Oregon Renaissance Faire — Local services in Canby

Let me start off by saying I’ve been coming to the Oregon faire since it first started years ago. I’m always eager to come to this one because it’s usually not over crowded and the booths are under trees so there’s plenty of shade.

This year though… 😬 they over sold tickets. And when I say “they over sold tickets” I mean, THEY OVER SOLD TICKETS. The first day of the weekend we arrived at 9:30 am (30 minutes until the gates open and usually a great time to arrive in general) parking lot wasn’t full yet but it was filling fast because within 15 minutes of parking the main lot was almost completely full and the line to get in was all the way out the gates and down the road perhaps a quarter mile. We didn’t get into the fair for another hour after that. Then by the time we got into the fair it was so cramped we could barely walk without someone bumping into us. There was one water station that I could find, no misting stations while it was 90 degrees plus out. It seemed that the event staff was ill prepared in general. We left early because it was so hot and over crowded I just didn’t want to stay the whole day like we usually do. 1:30pm, we get back to our truck and who ever was directing traffic during parking did the worst job, I was completely blocked in and couldn’t leave without going the wrong way on the one way stretch.

The second day went a little better. We arrived at 9am to beat the crowd. Got in without a hitch. I still felt bad for the long line forming behind us, once again out the gate and down the street. It was even hotter today and the event staff were still ill prepared, still no misters, still one water station that I could find amongst the crowd. We once again left early because of the heat and the crowd. this time the parking situation had improved… at least I’m my aisle. sorry everyone else.

This is the same people who run the Washington midsummer faire. And I thought they learned from their insanely huge mistake a few years back in Washington. They in fact did not…. And I’m debating on not coming back next year. It’s sad because I always looked forward to going to the...

I don't know if the parking and traffic situation to get into this place is the fault of the people running the faire or whoever owns the event spot in Canby but it was horrible! We waited an hour and a half in our car just to find a parking spot. When we drove past the first lot, we asked an attendant about parking and she told us there were two more lots across the street but she didn't know their status. How do they not have radios to communicate? It was so completely disorganized. Then we spent another half an hour waiting in line to get into the gate. They needed much better organization all around.

The faire itself was not worth the wait. The booths are in a nice setting, amongst trees, but there are tons of booths all selling the same sorts of things. There are more corsets and sparkly elf ears than you can shake a stick at. I've been to other ren faires where the booths are more like an artist's festival. Sure, they have renaissance themed stuff, but they have other things as well. This was much the same thing over and over. The food was fine. A lot of people were complaining about the prices, but I didn't think they were outrageous for festival pricing. People should expect to pay more for food at events. And the pizza I had was good. The alcohol tent, however, was so ridiculously crowded that we didn't even bother going in to check it out. They definitely need another tent, break up some of that crowd.

There was great people watching, some pretty fantastic costumes and there seemed to be some decent entertainment. We didn't watch any of it because the stages and arenas were in the sun and it was quite hot the day we were there. Overall, just not worth the wait or effort to get...

Upon arriving, there were traffic jams from all directions. No signs directing parking, no one there to guide cars. Red flag # 1. We immediately noticed the huge line of people going down the sidewalk. As our car moved down the road slowly, we realized the line was over a mile long. We started talking to people in the line, many saying they had been waiting over an hour, 2 hours, etc. and they weren’t sure if this line was even for buying tickets or pre paid tickets. We ended up leaving because it seemed impossible to get in. After talking to a few people who actually made it inside, I learned that the venue started rushing people out and making them leave.

My advice to the coordinators: LIMIT YOUR CAPACITY All tickets sold ahead of time, or if you sell tickets at the door, limit the number. Communicate with your guests! Let them know they won’t be let in, so they don’t waste their entire day waiting in line only to be turned away. Have organized designated parking. Get a bigger venue next time, or do more than two weekends total. Give all these poor people who bought tickets ahead of time to be turned away a refund!

With all that being said, I understand they were understaffed and the people working the faire were probably very stressed out dealing with this; I don’t think everyone is to blame. But I hope that constructive criticism can help the coordinators improve for next year. Perhaps next year they will have learned from their mistakes and I’ll be making a 5...