Why did you get started? And why do you stay?

[Dracconia]

I got asked a question at work yesterday by a coworker, to whom I was raving about faire. He asked me, "Why do you love this so much? I just do not get it."

First off, I am so thankful that he owned up to not getting it, and did not just make fun of faire, I might have gotten written up for that response, and secondly I had to think for a moment, because my first response was....um EVERYTHING! Duh!

The answer I finally gave can be summed up in one word, fairemly, or community for those non rennies that we speak to. I love the faire, I love the garb, the food, the loki, the music, the sights, the smells (ok, so most of them!), the stories....but none of that would be the same without the people. I am blessed to have the best fairemly a girl could ask for, and equally as blessed to be a part of a massive community that comes together for each other through thick, thin, the good, the bad, and the horrible.

So....same question to all of you? Why did you get started, what keeps you going, and what is something you could not go to faire without?

Once I have gotten hugs from my peoples I want the smell of a campfire to soak up into my clothes (love going home in a hoodie that smells like faire fire) and the taste of a scoth egg......no faire year is complete without it!

[Rowan MacD]

    In my younger years I liked the excitement of the 'fantasy' side a bit more than I do now,  and the persona and garb I have today is far different than what I started with.   
   I have always been interested in the history, so I naturally gravitated toward that aspect over the years, and eventually left the wenching and partying to the younger set. 
   My favorite faires now are the ones based on some sort of specific and identifiable historical era/situation/characters rather than a Disney or an SCA version.  To me, attending faire is like participating in a movie or a documentary about a real era that I am fascinated with. I like to live and observe the history (to a certain extent), rather than just read about it.   The hobby of making garb, and then getting the feel of wearing something close to what they would have worn in period, and adopting the mannerisms they would have used is interesting to me.   It is an ongoing learning experience.
   
  The 'after faire' activities hold little interest for me anymore.   I don't go to renaissance festivals to get drunk or camp.   I don't vend and very rarely volunteer as cast.
    David has health issues that prevent him tolerating temperature extremes and prolonged walking or standing.  If it's hot/cold/rainy we don't stick around.

  The only thing I have to have, is Cheesecake on a stick.  State Fair version is just not as good!  I make better scotch eggs at home than I have ever tasted anywhere ^_^.

[scarletnyx]

Well, I got exposed to it through Alex ( one of our first dates was to TRF ) so I kinda equate it with our "courting" period. If watching Netflix movies via phone and playing WoW for hours counts as courting...? Anyways, walking through the gates for the first time every season helps me remember how giddy/nervous/so completely head over heels I fell for Alex. I feel that giddiness every single time, no fail, with no drop off in feeling.

The fairemly is amazing, and is a huge reason I've decided to stick with it. I love that, unlike other "cultures/fandoms" who -say- they welcome all, Rennies truly do. Want to impeach Obama? Come on down! Want everyone to start wearing leaves and twigs again and chew on bamboo shoots? Come on down! Since we all love history, and history changes so very much, I think that as a culture/fandom we can appreciate our differences more.

The crafts! From wood, to leather, to clay, every single craftart/skill is represented. I rarely buy store bought soap now... I stock up at Sherwood ( yay Summerwood!) and the Celtic Fair. The quality of said soap is vastly ahead of anything I could buy at a store. I can buy beautiful armor, or clothes, usually all handmade/from a small business. The things I buy from many vendors can actually be used, and for the most part aren't too frivolous.

Let's see... personal memories, crafts, and fairemly... Yep, that sums it up for me!

[LissaRoisin]

My love of the era is what drew me to it. My ex-fiance is the one that got me there my first time.
My parents attended once several years ago. While they had a good time, they couldn't understand why wanted to go every year, much less multiple times a year. Then they got to meet my friends and fairemily. I think they stated to get it then. I don't go for the shows or shopping as much anymore. In fact, I was so bored last year that I offered to work this year. I don't go for the dressing up, even though I love it. I go to see and spend time with my friends, to play, to have fun.

[Merlin the Elder]

My coworkers don't question "Why?" They just notice that when I come back after a faire weekend, I'm in a good mood. 

We don't live near a faire, so day-trips are out of the question. The camaraderie is a part of it---now---but, for several years we just went because it was fun. Since joining R/F, our circle of faire friends has grown astronomically. We spend a lot of time now during pre-cannon with the visiting stuff, and once inside, we like to take in the faire itself, AND visit.

[Anthemis]

I'd considered going for a while, but was drawn in last year by coworkers at my (then) new job and stepsiblings. I went the first time as a patron and essentially said, "I have found my people." I love costuming as a hobby, and here it was in the form of garb--Crafting and making as well, I've seen some of the most beautifully skilled artisans at Faire. Everyone I met was cheerful and fun, and clearly enjoying themselves. Hugely shy as I am, the opportunity to walk through the gate and be someone else for a weekend, where it was allowed, encouraged, was magical.

Now, going as a playtron, where people interact with me in a completely different way, with no judgement or bias and are just there to have fun, and there's really no way to do it wrong...I think I'll be doing this for a long time.

[BLAKDUKE]

Simply put I never grew up and have always aspired to live in some sort of fantasy realm and this is the closse I have ever been able to come to it.  I get to be who I want to be not who I am.

[PollyPoPo]

30 odd years ago a gentleman friend took me to what was then King Richard's Faire, about an hour from Chicago, which, if I'm not mistaken, later became Bristol.  It was so different than any place I had ever been beore.  At the time I was working and raising kids, so it was about 5 years before I went again, with family to a small soft faire in central Texas.  We went several times to various faires in the area.

Then 16 years ago my daughter was married at TRF, so for the first time I garbed.  For several years I attended TRF as part of a family group. 

Then came Sherwood Forest Faire.  Polly was born the second year of Sherwood when I guest camped with a smaller clan.  We still go to TRF and Scarby for the big faire experience with family, but Sherwood is Polly's playground. 

I like the camping experience where I put up a tent and leave it up for the season, camping with people I know.  Waking early to watch the fog lift from the forest and hear the birds calling out is an experience to be remembered.  Strangers walking down the road to the privies, wave hello.  I beckon and they often come quietly to my little parlor outside my tent for a cup of hot coffee, hardly a word spoken so as not to wake others. 

We have a great time when family is there (adults or children), but the weekends when I am there alone are very special.  A big draw for me is live entertainment, up close, not on a screen or in a big venue from half a mile away.  I can sit by myself for hours people watching if I want to; or join others for company. 

[Craigmeister]

Nice question.  My friend and her hubby took me to OKRF the spring after "Fellowship Of The Ring" came out.  I was immediately entranced.  I love history and soaked up everything around me, especially hammered dulcimers and trebuchets.

Now, I still go to faires for an escape from the rat race.  I also go for pics and info on where and when Renfaires are coming up for my website.

I'd love to have a few hours listening to hammered dulcimer music but not all of the faires have that fyne instrument.  I do need time to visit with the vendor and entertainer friends I've made.  Although, I went to KCRF last year and felt like a newbie again as I wasn't setting my schedule by certain entertainers as my faves from olden days are no longer there.  It was nice to not feel like I was working for my website all of the time I was there.

[DonaCatalina]

I went with a friend many years ago. We rented costumes and I was hooked. Later I took Don Juan, who in time became my husband. Although finances for many years kept our attendance to a minimum of once or twice a year. But we both love history and knowing how things worked. So along with a multi-decade stint in the SCA, we have been involved in most aspects of historical recreation. Now we have pared down to just faire for our entertainment.
The people are a large reason for why we keep going; Like Minded and Fun Loving friends.

[Dracconia]

I absolutley love reading how people got started in this! I got taken to Four Winds when I was 12 and I have been hooked every since. I took me 7 years to get to TRF for the first time, but I've been hooked there as well. I can now say that I have spent exactly half of my life in renaissance faires, and next season at Four Winds will be even more engraved in my heart since I will have joined both cast and management, and will be celebrating the first season to mark more years at fair than not in my life.



Keep those stories coming!!!

[Bob of the Lake]

I discovered faire thanks to my then middle-school-age son. He had heard about it and wanted to go with some friends. I volunteered to drive the group there and back but decided to spend the day there just for the heck of it. Well, I ended up having as much fun as any of them and I've been going to faires ever since!

I've always loved history and early music, and I like to laugh and have a good time so the shows and musical acts were the main draw for me in the beginning. I still enjoy them but over the years, I've made many friends and acquaintances and that's what keeps me coming back now. I spend more and more time enjoying their company and less and less time watching the shows. For me, there's nothing like laughing and chatting, or lifting a pint or two with like-minded friends in a beautiful, rustic, medieval/Renaissance setting.

Beats the heck out of the rest of the week!

[Laird Fraser of Lovatt]

Well, you all knew i was eventually going to chime in/open my big mouth.    I grew up surrounded by history.  My family can trace it's lineage back a thousand years. I grew up spending summers at my family's estates outside of Inverness, Scotland and hearing stories about the great clan wars, William Wallace and Bonnie Prince Charlie.  I've always felt, down deep, that i was born about 700 years too late... those stories would always stir my blood, as does the sound of pipes.

I heard about TRF and finally went with my best friend (Laird Nasty) and my sister... got trashed and had a blast.  Great time.    Real life stuck it's nose into my business for a few years and made it impossible to go.  I lost my job back in 2007 and was given a big fat check to go away.  I said to my wife, "Lets go to TRF this weekend.".  That ended up being the Closing weekend known as the "Ice Storm of '07"... rain... freezing tempetures... general misery.  I HAD THE TIME OF MY LIFE.  It seemed like we had the place to ourselves... with some hard core people i later found out were called "Rennies".

That day changed my life.  I got my first kilt, as an adult, the next year and with some trepidation, went to faire. A whole new world opened up to me...  People that i didn't know were suddenly kin folk and greeted me as such, the sights and sounds seemed different, and it felt like i belonged.  I found my home.

The rest is history.           

[Dracconia]

Well, you all knew i was eventually going to chime in/open my big mouth.    I grew up surrounded by history.  My family can trace it's lineage back a thousand years. I grew up spending summers at my family's estates outside of Inverness, Scotland and hearing stories about the great clan wars, William Wallace and Bonnie Prince Charlie.  I've always felt, down deep, that i was born about 700 years too late... those stories would always stir my blood, as does the sound of pipes.

I heard about TRF and finally went with my best friend (Laird Nasty) and my sister... got trashed and had a blast.  Great time.    Real life stuck it's nose into my business for a few years and made it impossible to go.  I lost my job back in 2007 and was given a big fat check to go away.  I said to my wife, "Lets go to TRF this weekend.".  That ended up being the Closing weekend known as the "Ice Storm of '07"... rain... freezing tempetures... general misery.  I HAD THE TIME OF MY LIFE.  It seemed like we had the place to ourselves... with some hard core people i later found out were called "Rennies".

That day changed my life.  I got my first kilt, as an adult, the next year and with some trepidation, went to faire. A whole new world opened up to me...  People that i didn't know were suddenly kin folk and greeted me as such, the sights and sounds seemed different, and it felt like i belonged.  I found my home.

The rest is history.         

And we wouldn't have it any other way! So glad you joined, my fairmly would be a little less happy if you weren't in it! (Oh and I always know you are going to chime in...now just waiting on B's big mouth lol!)

[Ian Maxwell]

I first went to CoRF back in the late 80's and liked it, but mostly it was another reason to drink. Many years later a friend got me to go to Estes Park for the Highland Festival, I was hooked and bought a kilt and shirt, been going since to both. Oh and I've collected much more stuff for my outfit. I like the history, the music, the food, the friends I may not have seen since last year. What's not to like. Now that I've met Monica, we plan to travel and see more as often as possible. My wonderful darling makes the whole thing so much better.

Ian