What If Your Faire Up and Moved On Ya?

I've been going to Renaissance Festivals/Faires since the turn of the century. The Maryland Renaissance Festival broke my "cherry" in early October of 2000, and with that I've been hooked ever since (thanx to HS friend Tom Crowl and his gorgeous Mrs.). My current wife and I hit it once. . .then I dragged my-then-current-estranged and our kids the following weekend and then Cyn and myself hit it again the final weekend. I never, ever attended out of garb. Cyn made up my Black Fox 1.0 garb before my first visit.

We hit MDRF a bunch of weekends in 2001. . . more in 2002, when I set up a Yahoo group called "Friends of the Maryland Renaissance Festival". . . I think we dragged in about 10 interested parties at that time.

2002 also saw a new king at MDRF who I befriended and in 2003 he helped me propose to Cyn on the "stage" (i.e. decked clearing) by the Dragon Inn. It was a wonderful event. It was only superseeded by our wedding in mid September of 2004 where the King knighted me during our wedding ceremony so that he could stand as my Best Man.

Using faire-ever passes (i.e. season passes) to MDRF since 2003, we've come to think of the site of this faire as our escape from the "real" world. We've made friends with folks that we have no common interest with other than MDRF. The place is an amazing event which levels every paytron and playtron into one flat event horizon. . . . that of PubSing each evening.

I've met folks who have come to MDRF for the very first time and have fallen in love with it just like we did. I've met, immediately thereafter, folks that I've never seen, who've been visiting the faire since its early days in Columbia, MD. . . some 30 years prior!

Yet we've all come to a standstill. MDRF may, and probably will, move again. It seems that they've been renting their site all these years which is why there's not many permanent buildings on the site (such as proper flush-privvies and septic). Understandibly, with 250,000 folks visiting each season. . . . and less than 200 acres to offer them. . . the site needs to expand.

Thus the problem. Buy the property from the landowners at probably twice the value because they realize they've got MDRF by the. . .uh. . . pumpkins. . . .OR move the site somewhere else.

Somewhere else?

Right now, in Crownsville, MD, MDRF is between two MAJOR MAJOR hubs. . . . DC and Baltiless. . . I mean Baltimore. To move it out of that corridor will hurt the faire. . . in the short run. . . no matter where they move it, I have a feeling folks will find it. . . especially if there's more room and better sound, sights, smells, touches, and tastes (I think I hit all five senses).

Who knows what will happen?

Thus I pose the question to ye of Faire Magazine. . . . what would your thoughts be if your favorite faire which held so many personal connections for ye decided to move? If you had no say in the matter, what would you hope for? If you did have a say. . .what would you say?

Answers to this blog may be more important than you realize. . . it might be your faire that moves next, mates. What say ye?