Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire — Local services in Monroe

Went on Saturday of 4th weekend in 2024. Have attended this 6 of the last 8 years (when used to be in Bonney Lake). Festival was sold out on the day of our visit- Throngs of people. I like this (newish) venue area and spacing between theatres and vendors. Overall, I felt like the festival is now a bit overpriced, but the experience remains truly unique for the PNW. The GOOD: +Good traffic control and parking system. Can the festival or farm afford to pave the lanes going up and down the hill by next year? Keep up the good work here. +Clean port-a-potties. +Large covered areas where folks could sit to enjoy their meal. +Good food OPTIONS. +Jack Ze Whipper!!! (Pardon my french spelling....), Sirens, and some of the new acts are great! The BAD: -The "old guard" entertainment needs to spice up their routines- that means Manis and Broon et. al. just don't "yak" it up any more like they used to..... The old-guard acts are solid, but there's diminished laughing returns on the warried annual "erected" repeatitiveness. Perhaps they could find a new gen-z performing art major to help improve their material to cross-polinate for more gen-z chuckles? Water stations need to be improved for efficiency and how about some shade for standing in line for water (which is part of a bigger-picture problem). Do I really have to bake in the sun while waiting in line to fill my water bottle? Why was the root beer/sasparilla/birch beer place located so far away from the food vendors? The UGLY: Stage set-up at Auld Lyon theatre. The performers there were hampered by the stage set-up and the bleacher seats were set-up very poorly to partially or mostly block the views of the stage for some audience members in the back bleachers. This festival needs an understood "main stage" for the big-name acts. The "standard shade set-up" over the bleachers at this theatre hurt the audience experience in many ways (visual, sound, and exposure to the sun). Get a "bigger" seating theatre please and taller shade structures too. -Fake weapon holdings. I heard many laughs about how little zip-ties on the plastic belt costume piece were a joke of preventing a rubber ornamental sword from being drawn (actual statements removed due to vulgarity overheard)- or comments that the zip tie was supposed to stop a tiny weapon compared to the wood swords sold inside the festival. Please just tell guests to bring only cardboard or wood weapon ornaments (disallow plastic or metal swords/weapons) next year to spare us paying guests from insult.

The big picture here is that the festival needs to better continually adapt to its growth in popularity. The festival is on the right track. I will plan to return with my family again next year. However, if the entry price goes up much more, I just might skip the pickles and meat pies to watch some online postings of Broon's carbon-copied jokes instead...... ...

As someone who grew up going to the Texas Renaissance Festival, I've grown disappointed with how TRF's quality has declined. This was a breath of fresh air, I was delighted the whole time. All the details are very thoughtful. It's clear they don't have the millions of dollars TRF has, but they make great use of what they have.

From the intricate mailbox where you could put letters to the fairies (and the accompanying area to write them), to the various photo ops, dedicated D&D area, swings, axe throwing, hair braiding, face painting, basket weaving, the variety of performers (mermaids, fairies, knights, peasants, and more), it was an awe inspiring experience. Even the 21+ stamp was a D20. They had fancy, comfortable looking areas set up for the actors to "hold court", providing the performers a space to unwind while still engaging the public. What a smart way to keep your actors happy while allowing customers to engage in story moments. Shout-out to the beautiful fairies who gave us the inside scoop on the knights (and their ACOTAR equivalents) and the knight in full, custom armor for being so friendly and helpful.

The food options were just plenty enough to provide everyone some options. There was a burger place (with a vegan burger), an all vegan Thai place, a chicken shop, an ice cream shop, a shaved ice place, and more. All the vendors were top notch. My friend, who had never been to a Renaissance festival, said she'd never bought so many things at a festival. If we'd gotten there earlier (or they'd been open later) we would have bought more. I walked away with a custom tea holder, an Elven knife, an intricate pair of scissors, soap with a mermaid on it, ouija earrings, and an insanely cool pipe unlike anything I've seen before.

The actors and musical acts were top notch. We especially enjoyed the incredible musical act Sämsä, the jousting, and the jousting supporters (the French flag runner was putting in WORK). I was really impressed with the stage combat, not only because the actors were doing a fantastic job selling the story, but because it was brutally hot and they were doing it in full armor.

Cherry on top? It's only 45 minutes outside of Seattle and parking is free (unlike TRF who charges $20+ to park now, half the price of admission!)

Next year we plan to return and camp so we can enjoy everything the WRF has to offer. It brought a lot of joy from my childhood back, and was better than I...

Man, has this gone downhill. I have always loved the Ren Faire, and have gone to this particular one for many years. Last year it felt like it had significantly improved... this year, it feels like it's significantly worse.

Prices increased, so it was over $40 per person for the day at the faire and over $30 per person for the after party. Used to be ~$20 per person. Dramatically less entertainment, little to no wandering guild interaction, and ultimately it kind of felt like wandering around a super repetitive and overpriced craft fair where every third stall made the same things.

So much of the novelty of the faire is gone as favorite guilds and performers are nowhere to be found and the filler entertainment (torture dungeon museum, escape room, etc.) are subpar (and expensive) at best.

The prices are truly off the charts. Two-three years ago to hold a falcon was $10. Last year it was $20. This year there's an option to hold an owl... for $50 per person. Sad Amazon repeat products being sold for nearly twice if not more than that of the purchase cost... $4 for a can of soda, $20+ for a slice of pizza and a cookie.

I used to go open to close and still not be able to see it all without spending any money beyond the price of admission... this year, we were struggling to find things to do after about 2.5 hours and out about $75 each just for little snacks or trinkets.

Then the after party... oh god, what a mess. They didn't get started until close to 8PM when the listed time was 7, and thus began three straight hours of a "drag" show (two femme presenting folks in femme garb lip syncing badly to one song each), then the same aerialist doing the same tricks maybe ten feet off the ground over. and over. and over. and over. and over again. Unclear directions to the audience about where to go or be, zero security at the gate (no one was there so we just walked right in and wound up in the cast and crew area before being directed once when we finally found someone to ask for help) and finally, the only worthwhile part of the evening: the fire show. Once that was over, we just went home rather than watch the same three people perform poorly... again!

Overall just so...