Ren Faire Dates - 2008

[Sir Wolf]

what are the 2008 dates for the local faires?

PARF:
MDRF:
VARF:
PITT:
NCRF:
CRF:
OhioRF:

what weekends do we want to pencil in to goto together?

[Sir Edward]

Good idea to start a list. Boy, we haven't been to NCRF in a loooong time. It would be nice to make it down there again. I'll have to check with my GF about her rehearsal schedule in the spring, and of course check with my pager rotation, and see what we can do.

For VARF, most weekends will work for me, though I'll have to see about pager-duty to decide on the specific weekends.

MDRF... well, I'm there about 50% of the season these days.

[Sir Edward]

Let's see, here are the dates of several of the east-coast area 2008 faire seasons, roughly in order of opening date:

BARF (FL):   February 23 - April 6

NCRF*:   March 29 - April 13

GARF:   April 12 - June 1

TennRen:   May 3 - May 26

VARF*:   May 17 - June 15

KYRF:   May 31 - July 20

NJRK**:   June ?

PARF Celtic Fling*:   June 27-29

GLMF:   July 5 - August 10

Bristol (IL/WI):   July 5 - September 1

Sterling NY*:   July 12 - August 17

Tux NY:   August 2 - September 21

PARF*:   August 9 - October 26

MDRF*:   August 23 - October 19

Pitt*:   August 23 - September 28

Ohio:   August 30 - October 19

CTRF:   September 27 - October 19

CRF*:   October 4 - November 16


* Asterisks mark the ones I've been to before. I've also been to TRF (TX) and Colorado, but I'm not listing them as "local".

** New Jersey Renaissance Kingdom was really tiny when I was last there, about 8 years ago.


No idea how accurate or up to date it is, but I found a list of faires by state.

[Sword Chick]

Do you have details and/or a website for the Virginia one?  The Muirs haven't been since it was just outside of Fredericksburg and I'd love to go again.

[Sir Edward]

Yep, it's the "VARF" one above. I've made all the names clickable to go to their websites. The current VA faire is much smaller than the old one that used to be on Rt 3 in Fredericksburg, but it's growing and is a nice little faire.

[Sword Chick]

Yep, it's the "VARF" one above. I've made all the names clickable to go to their websites. The current VA faire is much smaller than the old one that used to be on Rt 3 in Fredericksburg, but it's growing and is a nice little faire.

I'm an idiot!  Thanks.  I should have realized the names were clickable.   

[Sir Wolf]

http://www.medievalfantasiesco.com/
http://www.medievalfantasiesco.com/Gloucester.htm

hey Sir Edward, this one is only about 1 1/2 hr from me. its small though. maybe we could check it out once

[Sir Edward]

You sure? It looks like the Gloucester faire is east of Richmond, about 3 hours south-east from me, out near the Chesapeake bay. It looks like an interesting little faire.

I've never heard of Medieval Fantasies Company... I guess they're a group that puts on small local faires around the state?

[Sword Chick]

You sure? It looks like the Gloucester faire is east of Richmond, about 3 hours south-east from me, out near the Chesapeake bay. It looks like an interesting little faire.

I've never heard of Medieval Fantasies Company... I guess they're a group that puts on small local faires around the state?

Hmm, Gloucester is on the Middle Peninsula.  Definitely something to think about. 

[Sir Edward]

Yeah, it might be interesting to see. I read a little more on the website and it looks like they're much smaller than VARF in terms of acts, cast, and number of vendors, but they also seem pretty well organized based on their rules and methods. However, nearly all of their events are at least 3 hours from me, and I'd have to decide how much it's worth driving large distances for a small event. It's probably better to try out these sorts of things as a group, when you can be sure to be able to make your own fun along the way.

[Sword Chick]

Is it too early to start planning to go?  VAF is usually closed Memorial Day weekend (which means I won't have to work) so I'm considering the VARF that weekend.  The Gloucester one is reasonably close to our NNK cottage.   

[Sir Edward]

It sounds like a good weekend to me! I never can be 100% sure a long way in advance due to my pager duty and who I can trade off with. But usually I can work things out.

[Sir Brian]

Well the missus and I are definately going to opening weekend of the GARF! Woohoo!

We went last year and had a great weekend! It's a bit of a drive but we manage to get
there in just under ten hours. Anyone else planning on going to opening weekend?

[Sir Edward]

I don't know if we'll make it to GARF, though it would be nice since I've never been to that one. How was it, compared to MD?

We're toying with the idea of going to NCRF since we haven't been in many years. It's much smaller, but it's also a lot closer. It's about 4.5 hours for us, I think.

We're also toying with the idea of maybe visiting Tux this year (we've never been), and perhaps Pittsburgh now that they've reopened under new ownership (the folks who own the Colorado faire, which was also pretty nice).

[Sir Brian]

The GARF is on par with the CRF in size and I believe the same ownership since. They
definately had the same jousting troop as the CRF. The pirate auctions are fantastic, that's
were I got my really great rapier for $40.00! 

Tux was a good size fair, just a little bit smaller I think than CRF and GARF...But there was
something a little "off" about the whole place. We never could pin it down precisely what it
was but the fair atmosphere wasn't quite as cordial as the GARF...Still a fun fair but not in our
top three. {Those being MDRF, CRF and GARF}.


Yes NCRF is a bit on the small side, but a nice fair to start the season off after a long winter
of FWS {Fair Withdrawl Syndrome!}