March 23 2010

I haven't written much lately. Apologies. But it is hard to write when living a dream. The allure is to dive head first into the dream and experience the wonderment of the colors and sounds, the feelings all about that tickle and warm. Dear sojourners, this has been an unbelievable excursion into the realm of illusion-something formed from the ideal, and crafted from the soul.

Sherwood is alive with its own unique spirit. George A. texted me yesterday as he sat beside the Seven Sisters watching birds, feeling the cool breeze blow over him, and said, "It's hard to leave this place." I responded, "Soon, we will just stay."

We have been so touched by the gracious love and acceptance of the people who have to come to these woods as patrons, vendors, entertainers, workers.

My faire days are spent observing, interacting with everyone, asking how their experience has been.and the responses are almost universal-""Wonderful. I feel at home."

And the exit surveys have remained "over the top".with "friendliness" rising to the top of what patrons like best.

I was told several stories this last weekend I wish to share: the first came from a patron who had stopped in McDade gas station on their way to the faire. They were in garb. When the gentleman was walking in to pay, an old grizzly farmer/rancher guy walked up to him and said, "you're headin' to that faire, aren't ya?" The patron replied, "Well, Well yes sir, I am." And the older man said, "Them there are good folk. They have done a good thing for us around here. Good for business. No troubles. They are gonna put McDade on the map. We like them a lot." One of the workers of the faire, a rennie who works the circuit, relayed another similar comment about the locals, "The people at that Whoop Station on highway 21 have been nothing less than great to all of us camping and working out here. They have extended their hours. They have welcomed us with open arms and have gone out of their way to accommodate our needs. That's rare on the circuit."

One last conversation to share.

At the end of the third weekend, we had kind of met the benchmark in first year attendance dreams-Saturday exceeded 5,000. Sunday was a bit over 3,000. All the stages had been filled. Vendors made a bit of money. The Faire was even looking good for the weekend relative to cash flow. It was a time of celebration. So, after the fireworks, I found my coat and headed to Reo's, a cantina just outside the faire grounds that caters to the folk who work the faire-more of a place to enjoy music and fellowship after a long weekend. As I was sitting there, a female vendor came up to me and sat down. She said, "I have been on the road doing faires for twenty-five years.and this is my best faire. I love it. Thanks." Very Powerful testimony to what's happening in this forest setting.

We are humbled by the experience. We take to heart all the comments and suggestions. We do not let the accolades go to our heads.because we do believe this is a collective journey.and Sherwood has no King. We look around and see what was accomplished and know that without so many volunteers and dedicated believers in this dream that Sherwood would not be what it is today.

From the start, we wanted to support a not-for-profit that attends to the social and medical emergencies that arise within the rennie community-a 501©3 called, RESCU. At larger faires around the country, RESCU holds RESCU Rallies behind the faire scene for rennies. Entertainers volunteer. Vendors contribute wares for an auction. And a good time is had some nite after faire. So, we made it clear that RESCU was gonna be sponsored by Sherwood and we wanted them to let us know what we could do to facilitate their fund raising. Rallies are not held at first year faire, but they met our request and held one this last Saturday evening, even though the temp was dropping into the mid thirties. The results of the rally exceeded some faires that have been up and running for 20+ years. This is just another testimony to the spirit and soul that everyone is bringing into Sherwood.

George and I, along with many of our management team members, walk through the patron campgrounds at nite to meet folk. Exciting times happening on Friday and Saturday nites. Good, decent people who also are bringing a wonderful spirit to Sherwood. We love yall.

Thanks so much for being a part of this experience. We are tearfully appreciative and hope our paths will be parallel ones for years (and centuries) to come.

Rengypsy

Providence or Chance

December 2, 2009

Last night around 5:30pm, I sat in George A's office adjacent to his home in Houston as he signed the partnership agreements and various and sundry other legal documents which made him half owner in the land and a major partner in the ownership of Sherwood.

George A is an accomplished businessman. He is a respected consultant. An Aggie. A Harvard graduate. And has been attending TRF since he was in high school. At the very core of his heart and soul, he is a paladin knight.

He reads the same fantasy books as I do. At forty, he still revels in games and ideas and holds a belief that we can meld best business practices with the wonderful experience of Faire.

I met him in June or July of this year during one of Sherwood's Gatherings. He had actually arrived earlier that Saturday morning to pick up sticks and help clear the grounds with Zane and other volunteers.

He was on one of the four tours of the grounds I was giving. He walked beside me and asked questions and cheered and lifted his tankard when the vision of Sherwood was shared with the thirty some-odd folk walking in the group.

Later that evening, he approached me and said he wanted to be a part of Sherwood. I said I appreciated that and mentioned that I hoped a lot of folk would be a part of faire. He replied, "No, I mean I want to be a part of Sherwood in a big way! Like building a watchtower with 
a pub in the ground floor." I responded, "We should talk." And later that next week, we visited. I met him at his house in Houston. We spoke for five hours. I felt I had known him all my life. We connected on so many levels.

We met a couple of times out on the faire grounds and talked all day.

I don't know how many of you have been in a business partnership, but the rule of thumb is: "don't, unless it's absolutely necessary." But it all felt too right. I am not a control freak. I don't have to have my way all the time. I don't have to possess or own everything. So, we courted one another as prospective business partners.

While I had attempted buying TRF years ago, George A had been pursuing the purchase of Scarby. We each had decent knowledge of these two very successful faires.

And thus, the journey I was on was taking a quite different path--a partnership, a sharing of ideas/control/ownership. And there was never a moment that it felt wrong or out of balance.

He brought passion and the love of the faire to the table. He brought business experience in marketing, as well as fantastic analytical skills to the team. And, he brought his spirit and his soul as a brother to Sherwood.

Rengypsy

November 10th, 2009

A Wonderful Story Unfolding

In Hindu philosophy, there is the belief that all souls, all spirits, are on this tremendous journey back to the source of everything--like a drop of water finding its way back to the ocean.

Western thought sees time in a much more linear fashion.

But regardless, our souls are traversing this land.  We are seeking something greater than ourselves.  We are wanting to belong.  We are wanting purpose.  We are hoping for a sense of community.  And I think, regardless of whether one is Christian, Pagan, Hindu or Jain, we all seek some sense of permanence in a world that seems so transitory.

We want a legacy.  We want a connectedness to the past, the present and the future.

And here we are...in Texas of all places, our role of the cosmic dice.  Some of us drive trucks.  Some are businessmen/businesswomen, Moms, Dads, Writers, Poets, Drunks, Preachers, Teachers, Carpenters and Artists.  We represent the entire spectrum of occupations and interests.  And yet, we share the strange and mysterious and fun experience and love of renaissance festivals.

We don our costumes.  We have a bit of ale (or not).  We hit the road for a day or a weekend of escape.  We listen to music.  We eat great food. We buy from artists, artisans and merchants.  We watch jugglers and magicians.  We even dance when the spirit calls us to dance.

And then we head back home and prepare for another week of eight to five.  When the renaissance season is over, we are both exhausted and quite sad.  And wonder why this experience cannot go on for longer.

It's not Disney.  It's not Six Flags.  It's friends and family.  It's the love of the past.  It's so much more.

So, several years ago, I decided that I wanted to commit a great deal of my life to growing the experience.  To enhancing the depth of this very bizarre love affair I had with this seasonal excursion into a simpler, more genuine time.

Thus, Sherwood Forest Faire...and from the moment I knew it was going to become a reality, I asked others to join me on this journey.  I asked you to brave the winter cold last January.  And over a hundred of you did.  I asked you to take your paintbrush and place your vision of what Sherwood would/should/could become upon its canvas.

Many were skeptical.  So many of the old timers had seen first year faires come and go without much more than a whisper.  Others of you patted us on the back and bid us good luck. 

Still others of you huddled around the campfires and sang songs, drank ale, walked the woods and listened to possibilities...while adding your thoughts, concerns, and visions.

And over the last twelve to fourteen months, Sherwood has taken on a life of its own.  We have folk from all over emailing us about their desires to be a part of what is being created in these magical enchanted woods of Sherwood.  We have people volunteering their time, their gas, and their talents to build the very core of this faire.  There are more paintbrushes at work now than one can imagine.

This is not a faire.  It is an experiment.  It is a fantastic voyage.  It is a community.  It is art.  It is business.  It is a thousand dreams converging.  It is story being written by a myriad of authors.

Unlike other faires, we come to you as partners in this venture.  We come to you not having all the answers, but believing that our collective wisdom is greater than our individual insights.

And when you enter Sherwood, you can look at what is; but we encourage you, rather, to look beyond at what will be.

Check your calendars.  See if you have the time to join us for the December 12th Gathering.  And spread the word that soon the gates of Sherwood will be open wide.

Blessings to you and yours,

Rengypsy

September 21st, 2009

Tis the last day of summer in Sherwood, some one hundred and fifty odd days until the gates open for the First Annual Sherwood Forest Faire on February 27th, 2010 (1189).  There is still much to do before that Saturday morning.

And yet, our hearts are light and our spirits soar with excitement.  Since the inception of the idea, a community, a tribe, has been forming.  People from all walks of life, folk with talents you cannot believe, gifted and giving families, individuals who have walked by us and said simply, "I'm in! I get it!"

We have been overcome and humbled by the many who have given to Sherwood with their song, their talents in art and woodwork/glasswork, computer skills, and most of all your encouragements that we are on the right track.

I was humored some this weekend when I informed someone that we seek input and critique of what we are doing--that we want to hear from people.  He looked back and in all sincerity asked, "Do you really mean that? Do you really want to hear criticism?" and thinking I was about to get an earful, said, "Absolutely--the good and the bad.  We want to hear it."  (He did not have anything at that moment to say).  We want all of you to offer your insights--what are the musts for a great faire experience?  What really spoils a great time at a faire?  If a faire could not afford everything, what are the five essentials to make a faire a success as it grows?

The ceremony at the Gathering this weekend was spectacular.  Well attended, a beautiful and uplifting experience.  Most any spiritual individual would have walked away from the starlit event feeling something good.

Some have asked if Sherwood is going to focus on paganism.  No is the answer.  One of the business practices or values we have committed to is authenticity...thus, read 12th century English history if you want to get a feel for Sherwood.  Now, amidst the overwhelming Christian dominance of the formal religion in England was a undercurrent of Celtic symbolism, superstitions, beliefs in the Fay, and the like...but Richard was away in the Holy Lands fighting for Christendom.

Thus, the Knights Templar's, monks, holy men, and theologians will also be present in these woods.  As in olde, the Chapel will play a prominent place in the experience, but is within a rock throw of The Seven Sisters.  Much as the Yew Tree stands in the courtyard of most Norman churches today in England as a statement to the melding and mixing of Saxons, Celts and Normans.

Join us in December when we celebrate and consecrate Maid Marian's Chapel.  We would like that to be as spectacular as this last Saturday evening.  We will be seeking an orthodox priest to lead us in this wonderful experience.

We send you are love!  We hope to see many of you within the nation's grandest faire to date--TEXAS RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL.  And as we have said before, much like so many of you, the grandeur of TRF is our standard to be judged by.  Just give a bit of time. 

Blessings upon you and yours, Keep Sherwood in your thoughts and prayers.

Rengypsy 

August 10, 2009

Another Gathering concluded this weekend. Fantastic turnout. The spirit in the Forest was strong. Energies were bubbling with encouragement. I met many I did not know and received a handful of new applications and contracts. Our number of vendors exceeds eighty at present. There are many folk who approached us about volunteering. We had a great time of walking the grounds; eating and drinking; watching the grounds team with kids running all over; and, entertained by a myriad of performers. Very good drumming this weekend.

I do not believe in the Field of Dreams adage. “Build it and they will come.” Nothing is that simple. Been in retail too long to fall for that delusion. But I do believe that if we facilitate the building of a framework where people can come together to create a sense of art, of community, of belonging…and intertwine in into an economic base where folk can also find sustenance for them and their family, that something unique and powerful will happen.

Thus, Sherwood Forest Faire!

In the late sixties, there were a lot of social scientists that wrote about a sense of alienation in American culture—a fraying in the social fabric of the extended family and the concept of community. There was an exodus both from the farms and the inner cities to the suburbs. And in the suburbs, people lived fairly isolated lives. With more television, and eventually the onslaught of the personal computers, the trends toward a more insulated nuclear family intensified. We lost a sense of belonging to a larger social unity. And thus, the Alienated Man.

But, if you have studied sociology and psychology, you understand that man is a social creature. We need each other. “No man is an island.”

And all the counseling sessions in the world cannot suffice for the need to being part of a social group, a family, and a tribe.

We need folk around us who, as Cooley wrote, act as our “Looking Glass Self.” People whom, in essence, hold up a mirror to us and say, “The person you are looking at—yourself—is ok, is good, is accepted.” We need humans to love us as we are . . . with all our frailties and inadequacies.

Likewise, as in tribes, we need folk to guide and direct us. We need that moral compass being reinforced. We need rituals and rites of passage. We need support during those darkest hours of our lives. We need people we enjoy and think highly of to embrace us and congratulate us and celebrate with us during times of victory and accomplishment.

We need to be surrounded by music and art and literature. We need our own tales and stories of the past that we pass down from generation to generation around campfires.

We need an extended family—not of blood necessarily, but of common spirit and soul and mind. We need to feel the comfort to let our kids away from us for two minutes without the fear of them being molested: we need them to feel the comfort and security of neighborhood.

We need to have fun and be able to escape…

We need some ties to history—some myth, some actual. We need foundations to build upon.

Sherwood Forest Faire is very much an entertainment venue; but it will be much more than that. A blacksmith hammering on an anvil, a gypsy fortune teller reading Tarot, an actor on stage or walking the grounds, a troubadour telling or singing some tale from his or her journeys to foreign lands, a jester juggling balls, a painter with brush in hand or a minstrel with lute or lyre singing ballads to us underneath the canopy of Sherwood. And when the sun sets, we gathering around a campfire to toast the day with ale, and feel the primal roots of our ancient past as drums beat to some cosmic rhythm and our dancers move gracefully to the flickering of the flames.

This is what I wish for Sherwood. And it will only be when each of you bring your dreams and wishes and desires into that circle, as well.

This is not a single effort—not even that of a handful of developers. This is our journey—yours and mine. We are building, we are painting, we are dreaming together.

Blessings to each of you who have chosen to be a part of Sherwood.

Rengypsy

22 July 2009

The Summer of 2009

Today, we are installing shingles and tin on faire booths. One of the guys is constructing a make-shift shower for the August 8th Gathering. Next week, the poles will go up for Maid Marian’s Chapel.

And there are 219 days before Sherwood Forest Faire opens its gates for the first year.

We have received approximately 65 vendor (food, art/merchant/demonstration, and service) applications and/or contracts to date. Our goal is to have 100+ vendors before February 27th, 2010.

We have constructed 17 booths ourselves to date.

Our ocean container should be on the grounds before the Gathering. Inside is a wide array of items for the Faire, including our myriad of signs, wagons, carts, wheel barrows, wood carvings, and statues.

The Seven Sisters Celtic Stone Circle should be up before TRF opens for the 2009 season. We will hopefully have a ceremony on the grounds to mark its dedication. We will surely need some drummers to be there, as well as dancers. It should be done at night around midnight, I think. More on the details will follow.

There is a tremendous energy accompanying the creation of Sherwood. My dear wife adheres to a belief that events like Sherwood, at some juncture, start to take on an organic force or form of their own. At after that, we are nothing more than caretakers and servants of its purpose.

I am grateful and appreciative that so many of you are beginning to take a sense of ownership in the Faire. I hear stories and receive emails of your advocacy and labors toward the success of the festival. Some of you have assumed responsibilities to make the Sherwood better than it would have been otherwise--George (Bear) Mulder assuming the role of Webmaster: Mike Pullen taking the reign as camping coordinator: Queen Bonnie becoming the matron of the Faire and getting an article written in the Elgin newspaper about the coming of Sherwood: Lynn Fisk advocating for the Bastrop folk to embrace the Faire. Folk donating costumes to the Acting Company: The many of you who have attended the previous Gatherings when it was below freezing…some offering advice; some entertaining us with song and dance; some cutting wood….and the many who have chosen to become vendors at this first year faire because they “feel” something special is happening in these woods.

So many more stories to tell. So many more people to thank.

Have you ever felt that life was to be about more than the 8-5 mundane world we so often feel trapped in? Do you sense that there is stream of consciousness that flows in a certain direction—sometimes to the banks of a quiet stream, sometimes to the sound or rhythm of music, sometimes to a church alter, sometimes to the trunk of an old oak tree, sometimes deep within a book, sometimes in the eyes of a child, or the embrace of a loved one???

I think with the very core of my being that we are all on a great journey. Born with nothing—likely dying with nothing—but journeying toward some level of greater consciousness. And, I think this business, this entertainment venue, this experience called Sherwood Forest Faire, is a calling…

A calling for community…a calling for sharing…a calling for music and art and theatre…a calling for a sanctuary for children’s imagination…a calling for friendship and communion…a calling for each of us to re-connect to our ancient roots when mankind was an integrated part of nature—not somehow abstracted and above it.

Thank each of you for being a part of this extraordinary journey we are on together. Thanks for sharing your energies, your passions, your desires, and your spirits in the making of Sherwood.

Lift Up Your Cares!

Let us Celebrate this Fantastic Experience Together!!!

Rengypsy

June 15 th, 2009

When we are willing to share ownership, when we are able to give up control to others, we risk chaos, theft, betrayal, and ruin: but when we allow others responsibility, when we offer friends, family and newly found sojourners along a similar path as ours to share the burden, as well as the opportunity to effect, create and own, we gain a grander collage made of art, soul, toil and sweat, music, poetry, magic and pageantry. What we risk, we never had, really. What we can gain may last far past our own mortal existence on this transient journey we are on.

Some approached me this weekend with ideas of how Sherwood Forest Faire could be made better. Some asked if they could build a garden, or provide their services in planning or landscaping. Some spoke of their booth designs. One asked if we needed a healer within the faire—one who called from herbal and folklore from the very bosom of mother earth. More than a few said they wanted to take the challenge I had placed before folk and “paint their artistry” upon the fabric which is and will continue to become Sherwood Forest Faire.

Two individuals sat beside me when the music was playing at separate times during the night Saturday and said, “it seems many people have a sense of ownership in this faire.” And I smiled and said, “that’s the essence of community.”

Don’t get me wrong: Sherwood is an entertainment venue with a capitalistic approach. But it’s so much more. It’s a myriad of ideas. It’s fellowship. It’s music from the soul and heart. It’s a marketplace of old where artists and artisans and merchants come together to sell their wares—wares, which for the most part, are the labors of their hands and imaginations. It’s a different, more pure, more ethical type of capitalism—not where folk strive to gouge the other person, to demean and destroy his neighbor for another dollar; but rather, a collective enterprise that believes if we together can put on a great show—be it through acting, or joust, or games, or art, or merchandising, or foods and drinks—that we can all rise with the tide of folk who walk through these gates when the faire opens.

Sherwood Forest Faire is an attempt to take from the masters of the renaissance festival movement and mix it with a strong dose of humanism and community to construct something even greater.

I believe there is a very forceful momentum growing around Sherwood. I think many of you are the cause. And the effect will be spectacular. I think strongly that we will shatter folk’s imagination as we grow over the years with more enthusiasm and passion and artistry than has been seen at a faire in years.

While we don’t have the money other faires do, we will have as much soul and vision as most.

Our trademark will be quality. Our trademark will be the energy experienced this last weekend magnified ten or hundred fold.

I so appreciate each of you who have made your way to Sherwood Forest Faire—either in person or via web or email or letter. Please know you have a place within these woods. And your voice is heard and your brush strokes are regarded with utmost respect and admiration.

Let’s build something very strong and powerful as a statement and reflection of what we desire, what we hope for, and what we believe in.

Blessings to each of you.

Rengypsy

June 13th Gathering

May 18th, 2009

Our next gathering at Sherwood Forest Faire will be June 13th, from 4pm-late.  Camping is welcome.  Supervised kiddos’ running around adds to the excitement.  Same scenario as past gatherings: walking tours, ale and soft drinks, folk may bring cover dishes for non-liquid sustenance, campfire in the evening…

Communion of common souls, interested vendors and patrons, sharing of ideas, the christening of the grounds as they progress over time.

The front gate is finished.

The billboards are up on U.S. 290.

Water is to the property, though we have yet to put in the waterlines.

The first vendor is constructing his booth (thanks Ron!).

The grounds have been prepared–all brush is now off the faire grounds, proper.

The fence is up.

Another stage is nearly complete–the Greenwood Stage.

The Children’s Area, “Once Upon A Time”, is under development.

CONSTRUCTION of Vendor Booths is now permitted if vendors have approved building plans.  Folk will need generators.

The road, while not graveled, has been bulldozed through the camping area.

In two weeks, a large container will be making its voyage across the seas carrying the seven obelisks, which will become The Seven Sisters Celtic Stone Circle.

We need folk to volunteer to start dropping off 25-50 brochures at establishments throughout Texas, especially in Houston, San Antonio, Waco, Dallas, Bryan-College Station, Austin, Victoria, Corpus Christi, Temple, Roundrock, and all places in between.

We also need small door posters hung where establishments will allow us to advertise the Faire.

We need old costumes, which you may be willing to donate for the acting company.

Also seeking more artists to become vendors and join Sherwood. 

Thanks to each and everyone of you who are helping pass on the word of the Faire.  We think it will be quite spectacular for a First Year Faire.

Plan on joining us on June 13th to see the grounds, drink a pint with us, and offer your ideas, as well as pick up some brochures to distribute.

Cheers,

Rengypsy

Ps.  we are creating a wonderful story–a combined imaginative effort of all participants on www.renaissancefestival.com under Sherwood Forest tab, then under the “epic of sherwood”.  Visit it, think of you being within the forest in 1188, a year before the faire is to happen, become a part in the story and in reality.  Very creative, artistic and should be a lasting and evolving epic of this adventure we are on collectively.

Saturdays Outing: A Community is beginning

April 26th, 2009

The outing has concluded.

The cups picked up, the kegs floated, the sound of footsteps as folk walk the grounds silenced, the laughter and play of kids gone home to prepare for school on Monday.

And we are honored and pleased with the turnout.  Well over a hundred showed up to tour the grounds, offer suggestions, ask a hundred questions, and some to stake their claim to booth locations.

Mike Pullen seems to be taking control of the camping grounds.

Moon)Dawg, our chronicler in pictures, and a very special spirit, continues to offer the faire his insights and joy.

Artists showed us pictures of their wares.  I can attest that there will be spectacular artists on the grounds when the gates open.  Sculptors, painters, potters, clothiers, jewelers, actors and troubadours…

One said upon leaving yesterday, “I sense the shades and images and spirits who will inhabit these grounds.  It will be quite festive.  I am excited to be part of Sherwood.”

I thank each of you who came yesterday (and previous afternoons) who are saying in word and action that, yes, they want to be a part of the creation and ongoing evolution of Sherwood Forest faire.  I thank you for taking the challenge even before stepping foot on the grounds to take your “paintbrush” and with your own creativity to begin to paint upon this wonderful natural fabric what is right and fun and beautiful and exciting–both your illusion and your ideal of faire experience.

While I haven’t had time to count the applications I received yesterday, I think the number of vendors–partners in this venture–is close to thirty since first accepting apps.

A trio made the trek from northern Louisiana to walk the grounds and then hand me their respect jewelry vendor application in person.

Your “ownership” and commitment to this faire is a very powerful force of encouragement for us.  We could not accomplish this journey on our own.

A thousand blessings to each of you. Keep sending your energies our way.  Ask any questions you want.  Challenge us, if you think we are moving astray.  Lift your tankard with us in the excitement of building YOUR faire.

Cheers,

Rengypsy

Sherwood Forest-Our Promise

April 18th, 2009

We are working tirelessly on Sherwood Forest Faire…and our aims are several.

We want the faire to accomplish several simultaneous objectives:

1) Build on the genius of the founders of the renaissance faire experience, like mar. George Coulomb, owner/president/creator of Texas renaissance festival.  We want the faire to be run as an entertainment business with the appropriate efficiencies, high standards of quality, etc.

2) Incorporate the rennie community into the faire collage–invite the participants to walk backward (and forward) to an earlier time when there was a stronger sense of community within the faire grounds during the hours of operations, as well as after hours and during the week.  We want to stimulate creative and artistic juices to flow.  We want potluck dinners; drumming, strumming, adults and parents sitting around talking about the affairs of the day while children take sticks and play knights and such.  We want the gypsy spirit to be encouraged and to affect the atmosphere of the faire.  We want there to be those interlinking of circles of influence between the playtrons and participants on occasions.  We want a mutual appreciation for each other’s roles in this extraordinary experience.

3) We want art and artisanship to flourish.  We want the grounds filled with the handiwork of a thousand souls’ best ideas and concepts on what will make a wonderful faire experience.

4) We want history and fantasy to merge into the faire experience.  We hope amidst the medieval carts, wagons, names of pubs and stages, signage, foods and beverages, all will also rub shoulders with myth and magic and fantasy.  Tarot, palmistry, caldrons, a feel of the Celts, a stone circle, Christendom and its various impacting influences, knights, lords and ladies, a bit of Monty python, robin of Loxley, the crusades, art from the middle ages, Shakespeare, Chaucer, troubadours, minstrels, jesters and the like.  Oh, did we forget fairies??? Pirates???  Never enough fairies, pirates and rogues about.

5) We desire Sherwood Forest Faire to be the BEST FIRST YEAR FAIRE ever!  Not perfect. Not complete.  Not as good as it will be, but better that a start up attempt by wannabe’s.

6) We want each of you to be a part of the experience!  We want to meet you, to hear your ideas, field your questions; answer your doubts with our business plan and our vision.  We think our team is solid.  We think we bring a sense of passion to the building of Sherwood Forest Faire that is unmatched in soulful and pragmatic spirit.  We will run a business and be a part of the community.

Thus, we ask you to join us at one of the outings we are holding every month or so during the construction phase of the Faire.  Nothing formal.  Just a time to drink a pint, sing a song or two around a fire, walk the grounds, talk business, offer your thoughts to the future of Sherwood, and simply enjoy the company of like minds.  The next one is April 25th, 2009, 3pm on the grounds.  Make sure you apply to receive correspondence from us via email on the website.

Thanks to the many of you who have already lent a hand to make the Faire as spectacular as we hope.  Special thanks to Moon)Dawg and Tom who have overwhelmed us with their assistance.

Our promise is this: we will continue to work as hard as we can to make this Faire one you and your family/friends will consider is worthy of your time to be a part of.

Blessings to you all,

Rengypsy

Progress

January 28th, 2009

It’s a little over a year before the gates open to Sherwood Forest Faire.  We had a gathering on the grounds this last weekend of interested parties.  The gods of the renaissance blessed us with weather appropriately–near freezing by dark and cold north winds blowing.  In spite of the chilling effects of Mother Nature, we still had over a hundred souls attend and walk the grounds, a good mix of those interested in becoming vendors and those who fill the grounds as playtrons in full regalia during the festival season.

You have all been so good to us during the planning.  We feel the spirit of your support.  We will need it all.

I speak often of giving each of you a “paint brush” to dabble your colors, your designs upon the fabric of what will become the faire.  I mean that.  I hope you will take me serious.  I want this faire to be a collage of many dreams, ideas and concepts.

I have ordered to be made reproductions of medieval wagons, wheelbarrows and carts…and the first pictures of these items in production are fabulous.

We will have rope swings dangling from the trees of the forest.

The gentlemen I have to develop the children’s area will very much impress you.  He expects to have ongoing children’s improv theatre being performed by the children who attend, as well as sack races, and the like.

A very experienced gentleman has stepped forward to develop the games section of the faire.  Again, the games to be present will far surpass your expectations for a first year faire.

I have heard from three food vendors and they seem good.  We may have up to six different food types before the faire opens.

My intent is to have the vendors split about 75% artisans and artists and 25% merchants/imports, heavy emphasis on artists selling their handmade wares.

Feel free to send ideas and questions to me anytime.  Still seeking artists for the faire. 

Email for vendors to be sent to: admin@sherwoodforestfaire.com

Email for entertainment to be sent to: entertainment@sherwoodforestfaire.com

We will host several more outings in the months to come.  We hope many more of you can visit the grounds and start to feel the spirit of Sherwood Forest Faire.

Blessings,

Rengypsy

Ps. My wife asked me to post something of my business experience for those who question the validity of the faire in light of many past failed attempts at start-up faires.  We bought the land.  We run two storefront retail businesses and have for 17 years.  I am an administrator for a 20m/annual entity, and I have a basic grasp of business and know profits come in the long haul–and not based upon the illusion of field of dreams “build it and they will come.”

The Renaissance Experience

July 26th, 2008

Greetings All,

I have seldom been as excited about any project as the creation of Sherwood Forest Faire (other than my life with my wife…and many years later, the starting of our family with two beautiful boys). I wanted to share a bit with you of my own dream, of my vision, and of the motivation behind tackling such an undertaking as starting another renaissance festival from scratch.

From my adolescence, I was a patron of Texas Renaissance Festival in the mid-seventies. I even joined SCA in my early twenties just as a means to get in every weekend. I wasn’t SCA material. But, I paid my dues at King of Log for two hours a day so I could spend the rest of the Faire hours roaming the grounds, watching the shows, and having my fortune read.

We now own three booths at two renaissance festivals. We own two gift and jewelry stores in Texas. In my other Mon-Fri life, I am in senior management of a good size not-for-profit where I have served the needy in Texas for 19 years. A few of my other passions are history, world travel, folk, renaissance, and bluegrass music. I also believe that all of us should grapple with the bigger philosophical questions before us since the inception of higher thought: who we are as a species, as individuals, as a social organism? What is our greater purpose? Is there a soul? If so, does it transmigrate this temporal life? I lean toward more platonic view . . . seeming to hold some value in the concept of Dualism. But I don’t really know.

I think we miss community–a sense of belonging. I think it’s why the television show, Cheers, was so popular…we all want a place where everybody knows our name. Be that our family name or the renaissance name we might have given ourselves. I think a desire for community is one of the greatest draws to renaissance festivals for the playtrons.

Another reason the renaissance experience is so attractive to others is it seems to be a place not only of fun and sense-stimulation, it is also a place people feel relaxed enough to “let down their hair” and be themselves. Few pretenses.

One Sunday evening after TRF had closed its gates to end another season, I found my way to a participants’ drum circle. It started around 10pm . . . and by 2am, the fire had died out, the drums had gone silent, and the dancers had sat cuddled up to their respective loved ones. It was cold–bitter cold. And one of the drummers sang a Bob Marley song about belonging, about being one people. And for the first time, I understood the primal magic of the drums. It was spiritual–some link to my ancestors thousands of years prior huddled around a campfire at night.

There was another evening musicians were playing at one of the participant campgrounds behind TRF. The music was great. The conversations were meaningful. And then a lady in her gypsy belly-dancing outfit stood and started to dance to the rhythm. Soon after, she bent down and offered her small daughter a hand and brought her into the dance. This tradition from eons ago went on for over an hour . . . as the mom shared the dance experience with a future dancer.

One of the reasons I believe so much in the renaissance experience are for the episodes mentioned above. These all recount something of our desire for Tribe. And out in the midst of a Renaissance Festival, there are many tribes which converge to dance, sing, chant, swing swords, twirl fire, re-enact an early era in man’s past, create if only for a season an order which makes to them a bit more sense than the alienated world many live in today.

I want to facilitate others to build their communities within the confines of Sherwood Forest Faire. I want others to be open to the magic of a drumming circle. I want to spend these last years of my life being about making people laugh and play and feel better for having spent the day or weekend walking through a medieval village.

I want to take the best from other renaissance festivals around the states, as well as ideas and visions of the many vendors, patrons, playtrons, and actors, and mold these best practices into one Faire which will stand above the rest as a spectacular creation–not of one individual, but rather, a collage of many . . . each with his/her own “paint brush” effecting, touching, designing how it will be.

I want to support Rescue–the not-for-profit 501(c) 3 which was created by those on the renaissance festival circuit to assist the uninsured workers how entertain, work the games and rides, attend to many of the booths, etc.

I want the campsite on Saturday nights to be as alive as the Faire is during the days–a pub, a drumming circle, and a stage.

I am committed to making this a truly remarkable Faire experience. I hope many of you will visit the Faire as it evolves. I hope many of you will take up your own “brushes” and offer to “paint” your designs upon this developing canvas. I hope you will offer us your best thoughts and meditations, as well as your advice, ideas, and cautions.

This will be a collaborative endeavor.

The grounds are beautiful. I sought the right place for more than two years. My family walked and road through more woods and pastures than you can imagine. And what we are offering as our best setting is a forest of oaks and pines on sandy soil 35 miles east of Austin, Texas on U.S. Highway 290.

We hope some of you will decide to join the Sherwood Forest Faire Acting Company. Others of you might choose to sell your wares as an artist or merchant. Or sing, face paint, tell fortunes, braid hair, apply henna tattoos, or work during the Faire as seasonal sales persons.

We hope thousands upon thousands of you will decide to buy a ticket for you and your family and walk the grounds, enjoy the entertainment, dance a bit with us, and come back to be a part of the Sherwood Forest Faire year after year.

Let this Faire be a part of your dream!

Peace,

Rengypsy