show, the tip may go up... If I don't have cash, I wait until the next weekend (only twice have I been unable to tip a performance due to lack of cash, wait a week, and then find they aren't there for the rest of the season...)

This is probably why I'm poor and fight for college books every semester.......

[raevyncait]

When it's shows that I see multiple times a day, I usually tip less per show, but by the end of the day it ends up being more.  One group that many members are close friends of mine I have to sneak my $ into the mug, cuz they know my situation. That being said, I usually only try to do that sneaking thing once a day, cuz it's just to much trouble to try to be sneaky several times a day.

[Lady Kett]

I think Christophe has the right idea. He's straight up about it. He tells everyone to throw money into the hat and the more he gets the better show he'll give.

For me, while I think  it's certainly ideal to leave a dollar per performer per person in attendance I think that, along with the gate price and bar and food bills and tips...that's a hefty tally for the day. For myself, it's just me and I do believe in what goes out comes back again..but I would.hate for anyone to feel they can't attend all the shows they'd like or even to not attend faire at all for not being able to be so generous. So my opinion would be to tip genoursly if you can, tip less if you can only manage that...but yes tip something if you've enjoyed the service or the show.

There is a lot of wisdom in this. Most performers who pass the hat quite openly make some comment about "if you can't drop a dollar, or a few, in the hat, but you enjoyed the show, come by and tell us". I, for one, take them at their word and feel they'd rather have a full house of people who come shake their hand and tell them "great show" but low on tips than have a house full who run just before hat time, or worse an empty show b/c people felt if they couldn't tip they couldn't come to the show.

And the points about regular patronage - I think being moderate throughout, whether it's because of personal finances (whether waiting for pay day or not) or you want to save up for closing weekend to give a special thank-you tip, is wonderfully appropriate.

Faire performers no doubt are trying to earn a living, but I don't think any one of them does this for the money alone. Might be sappy or naive of me, but I think it's more than that.

[edit: laptop posting challenged, I blame the cold weather]

[Queen Bonnie]

 Do not forget the lane performers too! Many- including myself ,work only for tips! We work hard to entertain. Your tip helps with gas and food and more!

[LadyStitch]

If we see a tip jar, and stop and see someone's show. We will put something in the jar, may not be much but we try to give SOMETHING.

[Jade Sapphire Emerald]

Do not forget the lane performers too! Many- including myself ,work only for tips! We work hard to entertain. Your tip helps with gas and food and more!

At BARF, there aren't too, too many lane performers who take tips, but those who do generally have a sign and bowl/hat/bag/case to signal it. We tip them too!

My favorite lane performer tipping idea is Hobbe the Troll's two bowls labled "Sing Louder" and "Stop Singing for 10 Seconds" (in which case, if you tip the latter, he counts really, really loud to ten and then starts right back up.)

[Queen Bonnie]

 LOL! Cute idea!