The Sherwood Forest Faire

They say this is the faire for Rennies. Started by Rennies, owned and operated by Rennies, and so far I’m inclined to believe it.

First off, as one turns into the participant entrance to the faire, there is a yellow triangular sign with “Welcome Home” painted in multiple colors. “That is a great idea,” John said, pointing. “I like that a lot.” It made us feel welcome and wanted.

Camping is free. The campground is spacious and open and we have a lovely little spot picked out for our home beneath a couple of young birch. Cute little red mushrooms are growing under my trees.

As per faire request, we are supposed to be sure that no part of our homes be visible over the fence from inside faire site, and that includes lights. This is to ensure the Renaissance feeling for our patrons. The more fun they have in our make-believe land, the more money they spend, and the more we eat. Har, har.

Once we picked a site out and parked our van, we crawled into the wood pile and drug out part of an old fence and a discarded piece of plywood and that became our deck. Next we dragged a couple of large logs over that stood approximately waist height, found a long rough-cut board and that became our table. We dug a fire-pit and I raked all the acorns and leaves and sticks out of the campground. We moved several more logs to use as extra seats at our fire. We’re in the middle of no-where, away from the partiers, which is where we want to be.

The faire site itself is gorgeously laid out. Seen from above it’s kinda shaped like New Mexico, with the gate being on top and a large lane leading directly across the middle of the faire to the jousting arena. The rest is big and open, with a center cluster of shops. The fences are made from rough-cut juniper and pine timbers, most likely timbers cut out from the camp ground. Several shops are made with these timbers, giving the entire faire a solid, unified field.

Beautiful junipers, oaks and pines pepper the faire and tall, crisp green grass coats the ground. Sunlight filters through the green canopy, giving the entire site a peaceful, whimsical, fairy-tale sort of feel. It is a pleasure to walk around the faire, watching all the booths and shops rise from the ground, paint their walls and hang their signs. Within the next couple of weeks this place will look like a medieval festival village.

There’s everything coming in here. Pony, camel and elephant rides, probably some war horse rides, too, and rickshaws to ferry patrons around in. There’s a stage around every corner, including a mud stage (complete with a mud show, a rare treat for faires). Most of the stages are placed around the outer rim of the park and the shops are sandwiched between them. Games and small stages, platforms and pavilions, rides, and yet more shops are all spread out in the middle of the grounds. The huge blacksmith shop (I will be smithing, but not in the shop on faire days) is placed right near the front gate, where folks can flood around them.

The site is set up so that patrons come in, walk down the center lane and disperse in every direction. The joust is strategically placed near the opposite end of the faire, since it is the main show at any fair, and so patrons will flock to the opposite side of the faire, and when the show is over they will meander through the rest of the faire on their way out.

The best part of the faire, in my opinion, is the huge fire-pit smack in the center of the faire. The pit itself is some ten or fifteen feet wide, surrounded by huge stones. Around that is a blackened chain looping through sturdy metal posts crafted by a blacksmith with heavy, yet intricate twists. Another ten – fifteen feet beyond the fire stands seven huge yellow granite stones called “The Seven Sisters.” It reminds you of Stonehenge. The Seven Sisters were imported from a former pagan festival site, and during the rest of the year, becomes the center of all the action at a small pagan festival hosted by Sherwood. It is the site of the coolest Rennie fire gatherings and drum circles I’ve been to yet.

I will detail more on The Seven Sisters fire circle when I learn more about it. I’ve been told it’s a story worth hearing.

Clearly, Sherwood Forest is set up with the Rennies in mind, by someone with the acute understanding that the more money that reaches us, the more the faire makes. By the tidbits I’ve heard about the social circles, his show makes it’s money on booth sales commissions over straight booth fees. Booth fees are not that expensive, and electricity for a booth is cheap.

There are several kitchens that feature actual authentic period food. Some courts have a menu I’ve seen nowhere else (what I’ve seen so far of the menus so far). I have yet to find a turkey leg court; either they have none or I don’t know about it yet. (Turkey legs are so over-done at Ren Faires… Did you know turkey didn’t exits in 16th century Europe? No, they had mutton back then. Dry, chewy, stringy, mutton. Some Faires do feature mutton – at least one – and they make it in such a way as to be palatable. Turkey is an all-American bird, not discovered until the Conquistadors… or maybe later when Columbus arrived.)

John and I are working with the kitchen that directs the Feasts here at Sherwood. We will be working about four hours a weekend serving at the Feast. Training starts today. We are not going to be paid in cash, but instead we are working in trade for passes (which means free camping, automatically), free food (we can even eat the steak and shrimp!), and any other benefits are assuredly generous boss can kick us down. Like high-dollar garb. If she has a position, and she’s thinking she might, she’ll hire me on as a counter girl at her kitchen. That’s cool. That’s what I did in Louisiana. I will work for tips, which doesn’t seem like a deal until one is informed that the counter makes a couple hundred in tips a day, we don’t split them with the kitchen staff, and there will perhaps be one maybe two other girls working with me. It has the potential to be a sweet gig.

The Sherwood Forest Faire is located about 45 minutes from Austin, TX. It starts Jan 11th and runs through to the first weekend of April. If you can, come visit us! Click the link to find the address on their website.

Come see us at the Rennies’ Faire!

Peace.