I've been going to NYRF since I was 8 years old. It's what made me fall in love with ren faires,…read morewith the attractions, the stalls, the shops, the food, the music, everything. In the 30 years that I've been going, the faire has taken a drastic downturn. Ticket prices have nearly tripled, up to 60$ for a single day ticket just to get in, and the price gouging doesn't stop there. 45 minutes waiting in an extremely unorganized line to get a single beer or cider, now priced as high as 15 dollars for a tiny plastic cup of it, and of course you can only get up to 2 at a time. Of course, you probably won't want to waste your time on beer or cider or anything, because you'll be spending your cash on 8 dollar water bottles just to keep hydrated after walking the paths for hours. Bring a protein bar or a small snack or something, because I assured you if you go to wait in a food line when you get hungry you will be waiting for over an hour for an overpriced turkey leg or plate of fries and ribs. Not to mention the bees and wasps that will hover over you the entire time you try to eat or drink. Bring hundreds of dollars, especially if you bring your family, I assure you you will need it. And of course none of this mentions the parking. My commute takes about an hour to get there, however it takes 2 and a half hours to even get close enough to the faire to park. You will be sitting completely still in your car for literal hours before you get a space so you can still walk an extra 10-15 minutes uphill just to get to the sidewalk across from the front gate, WHERE YOU WILL WAIT ANOTHER 10 MINUTES IN A LINE SO YOU CAN CROSS THE SINGULAR CROSSWALK TO GET TO THE FRONT GATE. At a certain point I said fuck it, jumped the barrier, and walked over to the other side while the street cops yelled at me. And what do I find when I walk in? The exact same buildings, setups, and paths that've been there for the last 30 years. No expansions, no new buildings, no new attractions or areas, exactly the same stuff theyve had there for 20 years with barely any innovation, making me question what my money is going towards. Its not going into the shops, which are run independently, as vendors pay yearly to keep their space in the marketplace. Its not to the performers or street vendors, who are either volunteer or who opwrate independently of the faire. So what have they got to show for 30 years? A 1.9 million dollar lawsuit for adding hidden fees to their online ticket purchases at checkout, which is illegal in New York State.
So why, with all these negatives, do I give a 2 star review, you may ask?
Because, at the end of the dayz there are folks at NYRF who are trying. The rose sellers who just want to make couples and folks around them happy. The performers, musicians, and artists who do what they do for the love of their crafts and the smiles it brings people. In a setting designed to remind folks of being a parent trying to afford a disney vacation for their kids and being poked and prodded for all the money and patience they can muster, the volunteers, actors, sellers, performers and those guys at the bottom genuinely just want you to have a good time, and it is a damned shame that everything around them is focused on keeping you as miserable as possible.
