Canterbury Renaissance Faire — Local services in Silverton

So, the event itself was great. My partner attended and had a lot of fun. But the person running their customer support email is a rude jerk who seems to get their jollies from trying to make people feel stupid.

I purchased a ticket for for my partner who works in one of the Oregon state parks during the summer and doesn't have internet access. We were talking on the phone at like 11PM the Saturday night before, and she said she wanted to go on that Sunday morning but, having not attended this faire before, we discussed some concern about crowds and ticket sell-outs (we had some awful ren faire experiences in Washington State where they oversold the events and it took hours to even get out of the parking lot). I told her I'd just buy her a ticket online to eliminate that concern.

However, when I recieved my confirmation email, I realized that I had mistakenly purchased a ticket for Saturday, for the event that had already concluded like 4 or 5 hours prior. No biggie. I just re-purchased for the Sunday and then sent an email to support letting them know about my error and asking for a refund. I was very deferential and self-deprecating in my email, literally saying "I'm dumb, and I chose the wrong day".

Well, whoever runs their support email decided they'd just try to make me feel like an idiot. Their response was "Well, you checked the boxes indicating no refunds," followed by explaining a bunch of informal ways I should have handled the mistake instead (Selling the ticket to somebody else? Assuming I could transfer the dates despite no policy stating that's the case?) and scolding me for making an error before haughtily saying they would process the refund.

Frankly, keep your $25, you jerks. Sorry that I inconvenienced you so dramatically that you felt the need to scold me, but either refund it or don't. I can do without the lecture. Whoever is running their account needs to check their ego and realize that not every attendee is some local who has been to the event year-after-year. Or perhaps it would just be best to outsource their customer-support to a grown-up if the current person handling that email account can't handle being a polite, professional, mature adult.

And, for what it's worth, don't blame me for your lazy website design that let's people purchase tickets for an event that has already concluded.

My partner said the event itself was a lot of fun as a local ren faire. The vendors and performers were great. They just need a stable adult running...

TLDR: The Ren Faire has decent entertainment, lackluster food options, and an exceptional amount of stores selling a huge variety of mostly fantasy themed (and often overpriced) wares. A great place to window shop with friends and an overall fun and positive environment.

The Ren Faire is truly what you make of it. If you are looking for hard core larping or a feeling of real immersion into a medieval setting, this isn't the event for you. This is a casual experience where the main draw is the multitude of shops and vendors selling a huge variety of fantasy and medieval themed wares. Whether you're looking for Dungeons and Dragons equipment, ornamental animal skulls, real and replica swords, a massive assortment of jewelry, candles, headwear or wands, the Ren faire is likely to have something you're looking for.

While you're likely to find something you fancy, whether you have the dough to buy it is another question. Vendors have to pay to set up their booths at the faire, and as such they raise the prices from what they otherwise would be if they have stores or websites outside of the event. As much as I'd recommend supporting the faire if you enjoy it, in the current economy it may be better to treat the faire as a great place to window shop and ask for some brick and mortar or web addresses to do your shopping at afterward.

Lastly there's the free shows and interactive tents. From juggling to jousting, singing to swordplay there are several stages and a large central show area where events are hosted periodically throughout the day. These don't cost extra to view, though you may be asked for tips, and are a great way to break up the shopping and gazing at shiny things.

Overall the Ren Faire is what you decide it is. Is it a whole lot of walking in the sun through overcrowded walkways full of sweaty leather-clad people? Or is it a sprawling, positive environment with entertainment, fun costumes, and shops galore where something is sure to catch your eye. I recommend that you find that out...

Writing this 1 star review to hopefully draw attention to a nightmare situation. We really wanted to experience the Faire this year... and so did everyone else in a 200-mile-radius. The organizers were NOT PREPARED AT ALL for the volume of people who wished to attend - we arrived at 11am, only one hour after faire opening, and the parking lot was already full. The only option we were given by the parking lot attendant was a shouted command to "go to the high school". Which we did, along with about 100 other cars. The high school is 3 miles away from the fairgrounds - not an option to park then walk. The shuttle was scheduled to do a pick up every hour, and there was a MASSIVE HOARD of people at the high school already with still 45 minutes to go until the next shuttle arrived... with no direction, signage, schedule updates, anything. Absolutely no way even 1/5th of the crowd would have fit on the shuttle bus. Even if we HAD made it onto the shuttle bus, we would have had to wait an hour+ once it was time to LEAVE the faire. This was all a logistical nightmare that not even a Warlock's enchantment could have solved. This situation caused so much stress for our party (two families traveling in two cars) that we will most likely never try to attend this "small town ren faire" again. Happy to buy our $12 turkey legs at an event with better organization and logistical response. *Edited to add: It sounds from other reviews like even if you DO get into the faire, there's a dangerous lack of resources to keep attendees safe and hydrated (no shade, lack of water access, lack of seating). We had small children with us, so in the end I'm glad we didn't go (we decided to drive up to Mt. Angel for some sausages and sightseeing). But if you like crowds, dust, direct sun, and extreme levels of stress, this is the...