Ren Faires - Are They Passe?

[daBaroness]

As I've navigated a number of the forums here and some of the threads, I've noticed a trend in the last few years of some long-standing renaissance festivals closing their gates (as it were). I've seen pictures of one faire out east (Virginia maybe?) that closed several years ago and is already being taken over by underbrush and woodland growth. In fairness, I also know of a number of new faires that have opened their gates in recent years - albeit on a smaller scale than some that have been lost.

In the case of my home faire, KCRF, which is celebrating it's 30th anniversary this year, it is in the fifth year of a provisional 20-year lease with the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas. The provisional part of the lease called for Midwest Festivals, Inc. (owner of KC, MN, MI, BARF and one or two more faires) to relocate their offices to the faire site (they've done that) and to plan and implement a way (or ways) for the festival to generate taxable income on a year-round basis (or nearly year-round) rather than just generating income for 7 weeks out of each year. It's understandable because the acreage KCRF leases from the unified gov't. isn't out in the boonies anymore - it's adjacent to the new Kansas Speedway NASCAR track and the high revenue-generating developments immediately next to the track. (Including the Legends Mall, the mega-huge Nebraska Furniture Mart, Cabela's and lots of other retail, lodging and dining establishments.)

When KCRF's original 25-year lease was up five years ago - Jim Peterson had to bid on the site against several other interested parties - some of whom wanted to continue with having a renaissance festival on the site - some of whom wanted to bulldoze the site for parking for the Verizon Ampitheatre. Peterson won the bid, but with the provisions I've stated above and others. Now, five years down the pike the only changes that have been made is to add a triple-wide trailer to the site to house the year-round staff and the addition of a very lame "feasting hall" which is not enclosed and shoddily built. The management has added a "Dracula's Feast" that takes place about four or five weekend evenings, seats a small number of people and provides pretty damned amateurish entertainment along with a mediocre meal.

I dunno - call me stupid, but I don't think that paultry effort is going to sustain another 45 weeks of taxable revenue for the Unified Gov't. There are now rumours abounding matching my 5-year-old predictions that Jim Peterson wasn't about to sink money into this faire - he was going to glide out the five-year provision with as little expenditure of capital as possible, suck as much out of the festival as possible then let the Unified Gov't do as it will. If that means he loses the lease, he wouldn't even have to pay to have the site bulldozed if whomever the new tenant might be so desired. If we're lucky and the unified gov't sees the value of keeping a renaissance faire under new ownership on the site - the new owners will most certainly have to start from zero and sink significant capital into the site which is now pretty pathetic and certainly not up to modern codes.

I heard recently that Peterson's lease on his Minnesota faire is also up this year, and several years ago he lost the temporary site upon which BARF was held. Additionally, I understand his Michigan site is getting very weather-worn as well. It would make sense to me if the man just got out and retired - he's certainly of an age to do that.

I relate all of that because I'm wondering if anyone else sees this kind of trend at other faire venues across the country. Are renaissance festivals going the way of drive-in theatres, or merely a victim of poor management, bad marketing and money-grubbing owners? I'm of the opinion that most of us who really love faire aren't really captains of industry and business. We're more an artsy-fartsy type. Of ourselves, we probably don't have the capital and management skills that would be necessary to make a faire (or a number of faires) highly profitable - although I'm sure a number of us have great ideas on how that could be accomplished or dreams of what we'd like to see.

So - waddya think? Are we riding on sinking ships - or is there a knight or warrior princess in shining armour with the capital and business savvy to make faires a good investment and a profit-making venture?

[Torra]

I would say the answer to your questions depends on the answer to this one: is it feasible to get a board of interested parties versus one manager, where you have people who have years of experience running faire events/performances and those who have the business capital and saavy to make it successful within the sphere as well as generate more outside interest? If the answer is yes, then I would say that the faires are currently operating under poor management. I will also say at the outset that I have no experience in running a faire or a show, merely in working at them as a lowly faire wench.

[Ysobelle]

Am I the only one who remembers the infamous quote, "Is this a great business or what?"

[Margaret]

Here in MI, I think we are kind of lucky. We have Kathy Parker as our GM and she kicks ass (well, as much as she can under Peterson).

While there are certainly physical improvements that can be made to the site (isn't there always going to be?) it is not crumbling into the swamp. What's been done in the past couple of years is they hold a "Royal Craftsmen Contest". Two local builders/electricians etc. remodel one of the major buildings (this year it was two of our pubs) and then compete for a prize (what that is, I don't know). Don't know who's idea that was - but it certainly spiffs up the site. Also, we are still pretty much in the boon docks, so we are not facing the issues you are with expanding business ventures and the need for a parking lot.

I know there is much more that goes into the running of the Festival and I am sure Peterson will do it for as cheaply as possible, so I would like to think that it is just bad management that is causing grief at KC. The land there is suddenly very valuable due to the new development and I am sure he is looking at the money he's going to have to invest to do something on the land 12 months out of the year.

[KnightlyJay]

daBaroness,
I would say that many of the faires are victims of poor management and a level of reinvestment slightly below 0%. I've seen this with NY for the years that REC has owned it. The Virginia faire that you've seen pictures of was theirs and they elected to close it in '99 rather than lose more money. They've closed the Northern California faire (though it was reopened under management from a merchant/performer group the next year), and have been assaulted by complaints from the townships where Bristol and Tuxedo are located about bringing items up to code.
On the other side of this, we have Pennsylvania, Maryland and Sterling here on the east coast. Though Sterling was up for sale the last few years, it looks like the owners decided to stick it out. Sterling and Pennsylvania have significant income for most of the year. Sterling has a christmas tree farm on the land and gets significant tax benefits from being farmland. Pa has its microbrewery, sales from the winery and if my math is right, somewhere around 22 weekends worth of events throughout the year including the longest run of faire in the country (12 weekends). They also do 7 school days during the season which not only provides a tie to the community but brings new blood into the faire. There are examples of couples who first came to faire on a field trip as elementary students having been hooked enough to be wed at faire.
Is the management at these events more benevolent and less parsimonious than Mr. Peterson? Probably not measurably. Are they more farsighted? Hugely. Part of the problem as you've seen it is Mr. Peterson's age and the lack of a clear successor. I think one of the best steps at Pa has been the gradual (though not gradual) assumption of management and ownership of the faire by Scott Bowser (sp?). I'm not slighting Chuck Romito's management, after all the event is 27 years old now and one of the most pleasant faires I've ever attended or been to as a vendor. Just having the path of succession has given the local town more confidence, the merchants, and the cast as well.
The relatively new GM at Tuxedo has years of neglect to deal with, increased taxes, and lower revenues. They have done a Forest of Fear for a number of years to continue the revenue stream a few weeks and they do gear up for two school days during May. Hopefully they can correct this downward slide during the next few years. I'd hate to see my home faire close.
When we were holding the Hudson Valley Mayfaire to benefit the Queen's Galley this spring, we had discussions with Chris DeTroy, the entertainment director for NYRF. A few of the concerns he'd expressed were industry numbers that demonstrated the decline of the faires the last few years, and also the dilution of the market by smaller events in the trade. 40 years ago there was one faire in the country, 30 years ago, four, 20 years ago, somewhere in the neighborhood of forty. 10 years ago, the number peaked at around two hundred or so. It is possible that we've oversaturated our market.
As a community, we may need to throw our efforts to preserving key regional faires and enhancing the experience at these events for the general public. I've seen the dilution at many levels. Personally, by doing two events during this time of year (Pa and Tux), I've essentially halved my inventory capabilities, and cannot give the best experience to my customers as I can't be in both places at once.
The many traveling rennies who used to visit one or two faires during the run of their home faire, now hit their home faires once or twice during their run. While this does detract from regular numbers, it also cuts down on the ambience of the faire. The interaction between playtrons, cast, merchants is what brings many patrons into the fold of regular patron.
This dilution continues to entertainment as well. Because of the multiplicity of events and the dearth of performers, many mediocre ones are hired. This again crowds the market and disillusions both the stellar performers and the new patrons.
I know I want to say something about food as well, but can't quite formulate it (need to eat).

Of course also this has me reevaluating my own reinvestment levels. My Tux booth needs a new roof and some other work. Next spring! Provided the fall is a good one.

[daBaroness]

Jay - thank you for such a thoughtful response. I would suspect numbers are down at ren faires for precisely the reasons you cited. I would add that as a market category matures, new techniques and fresh thinking and blood is needed to keep it vital and profitable - just like any other product or commodity line. It would be my guess that kind of thing isn't happening in the faire realm to any great extent for a myriad of reasons. PA and MI management seem to be making some inroads in a maturing market through creativity, longevity of season and some diversification, which is great.

But I still believe that perhaps the best thing that can begin to happen to some of these aging festivals and sites is that long-time owners and management get out of the business and allow new blood to take over BEFORE they suck these festivals, their physical sites and devoted vendors & performers dry.

Well, I can wish, can't I?

[surlywench]

As an addendum: PA started the faire to increase traffic to its winery. Largely because the wine wasn't all that great ;o) Now it's what they're known for, so it's become it's own beast in a way.

The new faire in IA was *only* built because the owners found a way to market the site thru the rest of the year with various seasonal festivals: Cajun Fest, a Country Music Jam, Pumpkin Fest, Christmas Lights Show, etc.
Otherwise the plan would have been rejected.

I think it's just largely a case of a faire, like any business, needing owners that have more than "what's in it for me?" as their operating procedure.

[Mairi the Herbwench]

Warning - this is extremely libelous!

We (Clann Tartan) no longer participate in the MN RenFest because Peterson has made it extremely difficult. He is doing his best to run everything into the ground to line his own pockets. There's even a rumor concerning him and arson to drive out a lot of the independent food dealers so he could replace him with the festival dealers. He will not get any of my money - I get in free when I go and don't buy food from Castle Kitches... The MN RenFest is a joke. There's absolutely no attempt to maintain any type of period garb or behavior (they want the belly dancers to cover their bellies!!!) and several long term employees have quit, largely because their contracts were either severely cut or they didn't have contracts until after the show had started.

I have heard very good things about the KCRF - I hate to see it go the way of MN!

[surlywench]

There's absolutely no attempt to maintain any type of period garb or behavior (they want the belly dancers to cover their bellies!!!)

Do you mean they *don't* want them to cover up?
Because covered bellies *are* period. As far as I know, you still cannot dance with an uncovered tum in Egypt today.

[Ysobelle]

Parts of the old site in Largo caught fire every damned year.