BUILDING ICONIC STRUCTURES

As the presenter of a Faire, you are often responsible for the design and building of many of  your core event structures. While your vendors will build the bulk of the booths that will represent the backdrop for your Faire, you will build the entry gates, stages, and other support facilities, but you also have the opportunity to build smaller iconic elements as well. This will help not only support the historical story you are trying to tell, it can also add depth to the experience, and act as themed landmarks to help your visitors navigate your event.

A Market Cross is a good example of one such iconic structure. Traditionally built in the center of a small village, the Market Cross defined the market square, and the location for weekly produce and livestock to be sold. Iconic elements like this can help establish the theme of an area, act as a visual landmark that can draw visitors to it, and become an obvious meeting place for guests who have separated from their party. Other iconic structures can include a washing well,  Wicker-man sculpture, gazeboes, and barker towers. These elements make great “wienies” but they also act as a great centerpiece for street theater. The washing well is the perfect backdrop for peasant performers to interact, gossip, and fling sopping wet clothing about, splashing passersby.

In the case of vendors, any opportunity you have of building an iconic element into the design of your booth is worth considering. You want your booth to stand out, so why not build into it elements that will help draw attention to it. Having your own fountain, tower, wagon, or even a mini stage will act as attention getters, and help your customers more easily find you again when they return. Iconic structures are also great elements to add to the Faire’s promotional Map. Including these unique visual elements into the Map’s design will also help customers orient themselves while exploring your Faire.

EVERY PROP TELLS a STORY

Whether building a booth or an entire Faire you will be a wash in props to help fill out your themed environments. As you go through the expense of creating signs, objects, carts, and furniture for various areas of the event, it helps to apply a Story to it. This can be as simple as who owned it, what it was used (is being used for), and how it relates to other people and objects. This may seem alike a trifle and little worthy of the effort, but objects can have a life of their own and giving them a past helps you better judge where they will go in years to come. Just a bench doesn’t have the same weight as it being Fallstaff’s bench. Having just a cart is not as interesting as it being the “slave cart”, “wench cart” or “dung cart”. Names suggest purpose and in the larger improv environment of a large theatrical event like a Faire, being asked to pick up your mother in-law in the “dung cart” has much more potential then just a regular old cart.

WHERE'S the WIENIE?

This is a phrase stolen from Walt Disney himself. The “wienie” refers to any theme park architecture or element that helps draw the attention or interest of the visiting guests to move from one area to another. Like a carrot on a stick to encourage a horse to move forward, the wienie is a way to entice your audience to continue moving through a space. The Disneyland castle is the perfect example of a “wienie”. Guests visiting Main Street USA are compelled to move down the street by the promise of the castle that lays at the end of it. This technique works equally well within the layout of a Renaissance Faire.

A quick example… while working on the Northern California Renaissance Faire site I noticed a large Greenman figure tucked in among the trees near the front of the Faire. The figure stood over 16 feet tall and was all but invisible surrounded by the dense forest. I requested that the Greenman be moved from this location to a more prominent area under a huge oak tree at the end of a main walkway. I was cautioned that the Greenman and his location were sacred and that much ruin would fall upon me if it were to be found moved. I decided he was majestic enough to warrant relocation and promised to take the full brunt of the ill will, if there was to be any. As the Fair opened the Greenman began to evolve as little ribbons and offerings began to appear at his feet, up his arms, and inside his wooden ribcage. Rather then criticism I received countless message of praise for having finally given the Greenman a location worthy of his stature in both the Faire and hearts of it participants. What I had really done was moved a Story rich monument to a place where others could layer their Story upon him. There is nothing I could have done that would have brought more value to have much loved figure, and I created a powerful centerpiece or “wienie” to boot.