We have found that the best way to get really involved in a faire is to be REALLY LOUD. After all, who can ignore that annoying rose vendor guy who yells out "passion on a stick!", or the buxom wench who guilts guys into buying roses for their lady.

Forget your shyness! Make your persona be outgoing! You'd be amazed at how shy John-Paul really is...

So you have the spiffy new clothes, the perfect faire name and you know not only how to sing the songs, but you can speak in accent without stumbling over your tongue! Now what?

Now what, indeed! You have to find a faire in your area! Luckily, there are some VERY good places to find that information on the web. See our Faire Indexes section to get to them. The entire Faire Info section would be of some assistance to you as well!

So, there are a few faires in your area, and of course there are tons of faires within driving distance! We hope you have a good, reliable car...because once the bug bites, you're going to be spending a lot of time in your vehicle to get to a faire to feed the addiction! Some people are more than happy to remain in that "playtron" category (patrons who play along!), where you pay to get into faire so you can wander around in garb without any scheduling hassles so you can enjoy all of the shows Believe me, there are moments when we performers are very jealous of you!

But if you want more...if you NEED to get as involved in your fairegoing experience as you can, then you're in luck! We have a few tips for you.

• Figure out what it is that you like to do. If you're a musician, swordsman (or woman!), merchant or anything else you can think of...narrow down what your passion is!
• Contact the faires you attend. Many faires have websites which list times and dates of auditions and/or volunteer rehearsals. They already have some parts that need to be filled, so check it out! E-mail or call the contact for the faire to let them know how eager you are to help out.
• Join a guild or other group! The International Wenches Guild and International Brotherhood of Rogues, Scoundrels and Cads are good places to start. It will give you a place to begin and get to meet some other rennies. Also, consider reading the newsgroup alt.fairs.renaissance to get the feel of it all.
• Go to faire and talk to people! I know that when we are approached at faire by people who want to get more involved, we go out of our way to help you out! Most rennies are like that. We like to bring more people into our little world, so talk to those with similar interests as you and find out how they got started.

In other words...JUMP RIGHT IN!