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.

ENTRY GATE

First impressions count, and the entrance to the Faire is where you get to set the stage for anything and everything that comes once you’ve passed through it. More importantly, the entrance is the departure point, where guests leave their 21st century lives, and their cars, behind and travel back in time. The entry gate is a time machine, and it is the very first moment you get to confirm to your audience that they aren’t in Kansas anymore*. There are lots of ways to construct this entryway, but my personal favorite is those gates that allow costumed actors to greet approaching guests from above. Although this may be impractical all day long, it is the perfect location to create an elaborate opening ceremony to mark the beginning of the day. Building anticipation, pointing out people in the crowd, and suggesting the wonders just beyond the gate is the perfect way to begin any Faire day. Since the Faire is all about arriving “just in time” for a celebration, this is the point where the celebration begins. Walking under that gate changes your audience and suggests that once through this threshold, it is time to get down to some serious Play!

When you are making your initial investment in a new Faire I always recommend that a large amount of your budget be spent on making the entrance look its best! Even though your guests will only experience it fleetingly, the quality of your entrance is what will set the tone for the experience within. A poor first impression is very hard to scrub away, but a good one will bolster up expectations and create a lasting impression as your audience exits again at the end of the day.

*Alright, unless you are at the Kansas Renaissance Festival

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.