Chapter Eleven

INDOOR EVENTS

Bringing a Faire Indoors

Everything we have talked about so far has been focused primarily on outdoor events. Richly themed fairs and festivals can be brought indoors as well, and I imagine another entire book could be dedicated to the subject of themed indoor events. To add briefly, many of the rules we have talked about here apply equally well to indoor events. Although the challenges appear different, many are the same. You still need to find a structure large enough to hold your event, with access to a large number of potential visitors. Parking is important, as is fire safety and accessibly by emergency vehicles. Ability to get your vendors in and out of the space, especially when it comes to loading in their booths during set-up and taking them down at the end of the event. All of these are logistic problems, and are likely to be no worse then what you already experience with an outdoor event.

Probably the biggest challenge for your indoor event will be... lighting. When looking for an appropriate indoor venue, you may end up in a large industrial building, warehouse, or in some cases a large livestock or event building located in a fairgrounds. You can be assured that these facilities were not designed for what you plan to do with it, and most are illuminated by light fixtures that are guaranteed destroyers of magic ambiance... fluorescent and zinc lights. To gain the most control over the atmosphere of your event, the best advice is to turn those lights off and replace them with something more theatrical. This adds a lot of expense to the event, and will challenge both the landlord and fire department when you suggest not using the lights designed for the safety of the visitors of your event.
Lights mean rigging and power, and before you jump into doing an indoor event, question your control over how dark you can make the space, and how much light you can bring in to light it in a theatrical way. Ultimately, your goal is to make the space dark enough that the structure of the building disappears, and only the charming shop filled streets are illuminated. Rented generators will be likely additions to your budget, but trust me, your control over the light levels of your event will be worth the extra expense.

FAIRE IN A BALLROOM

Quickly rising in popularity is a new variety of themed event, and these are smaller hybrids of both festivals and conventions like ComicCon. Starting out as a way for niche groups of fans to get together, these are turning into events that encourage their participants and vendors to arrive in costume. All over the country events like Faerieworld, FaerieCon, and DragonCon are taking over the ballrooms and convention spaces of hotels and filling them with crafts and entertainment specific to their target demographic. This allows participants to book rooms in and around the event hotel and producers of the show a lot of existing facilities custom built to suit the needs of their event. In this case, there is much less control over the atmosphere of the event, but for a smaller show, this may just be a necessary evil, as competing with wall to wall carpet and mirrored walls may not be worth the expense and struggle. What these events do deliver is a venue for fans of the larger events to show off costumes that may be too delicate for the outdoors, a chance to visit favorite vendors to help them accessories, and a way to experience night, and late night entertainment, something less possible in outdoor Faires.
It is my expectation that we will see more of these smaller indoor events springing up all over the country. These shows feed a hunger in niche audiences, but their size makes that less of a problem. Smaller events can also act as a way to keep the fan fire burning between larger outdoor events. This allows participants to “live” the fantasy, as they patronize more events throughout the year, and act as a means of income for talented crafts people between the larger events. If you set your goal as creating a full fledged themed event, starting out with a more intimate show could be a good way to introduce yourself to the market possibilities, and your audience to your unique offering.

ADVERTISING, POSTERS & GRAPHICS

Modern Marketing and Advertising have accumulated tools in their trade for promoting events like your Faire. These skills are vital for getting the word out about your event, but the glossy, high production values necessary for promoting something like a vineyard wine tasting, or an art show in the park, may not be completely suited to communicating the atmosphere of your period event. The goal of any advertising, whether in posters, graphics, or fliers, is to communicate what is unique about the world you are trying to create. Too often flashy boiler plate layouts depicting smiling wine tasters and rolling hills of grapes, are replaced with pictures of costume maidens and energetic jousters. What I am saying is, traditional 21st century marketing visual may miss an opportunity to sell your event through more rustic visuals. Potential customers still need to see what they might experience at your Faire, but be sure that the graphic approach also supports the era and overall ambience you are working to achieve. I assure you that attention to this detail will help set your event apart from the others, and make you less willing to settle for a promotion that looks just like every other fair or festival being promoted.

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.

GAME BOOTHS

Game booths can be the most lucrative of businesses in a Faire, but ironically they are often the most poorly designed. This can happen when a booth is so very large, like an archery game, that themeing such an expanse can become cost prohibitive. Although I sympathize with your pain, I have to say that the ugliest booths often house games. I know there are exceptions, but before you catapult a bean bag at me or fire a dowel at my head, lets discuss opportunities game vendors have that are unique to their business.

Often the biggest challenge for any game vendor is getting visitors to actually participate in their game. This is a problem that midway games have struggled with ever since the invention of the county fair. What is unique about a Renaissance Faire is that your game can actually help transport your audience into the historical time the event is set in. Any opportunity you have of suggesting a little role playing with your game or activity will only encourage participation. Firing a bow is fun, but becoming a knight firing a bow, or wielding a sword, or winning the approving glance of a pretty booth maiden, brings your guests inside the story. If you are tossing coins, why not do it inside the mouth of a dragon (artfully painted on the canvas facade), or hurl bean bag peasants from a rampart overlooking a miniature village? Creating a large game booth can be very expensive, but it can also have the highest return for investment. Whenever possible try to stage your larger games in an environment that doesn’t overlook obvious anachronistic elements (cars, modern buildings), back your booth against a tree lined hillside if possible. If that is not possible, do the best you can to attractively block the view of un-Faire-like vistas, it will help your sales to offer an attractive experience.

Another opportunity is to elevate your barkers above the heads of the passing crowd. Building a short tower, or rigging that allows your booth people to do a better job of drawing attention to your game will succeed in letting them know how fun it will be to play your game, and add interest and energy to your corner of the Faire.

GETTING THE ACTION ABOVE THE GUESTS

Once you have broken beyond the 8 foot mark, the next obvious opportunity it to get a few people up there to help draw attention to your booth and wares. Although a structure that allows for the safe weight of a person can be more expensive, having a barker elevated above the heads of guests can add a dynamic quality to your booth that is more likely to draw customers to you. This is true of booth workers and performers sitting in the trunks of trees. Banter from over our head is just not something we often encounter in our modern lives, so take advantage of surprising your audience by making them look up for a change.

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.

BUILDING A HOOCH (Back Room)

The “Hooch” is the private space behind a booth. This is where anachronistic items are stored, extra merchandise is kept, and sleeping bags wait for overnight camping. These back rooms have an almost mythic quality, as they are tiny, private bubbles in the middle of the glorious chaos that is a Faire. Legends of quiet encounters, the conceiving of babies, and the partaking of various substances are truer then fiction, and many fond Faire memories include “what happened in the Hooch” during and after business hours. Still, a Hooch has a business function that necessitates that its contents are not viewable by the public and valuable items are safe when you are out front working with your customers. Hooch’s are famously easy to get in and out of, so it is advised that you create a simple plywood box that you can padlock for your more valuable items. The extended family that is a Faire are not here to rob you, but you might as well avoid temptation by not leaving valuables out where they might inadvertently disappear.

A Hooch can consist of simple burlap walls, or be as complex as an entire lock-able building. Some Hoochs are under the counter, some can be a penthouse on the roof of your booth. At the Oregon Country Fair, a contemporary of the Renaissance Faire, but with a more tie-died spin, has booths that one could argue are all about the Hooch, with secondary attention paid to the merchandise being sold below. The OCF is a spectacle that you could argue hasn’t truly been experience if you haven’t watched it go by from an elevated private deck perched on top of someone’s booth with a glass of some beverage in your hand. The Hooch is just another perk awarded to those participating in a Faire, made better when you are the owner and not just a visitor.