Folsom Faire Review

The 15th annual Folsom Renaissance Faire held this past October was full of surprises. The event which had been produced each year by the guild of St. Matthews was announced to be their last. The guild would be stepping down after this years event and the former producer, Liz Martin, would continue to serve as the Producer of the event with a wholly new production team around her.

The Privateers of the Dauntless it appeared would serve as it’s educational foundation (read: 501c3) and partial volunteer core, and then St. Simons/St. George would be additional moral support (and hopefully provide the rest of the bodies to drive the event).

Back to this year’s event, however. After a few hours of pretty steady rainfall Friday night/Saturday morning, the event was a lovely weathered affair. Crowds were healthy, and the energy around most of the site was what everyone has always come to enjoy so much from this event.

It was nice to see a number of larger vendors no longer present, and replaced with a range of newcomers on the scene. Its nice to see more and more crafters returning to the short run faire circuit, rather than just the staple vendors of import products. Personally, I find that I’ll buy presents for others from the importers, but get things for myself and for faire regulars from the artisans. The slightly higher prices is always worth something that you can’t find on ebay daily.

Of all of the faires that have a joust that could really do just fine without one - Folsom is probably the pinnacle example. Of the 15 years that I’d been attending the event, I don’t think I’ve actually seen the joust more than a handful of times, and each time the audience in the stands isn’t particularly larger than the full standing room crowds seen throughout the day at the main stage. It’s never been much of a draw, and I think it’s also hurt the draw to it in that the jousters and their entourage have almost never climbed the arena steps to wander about the faire to help drum up interest. I don’t think the lack of popularity has much to do with the troupe that’s there, I think that about any troupe at that event would face the same challenges.

I think that most that I’d spoken to all look forward to next year’s Folsom, both with interest to see how the new board does, as well as simply fondly to one of the perennial favorites.