Last year, on the last day of the Northern California
Renaissance Faire at Casa de Fruta, the Renaissance Entertainment
Corporation saddened the hearts of the participants with the
announcement that as profits were inadequate, there would be no
2004 Ren Faire. Faire was dead.
Last year, on the last day of the Northern California Renaissance Faire at Casa de Fruta, the Renaissance Entertainment Corporation saddened the hearts of the participants with the announcement that as profits were inadequate, there would be no 2004 Ren Faire. Faire was dead.
There had been rumors to that effect, so no one was entirely unprepared. But many were sad, and some were mad, and ere the week was out, a determination had grown. A Web site was launched with the intriguing name of Ashes to Faire, and Faire participants began working together toward a common goal: the first fully participant-owned and operated Renaissance Faire in the United States.
That Faire opened last weekend at Casa de Fruta. I attended, chaperoning my daughter Anne and two of her broadsword classmates, who, with their instructor and various adult students, entertained audiences.
In between demonstrations, my charges feasted on turkey legs and sugared nuts and toad-in-the-hole and chowder in a bread bowl. They vied with each other at longbow and crossbow. They cheered themselves hoarse at the full-contact jousts. And they played Rounders, a medieval cross between softball and dodgeball. They had a wondrous time.
I wandered through the vendor booths; Ren Faire is my favorite craft fair. The leather vendors sell items as mundane as checkbook covers and belts and wallets, and as specialized as gorgets and bracers. Puppets and wooden toys, costumes and fairy wings, swords and knives, pewter and glass and ceramics and herbs …
As entertainers, the children were allowed to store their masks and practice swords in the Friends of the Faire garden, and ’twas there I met Lisa Stehl and Michael Gardner, the CEO and Director of Marketing respectively, who graciously told me the tale of the resurrection of the Faire.
Lisa and Michael are a study in contrasts. She, fair and slim, has been a Faire participant for 17 years, working for Faire management for the last 10, and served as marketplace director for REC last year.
Michael, brown of hue and square of frame, has been a Faire patron (read: paying customer, Faire-goer) for many years, and owns a computer company in real life. This past year was his first as a Faire participant.
‘Twas Michael who put up the Ashes to Faire Web site within a week of last year’s closing. Meanwhile, Lisa, with A.J. Hoffman, “our nuts and bolts guy,” spent a month on site with a small crew, taking apart the village, cleaning up thoroughly, even running metal detectors over the ground to sweep for stray bolts, and storing everything in an old tomato field designated by the Zangers, who own Casa de Fruta.
“The Zanger family embraced us. We could not have done this without their direct support,” declared Michael.
Meanwhile, the 20 original advisory committee members were deciding on a business model. Should they form a co-op? A corporation? Profit or non-? With only 10 months left till opening day, they decided a corporation would be the easiest and quickest to implement, and Play Faire Productions was born.
Next, vendors and entertainers were contacted. Ninety-five percent of them decided to come back.
Next, funds were raised through donations and loans. Vendors paid in advance.
On July 26th, PFP took possession of the site, and began to lay out the village and its infrastructure. Nineteen separate crews worked like mad on the plumbing, art, canopies, design, security, beverages, electricity, finance, support, deco, telecom, scenery, merchandise, and catering. There was even a Burlap Team.
Aug. 13 was Stakeout Day. Vendors chose their sites and began building their booths. Actors began to rehearse. Faire stirred, and came alive last weekend.
It is the culmination of 51 weeks of dreams and hard work, visions and practicality, a fairy tale come true. The Faire was dead. Long live the Faire.
Faire runs five more weekends, through Oct. 24, 2004, 10am to 6 pm.Details: www.norcalrenfaire.org
