Re: [Mid] Oaken Demo at OH Ren Fest?

The good Lady Betony wrote:
> I don't like to belabor the point, my lady, but the general consensus is
> that there isn't sufficient time at present. Frankly, in my opinion, it
> won't work. Folk go to this Faire expecting to see exactly what is
> advertised - jousting, juggling, jongleurs, etc. Now, if you were a
> performer, getting paid to entertain, just how would you feel if some
> other group, from several eras in history, showed up and took away your
> audience? This same situation happened in Thornetown, down near
> Indianapolis. The SCA was there for "local color" and the period
> merchants all got incensed when my lord started doing leatherwork and
> collected a crowd instead of their establishments. There is a time and
> a way to work with commercial faires such as the one near Cincinnati and
> doing a demo isn't one of them.

Well, it can work, but you have know how to do it without detracting from
the paid entertainers. A Ren Faire is much like any of the other
"historically themed" craft faires that I have been to like Yankee Peddlar
in Canal Fulton, OH (Colonial American theme), Great Trail in Malvern, OH
(Mountain man/Black powder theme), Shaker Woods (19th c. New England theme)
and so on. I used to work those Faires as paid entertainment in a folk music
band. We played music appropriate to the theme of the Faire as entertainment
for the shoppers. For the most part, people did not stop and listen. We
weren't playing formal concerts. We were "window dressing" at these faires,
something to add atmosphere, which is what the SCA can be at a Ren Faire and
still manage to do a good demo without upsetting paid staff.

Gwyntarian just did a demo at the Wonderful World of Ohio Mart at Stan Hywet
Hall this past weekend. It is a craft faire on a Renaissance theme. Now,
it's not a Ren Faire as such, but more of just a straight craft faire with
all venues of entertainment, and yearly we set up a demo and are unpaid
volunteers there. We don't compete with the crafters since we have nothing
to sell and they don't detract from us, either. They sell their wares, we
set up our demo tents and people can feel that their wallets are safe when
they come over to look at our stuff, as we aren't selling a thing, but
merely displaying the kinds of things that demostrate what the SCA is all
about.

Times were, Gwyntarian used to do demos at the King's Company Renaissance
Faire in Streetsboro, OH. Again, we were not paid entertainment and we were
volunteer help and all we were there for was to set up a demo. We were not
selling anything and therefore did not compete with the paid crafters and
entertainers. We had our fighting demo and our demo booth with our stuff set
out so people could see who we were and what we were all about. That Ren
Faire has since gone out of business and for the final years of its
existence, we did not do demos there due to some complications with the
owners, but in the years we were there, there was never any animosity
between us and the crafters and the entertainers.

To the best of my knowledge, members of the Barony of the Cleftlands still
do demos at the BayCrafters Renaissance Faire that takes place every Labour
Day weekend in Bay Village, OH. I used to go up there to help out with demos
myself and always enjoyed myself immensely. And again, there was never any
competition between us and their paid staff. We did our thing, they did
theirs and never the twain did meet.

So you *can* do Ren Faire demos, but you have to know how to strike the
proper balance so that you don't end up overshadowing their paid
entertainment staff. It just takes careful planning by a good demo
coordinator to know how to do it right. And that, I believe, is 99% of the
battle.

Just my tuppence on the topic......................

Saradwen

From: "Sally Burnell" <sburnell@raex.com>
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Received on Wed Oct 11 17:07:11 2000