Chapter 10

SUPPORTING THE STORY

Faire Map

 

As a kid growing up, a trip to Disneyland wasn’t complete without purchasing one of the oversized maps of the park. Although its size made it impractical to actually use as a navigation tool, it was that very same map that I would study with rapt attention all the months and weeks between visits, as I worked to relive my visit through its tiny details. As the promoter of a Faire, having a large illustrated Map is not only an important navigation tool, but a way to better communicate the size, scope, and highlights of your event. In many ways the Internet has replaced that giant paper Disneyland map, but that hasn’t changed the desire to experience its lands vicariously through the digital version. Investing in a fairly elaborate Map of your Faire will help communicate to your vendors the commitment you have to the period, to potential through visitors via your website, and through large print reproductions of it in newspapers and flyers.

Ultimately, your Map will become the best tool to communicate what your event is, what it will look like (in spirit) and what visitors might expect when visiting it.

For vendors and crafts people, creating a simple version of a Faire Map can also help your customers find you within the larger event. Never underestimate the power of a illustrative depiction of your event. The more hand drawn and the more “rustic” its appearance, the better job it will do at communicating what can be expected from a visit to your Faire.

BREAKING THE 8 ft HEIGHT BARRIER

One of the challenges to designing and building a period booth with materials purchased in the 21st century is the temptation to stick with the standard dimensions offered in the lumber you buy and build with. There is a temptation to make things 8ft tall, to use up all of the materials we are given, but this tends to have the side effect of making the entire world stop at 8 feet. One way to combat this temptation is to push yourself to build both above, and below these dimensions. 6 foot tall structures appear to the modern eye as tiny, and 12 foot buildings giant, purely because we are so used to this 8 foot standard. This will also help the silhouette of your event, making the structures move your eye up and down as you wander the Faire.

Off-Season Storage

Once the Faire has ended for the season, where to store your booth or cart becomes the new problem. More often then not the collapsed parts of a booth are left to lean against the side of a garage with a loosely draped tarp over it, not always protecting it from the elements. Once the Faire is over it can seem like ages until the next one, so the care of your booth might get placed lower on your list of concerns. Fear not, I am a firm believer that Faire booths can improve with age, and if a little moss happens to grow in the corners of your beams, or mold in your thatch, it often just helps make it look the part all the more the following year. There are of course exceptions to this rule, but more often then not, a little age doesn’t hurt the overall effect... and in some cases it actually improves it.

FAKE BRICKS

Brick is definitely a building material used in the periods surrounding the Renaissance, and in many ways it was more creatively used then, then in our modern architecture. There is a lot of leeway when using brick as a design motif, but like stones it is important to use materials that are convincing. Luckily there are commercial sheets of faux brick that are available, some more convincing then other, the real secret is how you distress it. Applying brick to a booth is easy enough, aging it down to not draw attention to itself is your next challenge. Like the tricks used in aging timber structures, consider applying washes of stain or watered down paint to give it the appearance of being weathered.

With brick there is also the opportunity to be a little playful. Research some of them many patterns that were used during this era and see what you can come up with. Probably the most convincing use of brick is when it is used on a booth that hides just how thin the faux brick really is. Whenever possible created the illusion of wall thickness to keep the eye from coming to the conclusion that your bricks are impossibly thin, and so unbelievable. Here are just a few examples of what is possible when laying out your brick details.

RAG ROLLING

Now that you understand the fine art of Timber Frame construction, the next subject is how to simulate a convincing, mottled Daub surface. The easiest method for this is by using a paint technique called Rag Rolling.

When painting plywood to look like a plaster or mud surface, it is important to hide any details that might suggest that you are actually using plywood. Lower grade plywood often includes knot holes, or long running grooves or grains that are typical in this material. Before painting, be sure to fill these holes and cracks with Spackle or wood putty to hide these obvious elements that could ruin the illusion you are trying to create.

Once you have covered your plywood with a base coat, pour out a little of the base color and add a slightly darker color to it. This darker color should only be a very slight tint, almost indistinguishable from the base color. Avoid making this too great a contrasting value since it will draw attention to itself. Then, taking a cotton rag (avoid using terry cloth or a bath towel, an old cotton sheet works best) and bunch it up into a loose roll. Lightly rolling the rag roll in the slightly darker paint, then gingerly apply it to the base color by rolling the rag along its surface. Try to do this in a loose and “organic” way, avoiding symmetrical lines or stripes. Crossing the path of your rag rolling will also hide any obvious lines that might appear as to continue to mottle the surface texture.

If for some reason your end result is too busy, usually something that happens when too dark a color is applied to the base, feel free to apply another coat of watered down base color over the top. There is no wrong way to do this, but it will take some trial and error to discover a look that you like the best.

BENDER BOARD

The easiest way to simulate timber frame construction is to use plywood and apply wood to represent the vertical and horizontal beams. One material that works really nicely for these fake timbers is Bender Board. Bender Boards are usually 1/4” by 4” rough cut lumber that is most often used to bend around the edges of garden beds. Many of these are being replaced with a plastic look-alike material, but actual wood Bender Boards are still available. Coated with a watered down brown paint, applied like a stain, before attaching them to the plywood works best, and makes creating a convincing timber building fairly painless. This allows you to pre-paint the plywood (see Rag Rolling), making your structure complete once the faux timbers are applied.

Use Wood Chipboard with Caution

When choosing plywood for your period structure, it is tempting to use a type of plywood known as Wood Chipboard (although it is called my many names). This is plywood that is created using glue and chunks of waste wood chips and is popular in home construction because it is cheaper then conventional plywood panels.  The very rough surface sounds like it would be a very convenient way to help simulate your plaster or Daub walls. The problem is that even with several coats of paint it still looks like modern Chip Board, and might contradict the period effect you are trying to create. My advice when using Chipboard is to apply many coats of thick paint to the surface, add dirt to the mixture, and even a little plaster, anything to help hide the telltale Chipboard surface.

PLYWOOD TUDOR, or UNDERSTANDING WATTLE & DAUB

When recreating the illusion of an English country village during Britain’s Renaissance, it is desirable to try and simulate the architecture of the times. In the mid-1600’s, buildings were most often timber frame affairs, which we often think of as the signature style of the times. Since it is impractical to transport and erect an actual timber frame structure for only several weekends a year, the next best thing is to try and recreate it using present day materials. This is easy enough, but to be successful it is important to understand how timber frame buildings were constructed, because this technique creates a very specific look, one that is all too often recreated incorrectly.

I am sure we have all had the experience of seeing a motel or apartment block that has attempted to recreate itself as an “olde world-y” timber building. This is often done in stucco with boards applied to the surface to simulate timber construction. Timber buildings, often called Tudor, are what we think of when we imagine Olde England, a quaint holiday scene, or even Santa’s house, but creating the effect has a few architectural pitfalls that can be avoided if you understand how timber buildings were actually constructed.

The building technique used in creating a timber building is called Wattle & Daub. A completely finished, freestanding, timber structure is made where vertical columns make up the walls and support the roof, while horizontal and diagonal members stabilized the upright timbers. It is good to remember that the timbers are actually doing all the work supporting the structure and making it stable. Only then are the gaps between the timbers filled to keep weather on the outside of the structure. To do this, twigs and branches (Wattle) are woven between the beams, often in a slot carved into the inner face of each beam. These are then packed with a mixture of mud, clay, straw, and dung (Daub) to act as a sort of plaster.  The timbers would be visible from both the exterior and the interior. In following eras the interior was often coated to hide the timbers inside, creating a “Half Timbered” look.

Most important to remember is that vertical timbers support horizontal timbers, and diagonal timber brace vertical timbers. All too often, faux timber facades ignore this fact and come up with unconvincing results. The biggest mistake is often to create “V” shaped elements that, although decorative, are not at all structural, and can draw attention to the fact that a structure is faked.

FABRIC as a CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL

The cheapest building material by far for creating your booth or building is Fabric. Unless you are located in a particularly windy area (you don’t want your booth to become a kite), fabric is relatively inexpensive, is easily transported, and does a fabulous job of defining the walls of a structure, hiding areas of your booth you don’t want people to see or go into, and is great for roofs, awnings, and shade while still allowing light to get into your booth. Many Faires insist that all fabric used in booth construction be certified fireproof before the event opens. This can be accomplished by using pre-fireproofed material, having your fabric fireproofed and certified prior to construction, or some Faires will fireproof your booth for you, for a fee. If you are worried about being around toxic chemicals be sure to research what is being used to fireproof anything in your booth so that you are more educated about what is and is not safe.

No matter what you do to them, bed sheets look like bed sheets

When having to create booth walls, roofs, or awnings of fabric it is tempting to use something cheap and readily available, the obvious choice is to resort to used bed sheets. Although I have seen these used on countless booths, I have to say there is just something about them that cries out “BED SHEETS”! It may be the lightweight material, the color, or perhaps the types of patterns that customarily appear on them, but bed sheets actually defeat the look of a sturdy Faire booth and broadcast a lack of quality that will only cheapen the appearance of your wares.

Chapter Seven

BUILDING YOUR BOOTH

CART or BUILDING?

When deciding to build a venue for selling your wares, you need to decide what environment will best present your work. The decision to sell from a booth or a cart may be purely budget driven, as booth spaces are customarily “higher rent” then a cart, but ultimately it comes down to what best serves your product. A jeweler might be able to happily present their work from a tiny Gypsy style wagon, or they may prefer the ability to “set the scene” by creating a larger “living room” environment that draws customers in to explore their glassed displays.

In this Chapter we explore the various ways you can display your products, and some of the  best practices to help integrate your booth or cart into the larger Story of the Faire. How elaborate your booth, or how committed your are both financially and energy wise to the ultimate “look” of your environment is up to you. Keep in mind that the more your booth or cart supports the larger theme, and the more it stands out from your neighbors, the better your chances of drawing customers, encouraging return visits, and the higher your potential of making a sale.

 

Crafts & Food That 
Supports the Period

A lot of effort goes into insuring that crafts people create products that help support the period a Faire is set in, it should be stressed that the food that is sold has an equally important role in supporting the larger Faire experience. As we discussed earlier, certain craft purchases can become a tradition and an integral part of a yearly visit to the Faire. The same is true of the food. Having that annual turkey leg, or the meat pasty that they can only get a the Faire is often reason enough to go each season. Food vendors have the unique opportunity to offer tastes and smells that are not easy to come by during the rest of the year. Although not every customer will have an adventurous pallet, you owe it to them to be able to experience the Faire with their tongue as well as their eyes. Sometimes more common foods can be made period with a slight twist. Why serve cherry pie when you can offer “The Queen’s Cherry Tarts”?

ACCESSORIZING YOUR EXPERIENC

Future Faire participants usually started as guests, and many lifetime visitors to the Faire come so they can “dress up” and Play Faire. The usual order of events for a first time visitor is that they purchase some fun, often inexpensive accessory to help them “join in the fun” of Faire. For girls this is often a wearable flower wreath, and for young boys a wooden sword and shield. The next year they may come back with a desire to dress up just a little bit more, maybe add a long skirt or bell sleeved shirt. Shopping the craft booths, they may pick up something else to add to their growing ensemble, and so the process begins.
What Faires do well is promote fantasy, and encourage those that participate in that fantasy. Crafts people that help this process of accessorizing will find unexpected sales, and potentially create a bauble, necklace, or other item that may become a Faire “must have” for all the participants. Often I can tell a fellow Faire participant in the isle of a local grocery store, not for their 21st century clothing, but by a necklace or pin that I know they could have only purchased at the Faire.

Wearing the Other Vendor’s Crafts

The Faire isn’t just a make believe village, it IS a village of people who depend on each other for the success of the larger event. While the Main streets of most American towns include businesses that are desperate to grab customers away from their neighbor’s establishments, our little family is built on mutual support. One way to support this is by choosing to wear and use the crafts made and sold by other vendors. Sometimes your sale may have come from a Faire visitor seeing your product around the neck of another craftsperson, and you can do the same by proudly displaying the work of others in your booth and on your person. Of course there are limits... potters may be reluctant to display the work of another ceramicist, but that doesn’t mean they can’t wear a beautiful cloak, drink from a pewter goblet, or accessorize with a lovely necklace made by another Faire vendor.

BRINGING PUBLIC SPACES into YOUR BOOTH

One of the hazards of conventional arts fair is the creation of an invisible barrier between the seller and the buyer. This is a wall that causes many to walk right by your booth, maybe only glancing at the objects or services you are offering. This may have little to do with the quality of your work and everything to do with the belief that your space is private or unapproachable. Although a jewelry seller may not want guests wondering around behind their counter, there is not reason not to create spaces that encourage visitor to explore and hang out a bit. The more activity in and around your booth the more curiosity and visitors it will attract. If you are lucky enough to have a tree adjacent to your booth space, spend a little extra money to place a few hay bales around its base that the public might use to rest their feet. Although not specifically related to your booth it helps perforate that invisible barrier and suggest that the Faire is happening inside your booth as well as in the streets and byways. Your products and booth should spill out into the world, no tuck back from it, and coming up with ways to attract the attention of your audience and welcome them in will only help your popularity and eventual sales.

Transporting Your Audience

In the end it is your efforts that will support the overall story the entire Faire is trying to tell. You are just one part of the big picture that will transport your audience into the time period. You may be shy about your talents as an actor, but a kind “Good day malady” or a “Good morrow kind sir” can be the extent of your old English accent, but may be just enough to make your audience feel welcomed into the larger play that is the Faire. Take advantage of cheering when a parade is passing, or boo if a group of Spaniards appears near your booth. Ask customers if they have had the good fortune to see the Queen this day, or if they have tried a meat pasty or sticky bun, it will only help make the story more convincing. Still, if these efforts are just too much work, or just too embarrassing to perform, at least dedicate yourself to not purposefully popping the illusion by whipping out a cell phone or surfing the web on a tablet when in front of the public. Your actions go a long way to supporting or undermining the overall experience and pleasure of your guests and customers.

WHAT STORY ARE YOU TRYING to TELL?

When creating a booth it is often helpful to create a story that supports the wares you are selling, the food you are offering, the games you are presenting, or guild environment you are creating. Are you are poor vendor that builds his booth with twigs and branches, or a rich merchant that offers her wares out of a timber frame shop? Are you are candle maker that allows the public to enter your shop to create their own products, or a blacksmith demonstrating what a craftsman looks like when they work? Any personal story you can communicate with the design of your booth will only help your sales and the experience of your visitors. If you are a nomadic seller of merchandise scavenged from far off places, drape your booth with exotic rugs and textiles that look like they just came off the back of a camel. If you are dying fabric for clothing, include a few half barrels of colored water, or better yet actually dye fabric in your booth! Supporting your products, services, or performance space with elements that support its theme will add even more depth to your audience’s experience and encourage them to look, watch, and buy.

Experiencing the Faire from Behind a Counter

There are many ways to experience a Faire, one of my favorites is from behind the counter of a booth. Whether you are selling jewelry, turkey legs, ale, or souvenir maps, a place behind a counter affords you a unique window on the ebb and flow of people, costumes, and street entertainment. Having a booth means you have a home base from which to venture out from and safely return. You have a one-on-one relationship with many of your patrons, and when the Faire gets crowded, a place safe from the crush of humanity. Although you are technically working, you are also visiting guests, fellow participants, and best of all, playing. There is nothing so nice as to have friends sit with you in your own private living room, watching the spectacle of a Faire parading past.
Some of my fondest, and earliest experiences of the Faire was spent shoveling ice into glasses of tea and feeding them through a window to the counter help. As behind the scenes as this job might appear, I have a framed window of the Faire that allowed me to focus my experience on just a few yards of dusty street where I could watch all the faces of guests and participants as they came to the counter. One thing I also loved was seeing some of the better knows performers quietly drop their daylong roles, just long enough to order a drink, connect to the counter person, and then launch themselves back into the crowd. It was these moments that made me feel the most included in this much larger event, and yet I was just an ice shoveling individual sitting at the back of a booth.
This can also be true of participants that create a theatrical Inn-Yard, or Guild Yard. These are themed environments, often with seats, dinning tables, and structures that face out to the crowd. Actors and guild members Play the roles appropriate to the environment, and whether peasants or members of the Queen’s Court, they act as a living tableau. The only danger comes when a group so identifies with their own small universe of players that they forget or even ignore the audience separated by only a few hay bales or length of rope. Any opportunity to pull the audience in, if not physically emotionally, will only make your experience and theirs more enjoyable.

CHAPTER SIX

BEING a PARTICIPANT

Why should I go through all the trouble?

This is a good question. If you are used to doing conventional crafts fairs, it can be hard to imagine the reason for the additional expense of building a themed booth specifically to sell the same products at a Renaissance Faire. Unlike a contemporary fair, Renaissance Faires are a theatrical experience as well as a craft event. The success or failure of the overall theme of the event is largely due to the collective efforts of its many participants. The entire theme of any specific area can be enhanced or destroyed by the appearance of a single booth.

Many visitors to European cities comment on just how “clean” they look. A lot of this is due to the collective efforts of its inhabitants and an understanding that each is responsible for the appearance and upkeep of their individual homes and businesses. This is not only because it reflects on their property, but also on the overall appearance of the entire community. The same is true of a successful Faire. The experience of your guests is greatly enhanced by the appearance of the Faire and the individual dedication of each booth owner to do the very best job they can.

“Buy a piece of the magic”

Renaissance Faires are unique in that their guests often purchase products as a way to take some of the magic of the Faire home with them. Faire guests shop with an eye to accessories their costumes and their lives with the items the purchase at the event. I have often encountered guests and participants that save up for years for a cape, sword, or costume element that they have had their eye on. They do this because the act of buying something actually enhances their experience of the Faire. It is not a mistake that theme park designers place merchandise shops at the exit of many of their attractions. Having just come off a themed ride makes you want to take some of that experience home with you. At a Renaissance Faire the entire event IS that ride, and purchasing some of that is just a natural extension of that experience. So you see, the more your booth supports the illusion of a Renaissance village, the more sales it may generate, purely because your products help your customers live that illusion when at the event or when they return home.

SUPPORT BUILDINGS

As the creator of the Faire, you will find the need to supply many structures who’s purpose is not always relevant to the theme of your event. Offices, a Pass House, security, and bathrooms are just a few of the structures you may find yourself building on top of the large, and more thematically important stages and main gate. When ever possible these buildings can be placed out of the sight of your paying customers, but when that is not possible they will need some themeing to help hide them from the rest of your event. Rented construction trailers are a good place to start and they can be draped in burlap, covered with simple plywood panels depicting murals, or faux period walls. In the case of public toilet, and very specifically portable commodes, it is important to fence them off from sight from within the Faire. Our 21st century willingness to suspend our belief when it comes to using a modern toilet makes it unnecessary to theme each one, but no guests wants to herald the Queen of England as she passes a bank of port-a-potty’s.

SHADE STRUCTURES

Since we are discussing important structures that are the necessary evils of any event, we need to talk about shade. It is hard to find a Faire site or event venue that includes all of the attributes we might want, and although the site might have a good location, great parking, and enough land, often existing shade trees are sacrificed for the other three. Your booth vendors will be constructing enough shade for themselves, and potentially their immediate customers, but most of your customers will be out in the sun if there aren’t enough trees for them to congregate under. I have been to many Faires that are located in flat open fields where customers wearing period appropriate, but weather inappropriate, costumes are roasting in the sun.

If this is the case with your Faire, then you will need to take on the expense of building that shade yourself. The “easiest” solution is to construct shad structures. These can consist of telephone style poles driven into the ground and a large tarp, or more period appropriate dyed burlap can be raised like a circus tent over the audience. This is most important in spaces like theater seating, but in the case of areas where people are likely to congregate, like near food booths, shade structures are a must. Shade can be easily rationalized as not always important, but trust me when I tell you that visitors will choose to not return to an event where they have been overheated and miserable.

ALE STANDS

Often Faire promoters will choose to be one sole provider of beverages for their event. This is a smart move, and whether you chose to offer alcohol or must non-alcoholic drinks, you will become the provider of a much sought after commodity. Locating Ale Stands throughout your event, especially near food vendors, will insure a lucrative income for your event, one that can’t always be achieved with admission prices alone. Ale Stands should be designed with as much counter space as possible to allow for as many customers to be served at a time. Your Ale Stand will be popular, and you don’t want long lines to suggest your guests reconsider their thirst. Ale Stands can also be a centerpiece of festive frivolity, noise, and boisterous revelry. Including a large bell that is rung whenever someone tips is a great way to add ambience, and encourage additional tipping by those waiting to be served.

INFORMATION BOOTHS

Information Booths are often the responsibility, and opportunity, of the Faire creator and promoter. Apart from giving information and acting as a place to offer souvenirs of the event, Information booths can be as iconic addition to your other themed Faire structures. Often placed at a crossroads or entry area, these buildings are your connection with your audience. What can be learned here can be used to improve and grow your event. As the owner of the Faire, you can also offer merchandise that is unique to your event. Maps, clothing, souvenir books, and branded glassware are obvious choices, but also consider showcasing unique crafts made by some of your vendors, and have them specifically promote your event. This will add class to your Faire, help promote your vendor’s work, and avoid the obvious choice of stenciling your logo on wine glasses undoubtedly made in China. Your event isn’t Walmart, so an opportunity to rise above that lack of quality will only help your Faire and its participants.

BUILDING an INN-YARD (a Stage for Guilds)

If your Faire has Guilds, there is an opportunity to build themed home bases for Guild members to congregate, store their belongings, and rest between scheduled activities. Many Guilds choose to create an Inn-Yard, or open gathering place that is themed to the Guild’s status in society. Inn-Yards were the yards in front of Inns that acted as a place to gather, and became the fore-runner of our modern theater. In the case of Guild Inn-Yards, these are fenced areas that allow members to socialize in-costume and in-character to add to the depth of the overall Faire experience by becoming another form of entertainment for passing guests. Many Guilds treat their Inn-Yard as a theater space, scheduling large meals, musical performances, and other events that are as much an opportunity to entertain themselves as the guests that walk by their Guild environment.

A word of caution. Guild Inn-Yards can become exclusive and have been known to treat onlookers as “not part of our little party”. This is a mistake, and a missed opportunity. Although physically separate from the passing crowd, it is still a part of the larger “stage” that is the Faire. Whenever possible, offering a place for non-Guild visitors to come enjoy the sheltered ambiance of the space, perhaps stay for a little conversation, and even a game, will greatly enhance the experience for both guests and Guild members. Inn-Yards are a very special part of any rich Faire experience, especially if they are open to sharing their unique environment with everyone.

Each Guild may use their Inn-Yard differently. A military Guild might stage drills for their troops. A musician’s Guild may encourage unscheduled jam sessions of period music, and an upper-class Guild might be a venue for entertaining royalty, which on occasion can include Faire guests. Inn-Yards are also the perfect stage for recreating the making of a period craft, the cooking of food of the time, or a place to stage interactive lectures and lessons for guests of all ages. Though the Faire is large enough to offer many experiences, your Guild could give a guest the very best experience of their day, so build that into the culture of your Inn-Yard and everyone can enjoy your hard work.

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.

BUILDING STAGES

Apart from the investment of building your opening gate, Stages will be one of the more expensive structures you will need to build. Although there are a wide variety of types of stages you can build, your Main Stage will need to be monumental enough to allow for a fair bit of pageantry. This is where the Queen (or with some Faire’s King) will be at some point during the day, and it will need to be large enough to accommodate country dance performances and large scale period theater. A Main Stage is the perfect place to get your performers off the ground and into a balcony or elevated platform. Your Main Stage can be a character unto itself, and set the overall tone of those events scheduled on it. Other stages throughout your layout can be as small as a few hay bales and work their way up from there. A good way to think of building a new Stage is to consider it as a once-a-year addition. Each Faire you can invest in building one new Stage, or enhancing or upgrading an existing one. Stages are where the bulk of your more formal entertainment will appear, and your audience will spend a lot of their time scrutinizing them. As a rule it is always better to start with less, until you can afford more. A poor painted plywood backdrop might be less effective then nothing at all. It is prudent to avoid a cheap stage and wait until you have the funds for a proper one.

It is also important to allow for some sort of “backstage”area as part of your Stage construction. Having even a small area to rest between scenes, as well as store props and belongings, will make it easier on your performers and help them “own” the stage they will be using during the run of your Faire. Even a little pampering goes a long way to insuring your talent is happy and doing a great job. Having a stage manager or security person is also important so that props and personal belongings do not disappear.

THRESHOLDS & ARCHWAYS

 

While you are designing the layout of your Faire you need to keep an eye one on what the experience will be on the ground. Your audience is going to be navigating your labyrinth of booths and stages and always quietly asking themselves, “Where am I, and what is my relationship to this place?” Any opportunity that you have to help them get their bearings will make the experience more pleasurable for them. We have more fun when we feel safe and can relate to our surroundings, and always feeling lost is not fun at all. Best of all, once your audience understands where they are the more they will “own” the Faire and feel at home within it. One very powerful way to help people relate to your Faire site is to create thresholds, archways, and doorways, at each point where there is a thematic or geographic change. If I now that going under the banner labeled “Traders Market” will mean I am now in Traders Market then I can relate to both the theme and its relationship to the other areas of the Faire. If Traders Market is where your guests can find crafts and food from exotic places, they will find it easier to rediscover those wares and edibles if they wish to return.

FAIRE BUILDINGS

As the owner, creator, and promoter of your Faire, you are also responsible for creating the framework that you will be populating with the booths of those participants that will constitute the bulk of your event. The success or failure of your Faire will rest on your ability to create the thematic structures that will set the tone, and inspire the quality of the structures and graphics that will make up the rest of your Faire. At a minimum you will be building a front entrance, ticket booths, stages, information booths, and ale stands (if you choose). Every one of these structures will be looked at as examples of the quality you expect from your participants. If you scrimp on the appearance of these buildings then you only have yourself to blame if the rest of your event is shabby or half-heartedly constructed. This means that your structures will need to be ‘period’, well constructed, and display the very best graphics you can afford. Inspiring by example is the rule for all great Faires, and this should be foremost in your thinking as you build your event. The good news is that all other themed structures can come later, with each year adding to your growing store of buildings, graphics, and booths.

In the following pages you will find descriptions of the structures you will be designing and building, and their importance to the overall success of your Faire. Many of these buildings can come over time, but their role and influence are describe in detail.