Wow! I realize it's been a good 10 months or so [as the tipsy reckon] since I last did anything here. Well, color me a slacker. It's difficult sometimes keeping track of all the places one places their face, what with all the spaces. [yeah, say that 10 times fast].

The thing that got me back was the 08 Tuxedo fest, and it seemed to have gone similar to the last one at PA. Thanks to the general anality of performance space rules, Blackwolf, in his bard guise, with me along as jovial viking escort, was once again harried by Renfaire staff. This time simply for singing, we weren't even drunk nor rowdy this time, I swear. It's a small thing, really though, we still wandered around, he plucked a few times and spoke to some comely lasses. Oh, and drank, did I mention that?

I don't get how faire persons would object to an added bit of in-costume entertainment thety don't even have to pay, nor who collects any money for they're he's doing.

As I might say... fucking lighten up.

Otherwise the day was fair, the women fairer, the belly dancing sinuous, and more bare midriffs and legs than one would shake their stick at [and not be very very sore].

All in all, I give it three huzzahs.

It was with some amusement that my friend and ally Blackwolf informed me, that an incident I'd not thought much of, which happened to us, has gathered a small bit of glory and fame in the renfaire community. At least, along the local east coast. Since I am the glory hound, well, let me share it with you and increase it's fame to new heights!

We attended the final weekend of the PA renfaire. Blackwolf, myself, and several friends attended, spending the weekend locally to enjoy two days of the faire. At the end of our long, enjoyable first day, we travelled from pub to pub, entertaining the attendees with a large collection of baudy chanties that Blackwolf had composed. He also brought a guitar along, or was it a small lyre - no, there were enough of those at the faire already [/rimshot].

By the end of the night were somewhat inebriated I will admit. At the bar near the great pirate ship, we were singing well and keeping time on the bar counter. Suddenly, we found ourselves surrounded by six or so constables! It was an ambush. The details are varied depending on whom you ask, but in short, we were escorted from the faire grounds under armed guard.

Before I give my own comment, let me display some of the infamy our encounter with (6) Guards, level 10 warrior, as seen by other witnesses [these are forum posts from elsewhere]. These are not all the posts, merely a sampling:

by Dinkywench:

hello all, it was my first time at the PARF and i was hanging out with a boisterous group that i had just met. they began to sing a song at one of the pubs, well several minutes later 6 security guards showed up and asked everyone to leave the faire. no warning, no please stop singing just simply leave. they were not cursing or in my point of view doing anything that was bad.

is this normal? i understand that they were not a paid performance but i thought this was a little extreme. i had been to the MDRF multiple times over the years and been hanging out with people who break out and irish dance, juggle, etc. and in most cases it is encouraged. is that the way it is at most faires?

by Dallan:

It was around 7 PM. I believe that they were at the Pirate Bar (correct me if I’m wrong Dinky Wench). I might speculate that since it was during the final performance of the night just down the hill, security may have decided the singing was intrusive to the show and the audience. Although an explanation and request to stop would have been more than appropriate.

I was not part of the group but I am friends with one of the “singers” and ran into him on our way out. While I didn’t witness the episode I would stake my reputation on that at least the person I know did nothing malicious other than perhaps boisterously missing a note.

by Dinkywench

yes it was around 7 at the pirate bar and dallan is correct that we were all very jovial and as soon as the security came we left immediately when asked.

the people who were singing apologized and asked if they just simply stopped if we could stay. to which we were told no, leave now. to be honest it really has rankled me and left me wondering if its even worth it to visit next year. but i am torn because up to that point i had a great time meeting lots of renn faire enthusiast, such as myself.

by Will Paisley:

I had the occasion to talk to a few of the people who were thrown out back at their hotel. Although they said that security mentioned something about interfering with the Finale, there was no talk of being asked to do anything, other than to leave the faire, by security. Also, the people I talked to were didn't appear to be inebriated at all, and certainly not enough for security to have to become involved.

I'm quite glad I wasn't in the area at the time, as I had heard nothing about the rest of faire being shut down at 7PM and would've probably joined in with the singing. I've tried joining in during the Finale, and generally get startled looks from the rest of the audience who treat the singalongs as theatre performances, despite the best efforts of the cast to get them involved.

by BCH:

Although it may only be anecdotal in regards to this incident; my wife and I noted a much higher level of security these last two weekends as compared with the Celtic Weekend and Scottish Fling weekend this year and other years in general; purses and bags being searched, and a greatly increased presence of armed security.

We wondered if some sort of incident/s had happened early in the season.


As for the boisterous group.. if it was the same group in armour who had been singing at the pub around 2 pm, they added to the atmosphere; perhaps they just did one round of song too many.

My own take on it:

After some careful thinking, I actually shall side with the guards. Or at least, give the nod that they probably did what they thought was best. In Law Enforcement, people who might be under the influence of anything are more likely to react in a nonsensical manner, and possible become dangerous. I think that, given the time and location and the fact that, yes, we WERE formidably armored and well-armed and obviously boisterous, having us depart the grounds was their best solution. We were unknowns; we were possibly drunk; we had swords and hammers and spikey armor.

It goes without saying that at the time, our party, once out in the parking lot, had much to say about how unfair [unfaire?] it all was and that we'd been horribly wronged. Yet, I myself was laughing long and hard: we'd been thrown out of the faire! We were dangerous! Whoohoo! It was all quite enjoyable to me, really.

In addition, at no time were the guards rude, got physical, or were threatening in any way. As I live in NYC I can tell you, some police do all three at any opportunity. These men, did not, and for that, I salute them.

I will even add to the fame of the guards with a tale of my own:

The next day I arrived to meet the others in my large pickup truck, as I had to leave first. We spent a more quiet day, and when my time to leave came, I discovered that my vehicle had been pinned in by other cars and I could not pull out of the parking space. The VERY SAME guards came to my aid. They attempted to move other cars, have my truck towed slightly sideways to extract it from the spot, try guiding me in pulling out - though it was all to no avail, I did not have the room to extract myself.

They were incredibly helpful and kind. Even after I reminded them of the incident the night before, they all laughed with me. There were no hard feelings on any side.

No sooner had they left and the faire PR person taken me inside to offer me a freebie of mead, when the police notified me that the space next to mine had cleared! I was free!

All's well that ends well!