10 Tips For Going To A Renaissance Faire

Ever wanted to go to a Renaissance Faire? Maybe you're a veteran Faire-goer. Whatever your level of experience, here are 10 tips to make your day go just a little bit better -- maybe a lot better!

#renfaire #renaissancefestival #renfest #renaissancefaire #jacqueszewhipper #circus #jackthewhipper #youtooz #youtoozcollectible #collectibles

[michaelmammoth]

Strong Captain America vibes in this video.

[pomptonqueen]

What people don't get about sunstroke is that once you've had it is you remain sun sensitive for the rest of your life. I got it gardening. Five years later I passed out watching the wenches at our local Renn Faire. There was very little shade at any of the stages, so no safe place to go. I use a parasol I bought at Disneyland so I have portable shade.

[SavvyScribblin]

My husband and I returned to the faire for the first time in almost 12 years this year. We met a pirate couple in the parking area who were next to us, getting into their costumes just as we were. We got to chatting and told them about our long hiatus due to life circumstances and they gave us both little skull keychain trinkets as a welcome back gift! Legit some of the coolest and warmest folks at the faire.

[TheRentFan]

Natural fabrics. I cannot stress enough how happy I was last weekend in my linen chemise base layer. I was hot, but nowhere near as much as I would be in synthetics.

[CrystalFier]

Sunscreen. All over. Even if you think you already covered it, cover it again. If you forgot your parasol in the car (or, gods forbid, at home), you are going to need it.

[aphelion]

For the shade one, my suggestion is get a uva/uvb umbrella!!! It's dual purpose as it blocks the sun (making standing under it much cooler) and obviously works as a normal umbrella!!! It's a thing I bring to theme parks and such as well!! This way, if you need shade, you have it on you!!

[jessicaufland]

Or you can be me and randomly see that Jacques Ze Whipper will be performing at the WA midsummer renaissance festival Friday night, decide randomly to go on Sunday as a last minute birthday present to yourself, since Friday is your birthday, and then pack your kids up to go to your first ever ren faire two days later and see what's up 😂 honestly though we had a great time and it was super fun to see you perform! We'll try to be more prepared next year! 😂

[haleymist]

Definitely bring cash! My local renaissance fair is rural and all the food stalls only accept cash and only a few vendors can take cards. Its also tradition for the atms to break 😂 listen, ren fairs are fun, youll find amazing things for sale that youll find no where else - but, fairs are damn expensive. Go anyway, the vibes are right, theyre fun, and the entertainment is great!

[Slaythedayaway]

In the intro the subtitles called you “Jac Zipper” and I’m now dying laughing

[_bane]

every time you upload a video, i get the insane spontaneous urge to go to the nearest renn faire immediately! i'm already planning on two in the next 6 weeks!

[valkyrie]

Tell it, Jacques! Early is good, early in the day and early in the RUN. May I suggest you do not sport your new chain mail; while drinking wine, on a thunderstorm afternoon. (I'm fine) Go in costume? Jacques! I wear my handmade 9th century norse garb and just have fun. Time period is off; but no biggie. I go for the shows, the food, the shopping. We can practice archery and axe throwing...with borrowed equipment. That's always funny. I accidently wandered into a Civil War encampment in garb....turns out he same park had two different living history areas...held by different groups. We sat around the campfire with the Yankees and the Rebels and had a good laugh. Apparently, the Tardis was working just fine.

[PrincessPonies]

as a ren faire veteran and related to the first point, one thing i like to note for beginners is some faires have themed weekends! different weekends throughout the faire's season will have different special stuff going on based around the theme and it's not uncommon for one of those weekends to be something called Time Traveler's Weekend, which is basically the day where you're encouraged to dress up in less renaissance-esque costumes, particularly if it's time-travel themed. It's the weekend of faires where you'll see a ton of Doctor Who and Star Trek and etc cosplays, or just more cosplays in general. It also is usually one of the busiest weekends of the season i've noticed - my theory being that more people are excited for an opportunity to dress in a costume and they don't feel as restricted to keeping to the renaissance theme especially if they don't have anything renaissance-esque to begin with, or they generally feel more comfortable walking around plain-clothed that weekend. it's not always one of the last weekends but it does usually fall later in the season.
my big tip with this though is: check what the weekend themes are if there are any! if you are someone who is a bit intimidated by dressing plain-clothes at a ren faire or would rather wear a cosplay than a more typical faire outfit, there will probably be another weekend theme that won't be as busy as Time Traveler's Weekend that you can apply your outfit to (though like Jacques said, it's totally cool not to dress up at a faire if you dont want to). Some faires do Halloween weekends, especially if they're late summer/fall season, which can be a really good opportunity to dress up in something that's not as typical ren-faire get-up.
Though also even on your typical weekends most people will not bat an eye at misc cosplays or etc at the faire, especially if they even tangentially fit a ren faire theme (I've seen plenty of Good Omens, Our Flag Means Death, Legend of Zelda, any d&d/TTRPG series like Critical Role or The Adventure Zone or etc, even some Genshin and Minecraft stuff, plus usually at least one fursuiter, etc etc) - and a lot of vendors are nerds so they will totally recognize and compliment your cosplays. I've even worn Percy Jackson stuff plenty of times if I want to be in costume but more plain-clothes for comfort and people love it. basically there is no wrong answer to faire attire as long as you're comfortable and having fun. just know themed weekends exist and can be really fun to plan for or incorporate into your plans (and may change how busy that weekend will be).

[furiouskaiser]

Got to see you and Ses Carney perform last weekend in Snohomish. Was my first Renn Faire and had a blast 😃! Thanks for the selfie! Made a few family and friends who couldn't make it a bit jealous lol.

[MxSpider]

Seconding the water and electrolytes! I used to sell bodices and other such clothing at MD Ren Faire, and I cannot tell you how many people we had walk in lightheaded and dehydrated. We kept extra bottles of water and a jar of emergency pickles for such instances, but an ounce of prevention is very much worth a pound of cure!

[normadnorth]

I took my son to Comic Con dressed as you. Such a fun costume to make. A vest and wrist gards with trim, whips made of faux swade strips, and the best French mustachios.
Dressing up for renfair looks like a great time.

[emilyb]

Thanks for making this!
I didn't have the freedom to go to Ren fairs when I was younger and I'm absolutely reclaiming that now. This season will be my first, so this was a timely video. Everyone involved always seems so welcoming. Awesome to see, and even less scary now that I've got some tips and tricks.

[jimmason]

Wonderful presentation young man! That PBS experience shines through!!😁

[twistedpixie]

6:14 After working faire for nearly 30 years. Buy the pickles if they are available. They help maintain your hydration.

[Rebecca_DC]

Thank you so much for all of these, but especially #9. The first and only time I went to a Ren Fair was about a decade ago with my brother and a couple of his friends, one of whom insisted that if we wanted to go with them we would need to wear a costume, otherwise we weren't allowed to come. We did, because we did really want to go, but I was desperately uncomfortable the whole day. I've wanted to go again for a while, but I had such a bad experience the first time that I always end deciding against going. I'm gonna do some good research for next year, and while I hope to have a costume pulled together (that is something I would actually enjoy wearing), I won't let that be a deciding factor for whether or not I go.

[dayna_whips]

The amount of Aussies who were attending their first ren faire this past weekend and told me they'd watched this video before was incredible!