Elsewhere Faire

Rennie (n): a participant (performer or artisan) at a Renaissance Faire

Welcome to Elsewhere Faire: a magical Renaissance Faire where three kids and a cat find all sorts of magical adventures! 

My experiences working as a performer at the Faire inspired me to write this series. I started working for Sherwood Forest Faire, here in Texas. I had visited the Faire before as a playtron (which is our word for someone who doesn't work at the Faire, but who shows up in full garb and interacts in character), and I fell in love with it. It was like traveling back in time, or to a fantasy world, where all the worries of the ‘real’ world fell away. I loved all the Rennies I met there, too: they were so interesting and colorful, with so many strange and wonderful talents and skills.

Garb (n): a specific form of dressing: items of clothing. In Renaissance Faire slang, garb is period dress.

Playtron (n): patrons of a Renaissance Faire who dress in costume and play a character even though they are not employed by the Faire.

Once I started working at Sherwood Forest Faire as a faery, I got to see the excitement and magic behind the scenes as the grounds turned from peaceful woods into a bustling medieval village.

“Sometimes Till thought that her favorite time at the Elsewhere Renaissance Faire was the week before it actually opened, when the stages were still mostly bare and the shops’ pennants were stirred only by odd sighs of wind. She loved Faire-time too, of course, with all its splendid bustling and color, but although the grounds had a gay and gaudy magic once they had come to life, the real magic was to be found here in the quiet spaces that felt not abandoned, but waiting.”

I also got to know other Rennies, and I was particularly fascinated by the people who lived and worked on the Faire circuit full-time, traveling from city to city in their campers. I wished I could have grown up as a Rennie kid: no traditional school, living on the road, being around warhorses and birds of prey, learning ancient skills and crafts, meeting all these interesting people. It seemed like the ideal childhood.

“Till loved the Faire life. She and her mom travelled year-round in their wooden caravan, running a booth full of faery wings and other magical accessories. This meant that Till couldn’t go to a regular school or live in a regular house, but she didn’t care. She much preferred living on the road, spending her weekdays working on schoolwork online and running wild around the Fairegrounds, and her weekends dressed in a faery costume, helping Mom with the booth. She loved seeing the looks on people’s faces when they stepped through the gates and were transported into a magical realm full of knights, royalty, pirates, fairies and mythical creatures. Patrons were happy to leave their work and homes behind to step back a few centuries and live in a version of the past that blurred historical accuracy with magic. She liked seeing their smiles as they walked deeper into the Faire and forgot about their troubles. Even in the most cynical patron, she thought, there was a tiny part that believed in the realness of the place, with its brighter colors and larger-than-life characters.”

I decided to start a series of books about the Renaissance Faire for kids who, like me, longed for more magic and adventure in their lives. It’s a wonderful life, and I’m so glad I get to be a part of it now. This is my way of making you a part of it, too!