Happenings for Rennies:

• Throughout the month, English Country and International Folk Dancing Lessons are offered by the Fairfield Folk Art and Dance Co-op in Fairfield, IA. See their site for specific information.
• October 6 - November 18 - Carolina Ren Fest in Davidson, NC.
• October 6 - November 18 - Texas Ren Fest in Plantersville, TX.
• October 27 & 28 - Alabama Ren Faire in Florence, AL.
• October 27 & 28 - London Bridge Ren Faire in Lake Havasu, AZ.
• October 27 & 28 - Perry County Ren Faire in Tell City, IN.
• October 27 & 28 - Saint Paul Newman Center Ren Fest in Fresno, CA.
• November 5 -Ed Conlow's Tradition Irish Jam at Java Joe's in DSM.
• November 11 - Irish Jam (musicians welcome) at Java Joe's in DSM.
• November 19 -Ed Conlow's Tradition Irish Jam at Java Joe's in DSM.

Feature: Puzzles from KCRF 2001

• KCRF Front Gate — An oldie but a goodie!
• Mother Pockets — Doing what she does best...smiling beautifully and cooking fantastic soup!
• Brobdingnagian Bards — Proof that we have, indeed, met our wonderfully unpronounceable sponsors.
• Minstrosity — Hamming for the camera!
• Rosalynd — Our absolute favourite mead wench, live and in person. We recommend the warm stuff.

Every two weeks we are going to turn five of our very own photos into a Java-based puzzle for you to solve! If you have a suggestion as to a photo that would make a good puzzle, let us know! To see past puzzles, go here.

Poll: What Do You Do For a Living?

After finding out that we've known some performers for years and only recently found what they do when they're not at faire, we've decided to take a bit of a poll.

E-mail us and let me know what your "mundane" job is. Colour us curious!

Review: Kansas City Renaissance Festival

The Kansas City Renaissance Festival is a special faire for John-Paul and myself because it was our first date. It was a magical weekend in '99 that we try to relive (and somehow don't quite manage to) every year since. However, new magic always seems to happen. We always leave with new friends that we will never forget. [more...]

Review: Geneseo Shakespearean Festival

The Geneseo Shakespearean Festival is a small one day event just across the border in Geneseo, Illinois. The renaissance festival is held in conjunction with a performance of one of Shakespeare's plays each year. It is a very impressive thing that such a cultural event happens in a town with such a relatively small population. [more...]

Review: Wybreg Beer Garden

Brock Wommack (Foundation president) had an idea. One of the reasons the festival was scheduled during chilly October was because of the annual Van Buren County Forest Craft Festival. This event draws as many as 16,000 visitors into the area and it seemed like a great way to increase festival attendance without additional advertising expenses. The small town of Bonaparte, Iowa (home of Renaissance Foundation) would see enough traffic to keep their many shops (and temporary weekend merchants) busy all weekend. What if the Foundation threw a free renaissance themed event in the Bonaparte City Park? [more...]

News: The Bill Formerly Known as Rufas

It's official. We got word from the man himself. Rufas the Rude has retired...What are we going to do without the belching and plastic fish?

Oh that's right...we won't feel the urge to gag quite so much... [more...]

Review: Brobdingnagian Bards - Faire to Remember

Sure, you've seen the ads at the tops of quite a few of our pages, touting the latest CD for the Brobdingnagian Bards...but do you really know who they are? Well, we can now say that we do. So there...They are extremely nice guys, even before they knew who we were! [more...]

Get Registered with Us

Want to meet other rennies? Want other rennies to be able to meet you? Go to our Faire Folke: Rennies section and get registered today! That way, rennies in your area can find you and send you an e-mail.

Also, if you are a renaissance faire Performer or Merchant, we'd like to list your contact information, as well! Quite a few faires use our database to find quality people for their events!

Plug: AtTheFaire's Pub

Did you know that we have message boards on our site? Well, we do! Each festival in the Midwest has a topic (the Jubilee and Wybreg festivals have had quite a bit of activity lately) and there are more topics to chat under. Just register to get your own handle and start posting! Let us know what you think about ATF or just introduce yourself to the rennies at large! Go to the pub...