Tim’s Festival Hiring Credo

The following post is the work of my friends Tim Rosa and Donna D’Ignazio, both long time working participants of the Renaissance Festival industry. We were discussing tips and tricks to hiring good help at festivals, and they shared with me their favorite hiring tool. I’ve included their Preamble … which kind of makes this… Continue reading Tim’s Festival Hiring Credo

Mimicry and Innovation in the Festival Industry

In a clearly defined business category, it is easy to watch your competitors and see which of their ideas work, and which fail. You can watch the most successful team, and mimic their attempts within your own budgets of time and money. However, those of us that straddle more than one category have to keep… Continue reading Mimicry and Innovation in the Festival Industry

Renaissance Faire Justin Bieber Parody by Julian Bemi

Our friend Julia has done it again. This is his second parody video, utilizing the many skills of the Scarborough Faire Rennie community. Julian! We want to see more of these! How can we help? Let us know what songs you think deserve his Renaissance Rework Magic in the comments.

How to talk to Artists at Art Festivals

This week we just cannot seem to talk about anything other than This Post over at The Year of Living Fabulously … How to Talk to Artists at Art Festivals- The Do’s and Don’ts (Warning: You’ve probably been guilty of at least one of the don’ts…) Those who commented there are obviously a blend of pros… Continue reading How to talk to Artists at Art Festivals

Worth a Thousand Words

We had some difficulty finding imagery that would communicate the unique mix of festival and business that is the purpose and personality of this site. Just as the experts in the field found no sites asking for articles on their expertise, there were no stock images available that blended the world of performers, vendors, travel,… Continue reading Worth a Thousand Words

Profitability Through Play

  The other night I was channel surfing and paused briefly on ‘Rawhide’, an old black & white weekly western series.  Wishbone was servin’ up the grub.  Rowdy, Scarlet, Mister Favor, the whole gang was sitting around the campfire, eating beans off of metal plates and soaking up the sunset.  I was there with them,… Continue reading Profitability Through Play

Recognizing Your Customers and Avoiding the Fail

Some of the worst Customer Service failures occur when a worker isn’t able to recognize who their customer is. In a well-run commercial kitchen, each station has a different customer. Yes, the Guest is everyone’s customer, but in order for that Guest to have an optimum experience, the entire team has to function at its… Continue reading Recognizing Your Customers and Avoiding the Fail

Building Improv Chops as a Street Character

Renaissance Faires differ from other festivals and events in that they promise to transport visitors to a completely different time and place. That’s a mighty big promise. And every participant—volunteer or paid, mead wench or jouster, carpenter or manager, ticket seller or royal piper—is responsible for helping to keep it. Yet one group in particular,… Continue reading Building Improv Chops as a Street Character

How to Grow a Festival, Part Two

In part one of this conversation, I mentioned that because a festival is an experience, it is the responsibility of the participants at a festival to help create real growth. But what about those shows where the participants are doing everything they can, but the Festival Management drops the ball? It happens. Someone doesn’t order… Continue reading How to Grow a Festival, Part Two

How to Grow a Festival (part one)

What is it that makes festivals work? We like to throw the responsibility onto the Promotions and Marketing Departments, but a festival is an experience. Real growth in a festival is the responsibility of everyone involved. A couple of business truisms should be considered here: 1. It is easier to sell to existing customers. However… Continue reading How to Grow a Festival (part one)