Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire — Attraction in Rapho Township

Words hold power

This is to lodge an offical complaint against your Arthur Greenleaf Holmes' act at the Ball and Chain. We love standup and some of our friends even recalled this comedian fondly from the past, but this year's show hit a different note.

Of all places to have to defend against an abuse of power, the Renaissance Faire is not where we expected to encounter someone who would publically degrade, shame, and harass women, the queer community, and differently-abled and sized persons with complete disregard of the harm it may cause.

To incite a drunken crowd into belittling and disgracing women is not humor. Body shaming, misogynistic banter, and demeaning slurs are not funny. Literally heckling those who chose to standup and leave peacefully (creating a threat of assured hostility to follow any others that might exit) is not comedy. It is bullying and it is intolerable.

Mid-act, he sensed and addressed the crowd's discomfort. Yet rather than take the opportunity to acknowledge he genuinely meant no harm or perhaps went too far, he doubled-down and evoked "supply and demand". Well, I can assure you, it is a fading and troublesome demographic that would have entered the venue eager to hear what Mr. Holmes chose to say.

People come to the Renaissance Faire to let their guards down and have fun. We get to embrace the collective creativity and play within the construct of this dreamed up version of an old world where anybody can be anything. It is if anything a unifying time. However, to travel back in time for aesthetics and whimsy, we do not need to be so historically accurate that we embrace bigotry and dial back hard earned progress. No one should enter or leave this experience feeling less safe in the world or less welcome to return for simply just being. Here (we thought at least) was a place to embrace openness and adore weird, not try try to irradicate it.

My group was among many who walked out of this show while being heckled by Mr. Holmes.

Our leaving was not because his limericks were crude, but because they pushed past inappropriate humor and landed dangerously into hate speech. Mr. Holmes, although perhaps belieiving it was in simple jest, was in fact fostering an environment where patrons were not just uncomfortable, but felt unsafe.

Hopefully, this is not your first hearing of this, as it will very likely not be the last if this show repeats. Several of your staff were also informed in person, knowing who I spoke of before I mentioned by name. I was told they received many complaints and so they directed me here to comment online. I understand this is a character, but if you hope to continue to show solidarity for your most marginalized patrons, it would be wise to discontinue this act. The warning of "adult rating" does not protect you from his offensive content representing your event and your company. It quite literally sets a stage that this kind of mentality is acceptable...

I have been going to the PA Renaissance faire since the 1980s. Ive watched them change and grow over the decades. It used to be more family oriented. It is more of a fantasy harbinger for adults into roll playing, drag, crossdressing in a more apropriate or tasteful way along with being more commercialized into the fantasy realm. It caters more towards certain pursuasions. All in all the renaissance faire is worth a day trip, just go with an open mind. They have changed alot over the past 10 years. Everything is very pricey which is to be expected with todays economy and price gouging too. Their is alot less for kids then their use to be throughout the park... the jousting is just ok and has taken a nose dive since the early 2000s. The mudd wrestling shakespeare, king Richard was hilarious and has been a staple for me for years. The celtic music was great as usual and alot of the shows and chess matches were funny. I thoroughly enjoyed the blacksmith demonstration and the glass blowing too. My negatives are the whole theme for Queen elizabeth was completely and utterly stupid. It was fictional to the point where it was so unbelievable I had to explain to my 12yr old daughter a history lesson on fantasy, fiction and history. The older faires didnt make Elizabeth into a warrior queen ( which she was NOT) she was tough, smart and strong willed but Not a sword swinging ballerina. Dont get me wrong I like fantasy and history, however the older renaissance faires depicted Historical figures, such has her in areal limelight in the correct fashion with historically apropriate respect to the past and the themes were built around some hard facts... I stillnhabe some of the brovhures and pictures at 12 different faires. apparently, the historic allure and zeal of the renaissance has gone the way of the dodo. Moving on!!! We watched all 3 jousts and the bow competition too. I must say that 2 of the knights were very good and a spot on match of the past but alot has changed over the years. I preferred the first 2 jousts and the archery show over the ultimate fiction is fun joust in the end... the surround sound and effects were a little off the rails with the theme which made it ridiculous. All in all, it is worth the visit if your into fantasy and roll playing as an adult Just put reality and historical facts aside and let your...

Let me start with I have always loved the PA Ren Faire, they have a great set of stories and a fun atmosphere, and I'd like to believe this was a 'one time' incident (my family attended on 9/17/2022), but after speaking to others who have attended this season, I don't believe it was a 'one time' deal.

Now the bad news, this weekend was the worst experience I've had at any Ren Faire I've been to (including small independent ones). The shows were fine, when I could see them. The faire was sold out (and I've been there when it was sold out before), but seems to be roughly 2x the number of cars/people as the last time it was sold out, and it simply doesn't have the infrastructure to deal with it. Every show we attempted to see had insufficient seating (including ones typically under attended), there is no sound system for the performers, which used to be fine, but unless you are in the seated areas, standing to the side is impossible to hear many. The food/drink carts had lines in excess of 20-30 minutes, and no place to get refills of water without standing in the long lines.

I'm not going to comment on the quality of the food, it was typical faire foods, though not as tasty as in years past, it was reasonable. I'm also not going to comment on the adult themes of some of the shows, the guides clearly show what is considered 'PG-13' or 'R' so I'm not concerned about the 'family friendly' atmosphere, it seemed well structured and it was indicated what was and was not for kids. The prices are higher, but that is true everywhere, though the cash only environment and long lines for the ATMs was unpleasant.

The performances were good, as they typically are, as well. The location simply could not handle as many people as they considered 'sold out' with no excess locations to purchase or refill water, it wasn't well considered or thought out. If the faire had half the people (which would have felt like it did before COVID when 'sold out'), the park was larger, the concessions moved to 'tap' style credit cards, there were better places to get water (long food lines I'll accept, not being able to get water is dangerous), or the performers had adequate ways of projecting their shows to the overflow areas, this rating would be much higher. If they did all of these, this would return to the 5-star rating I gave the...