THE ROOTS of the RENAISSANCE FAIRE
I joined the Faire much like anyone else. My wife and I started as weekend visitors, worked our way into becoming servers in one of the many food booths, started our own crafts booth, and ultimate I was hired as the resident designer of the Faire. Each step of the way I was driven by a passion to participate ever more in the workings of this unique event. Mere visitors can become infatuated by the energy of a Faire, wanting to experience more, and finding ways to more deeply connect to the larger community that grows around an event like this. I was no different, having tasted the thrill of being a part of this 360 degree theatre, extended family, and antidote to the bustle of the modern world, I set my calendar year around those rare few weekends when I could leave my life behind and live for a short time in another world.
THE ORIGINS of the FAIRE
My wife and I arrived in the middle of the Renaissance Pleasure Faire’s history. By the time we set foot on the Faire site, the event was celebrating its 20th anniversary. We were not pioneers in this form of entertainment, but a next generation picking up and running with an already established and thriving community. I was not there inventing the experience, but learning from it. The Pleasure Faire had created a framework for how a historically themed Faire might be run, and already there were other successful Faires establishing themselves all over the country. Inspired by the original, each Faire has made up their own rules, and have created for themselves their own dedicated followers.
For each Faire there is an army of participants that love their event just as much as we loved ours, and they have every right to assume that theirs was the best. I was honored enough to be working with the creators of the very first Faire, and it is worth talking about those initial sparks of inspiration that brought this art form into the world, before discussing the physical mechanics of creating one for yourself.
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