Post by myaisha.com on Mar 25, 2004 13:01:41 GMT -5
Having lived in the US all of my life, it never occurred to me that the Ren Faires I had been attending are unique to this country. I have been to faires all over the mid-west United States… Denver and Kansas City being the biggest that I have seen and Wichita being the one I have attended the most often. Wichita’s main Ren Faire ( and until recently, only faire) was the Newman Renaissance Festival. It was done every year by Newman University. Newman has decided to cancel the faire, and I would say that it is no major loss. While it was the biggest in Kansas, the people attending it were mostly families there to gawk at the "freaks" and it was always very crowed, no parking and no sense of community. Luckily, Great Plains started its own faire. The first year for this faire was wonderful because the word had only gotten out to the real hardcore fans. With the loss of the Newman faire, Great Plains has become a twice a year event, April and September for a weekend at a time.
Enough of the boring back story…<br>
The basic idea of the Ren Faire is to create a community with an atmosphere of the Renaissance. When it works everybody there is not only an audience member, but at the same time a participant. Inside the faire you will see actors, merchants, artists and performers. Even if you go in your street cloths, remember that you left your normal world behind in the parking lot. People will still come up to you and talk to you as if you were from their village. They will ask you about the king and queen, try to sell you roasted turkey legs and cider, maybe ever ask you if you are a court jester (if wearing modern clothing). Keep in mind that this will all be said to you with an “Old English” accent, or as good of an accent as Americans can muster.
Not everybody at the faire will be dressed for the renaissance. There will also be a large amount of Goths, Hippies, Pagans, all dressed in their respective styles. Ren Faires are a community of like minded people and a chance for “normal” to be the minority. I think that this atmosphere makes for better belly dance performances. The studio shows are nice and all, but there is a lot of stress that goes along with these shows. At a Ren Faire it is just about having fun.
Things to do at the Faire:
Visit with the Society for Creative Anachronisms. Watch knights battle. Visit the royal court and talk to the “king and queen” of the faire. Eat food with your hands. Drink beer. Listen to musicians perform with traditional instruments. Watch all types of dancing. Buy outfits and traditional crafts that have been made by local craftsmen. Finally, the best thing to do is to find a shade tree, sit down with a few friends and people watch.
The next faire is in about a month, I will add to this thread then with photos and some more observations. I need to go to it and really look around as if I had never been to one before. I am sure that I left some obvious stuff out, so I will be happy to answer any questions about Ren Faires that you may have.
Here is the link to the faire’s website, it includes some photos and general info:
www.greatplainsrenfest.com/
Enough of the boring back story…<br>
The basic idea of the Ren Faire is to create a community with an atmosphere of the Renaissance. When it works everybody there is not only an audience member, but at the same time a participant. Inside the faire you will see actors, merchants, artists and performers. Even if you go in your street cloths, remember that you left your normal world behind in the parking lot. People will still come up to you and talk to you as if you were from their village. They will ask you about the king and queen, try to sell you roasted turkey legs and cider, maybe ever ask you if you are a court jester (if wearing modern clothing). Keep in mind that this will all be said to you with an “Old English” accent, or as good of an accent as Americans can muster.
Not everybody at the faire will be dressed for the renaissance. There will also be a large amount of Goths, Hippies, Pagans, all dressed in their respective styles. Ren Faires are a community of like minded people and a chance for “normal” to be the minority. I think that this atmosphere makes for better belly dance performances. The studio shows are nice and all, but there is a lot of stress that goes along with these shows. At a Ren Faire it is just about having fun.
Things to do at the Faire:
Visit with the Society for Creative Anachronisms. Watch knights battle. Visit the royal court and talk to the “king and queen” of the faire. Eat food with your hands. Drink beer. Listen to musicians perform with traditional instruments. Watch all types of dancing. Buy outfits and traditional crafts that have been made by local craftsmen. Finally, the best thing to do is to find a shade tree, sit down with a few friends and people watch.
The next faire is in about a month, I will add to this thread then with photos and some more observations. I need to go to it and really look around as if I had never been to one before. I am sure that I left some obvious stuff out, so I will be happy to answer any questions about Ren Faires that you may have.
Here is the link to the faire’s website, it includes some photos and general info:
www.greatplainsrenfest.com/
