RenFests

[Evandril]

Does anyone know of any decent RenFaires in the Carolinas, by any chance? I'm going to be hitting the one in Colorado (Fun one, btw) next weekend, and it started me thinking of them again :)

[Wayne]

I know nothing of the Carolinas but Michigan puts on a great one ever year.

http://www.michrenfest.com

[Sehson]

That depends... Its been slowly going down hill, and the owner doesn't realise it since he is making money despite himself...

I'm a 13 yr vet of MIRF....

[Wayne]

Really? As a general visitor I guess I didn't pay close enough attention. I thought that it looked like things have been on the up and up.

Is it going down due to the preformers that show or don't show?

A friend of mine's dad (William Stolpin) has a booth out there.

[Sehson]

If your just an occasional visitor you probly wouldn't notice it.

The owner has been screwing merchants for awhile, sales in general for boothies tend to be down, since the economy is slow for most. Combined with increased costs of running a booth, a whole bunch of vendors have just up and left, or gone online. The performers have been screwed for awhile so better performers have moved on, Owner typically will not commit to a contract til if lucky typically 3 weeks before fair, alot of performers said fuck that and signed elsewhere. if they're not lucky they might get a contract Ohh 4th week of the run fair is 7 weeks.

Cast, while some are very good, the owner feels that most of the cast should not be paid other then $5 in food a day, and be happy about it. So yea the little yard gnome is makeing money despite himself.

[Wayne]

Sounds like someone new needs to take over if it is going to survive. If it keeps up that trend then it doesn't sound like it will be able to go on much longer.

[greyloch]

There's two renfaires in NC that I know of: Charlotte (http://www.royalfaires.com/carolina/) in October/November; and Raleigh/Durham (http://www.ncrenfaire.com/index.php) in early spring. One of my friends demonstrates medieval martial arts at the Raleigh one and another friend loves the Charlotte one.

Hope this helps you out. BTW, I've been going to the Maryland site forever and it's a fun faire.

[domino]

the ren faire in raleigh was just the other month (may or june i think). it was a couple of weekends long and one nite was celebrating kilts and tartans...couldnt go cuz 1) limited $$ and 2) crushing deadlines were approaching

I plan to attend next year with the hubby, workign on making a mail tunic like the one from Legend out of bottle caps!

[Evandril]

Thank you both, 'tis a big help :)