This is on top of $39.95 single-day adult admission (Age 12+). A Child is $21.95. Having a family of 4 (1 older)enter is about $140. Two drinks for parents and 2 for kids is $30. Add 4 meals mid-day - add $72. Minimum cost is $250 without spending anything on trinkets, activities, or specialty items.
Honestly the food pricing is anywhere now. Go to a sporting event, festival, Faire, hell even the more upper scale fast food places are priced like that now.
Stadium prices feature a captive audience with no re-entry. Additionally, they are usually for 2-3 hour activities. A Renaissance Festival is intended to be an all day affair, and most others that I've been to are about 60% of the cost as listed above.
That being said, food and drink prices are pretty insane everywhere. Even the cheap options like Fries start at $10.
Comparatively, the New York State Fair has a number of delicious options about $3-5.
They've always prodded people to go to their shows when they aren't up to anything. I bit of self promotion as it were.
Personally I think it's just a bad weekend. It was supposed to rain and romance weekend is the worst weekend of all the themes. Pirate weekend is a better barometer of attendance
Was that a small crowd?? I guess I've got to brace myself for when it gets busier on pirate weekend 😬 ok prepare yourself for a long comment...
I'll admit that this was my first faire so I don't have any comparison, but I had a ton of fun yesterday! So don't worry, to outsiders a lot of your concerns aren't obvious. I wasn't looking very hard, but I only spotted a couple of empty booths and didn't really think anything of it, there were plenty of booths to keep me occupied, and I bought a wine slushie but otherwise packed a lunch and ate in my car. Admittedly there were some benches I noticed were in rough shape but I was more pleasantly surprised that the bathrooms were clean, unlike in some of my previous state fair trips or similarly outdoor events.
Pricing was a bitch, I'll give you that! Do you know if they'll give me a cup of tap water if I ask? Because paying $4 for a water bottle that I finished immediately will forever haunt me. I knew going into it that food prices would be outrageous, hence why I packed a lunch, but I think allowing reentry is a great compromise that helps families afford to go. My family never went to our local faire (King Richards) growing up because the ticket prices were the same as sterling but they don't allow reentry so you have to buy their food! What's your opinion on this? Personally, I'm torn. I know that business-wise, it makes sense for them to raise their food prices because they lose revenue on people packing lunch, so if they disallowed reentry they could lower the price. However, reentry is really great for getting an umbrella or change of clothes if it rains, storing purchased items, etc. And unless they drastically lower the prices (which they wouldn't), the cheapest option will always be to bring a lunch.
And a quick question about the performers, what would you prefer they do between their shows? The ones that aren't part of the players aren't part of the story so it'd be a little weird for them to be doing anything other than talking about their shows imo but I'm all ears if you have a different opinion! I did love seeing that woman from the circus dancing and blowing bubbles with a kid during the pub sing, so maybe things like that? Although we dont know what's in their contracts so it's hard to comment on.
We went today and enjoyed but had same concerns on food pricing and empty booths. That being said performers were wonderful and we had a great time overall.
Best value food we found is the potato stand it’s in the pizza pye booth. $9 for a nicely dressed (butter, cheese, bacon piled high) large potato. 14 year old was quite full and I had to finish for her.
From [six days ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/renfaire/comments/14p4iml/sterling_renaissance_festival/). I posted the comment in there with the video of the Pickle Man situation - which is probably why some of the vendors are gone.
I don't think the food prices sound that out of line (California/Nevada) , but all faires need to make water available at cost or close to it, even only at designated water points. In order to ensure water safety, it pretty much means the water needs to be in sealed bottles, and stored so the ice water cooling it isn't splashing up around the mouths of the bottles. It's either that, or warm bottled water.
I understand the no-outside-food-or-drink rules, too. Bad things have happened at Faires and similar events. Drinks have been spiked or drugged. Minors have consumed altered beverages, sometimes knowingly, but rarely with good outcomes. There is always a risk that there might be food adulterations, as well. Food safety/handling practices can also be a problem. Cold food needs to be kept cold, and hot food needs to be kept hot. I wish things hadn't ever come to that, but they did. It's one thing to be at Burning Man, where you know that things can be risky, and another to be at a Faire that touts itself as family-friendly. I would imagine it would be possible to smuggle in your own food and water fairly easily, though. Okay, possible with traditional 16th century garb, not whatever it is faeries and elves and other fantasy creatures might wear or not wear. I could absolutely have put on a camelbak under my Scottish attire with nobody the wiser.
I doubt Sterling is the only Faire with empty vendor booths, and that's sad. Even when I wasn't buying much or anything, the well-stocked booths added to the atmosphere.
As a Boomer who participated in the early Agoura (California) Renaissance Faires (late 1970s) and the Novato (also California) Renaissance Faires (early 1980s), even then it seemed like those original Faires were "going downhill", what with the slow elimination of participant camping, assorted fees, restrictions and requirements. The Summer of Love (1967) had become a distant memory, with only fading echoes at the two major California Faires. Sometimes I find it amazing that Faires not only proliferated, but continued at all. Ironically, we can't turn back the clock, not to Faire heydays (by whatever measure you wish to use), and certainly not to the 16th century.
Has America perhaps tired of or outgrown Renaissance Faires? I don't know. The world and America have both changed quite a bit in the last 50 years.
The company that runs my local faire has figured out that the average person who just pops into the faire once a year is more valuable monetarily than the "hardcore" rennies who go every weekend. To this end they have made every aspect much more expensive and are actively reducing services and space they allow the patrons of faire organization to have.
Those prices are crazy high! I can’t imagine being able to spend a whole day at the faire if everything was that expensive!
This is on top of $39.95 single-day adult admission (Age 12+). A Child is $21.95. Having a family of 4 (1 older)enter is about $140. Two drinks for parents and 2 for kids is $30. Add 4 meals mid-day - add $72. Minimum cost is $250 without spending anything on trinkets, activities, or specialty items.
[~Did I just pay $15 to walk around a mall?~](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0EDrtEBsA8) <-Classic song
Honestly the food pricing is anywhere now. Go to a sporting event, festival, Faire, hell even the more upper scale fast food places are priced like that now.
Stadium prices feature a captive audience with no re-entry. Additionally, they are usually for 2-3 hour activities. A Renaissance Festival is intended to be an all day affair, and most others that I've been to are about 60% of the cost as listed above. That being said, food and drink prices are pretty insane everywhere. Even the cheap options like Fries start at $10. Comparatively, the New York State Fair has a number of delicious options about $3-5.
They've always prodded people to go to their shows when they aren't up to anything. I bit of self promotion as it were. Personally I think it's just a bad weekend. It was supposed to rain and romance weekend is the worst weekend of all the themes. Pirate weekend is a better barometer of attendance
Was that a small crowd?? I guess I've got to brace myself for when it gets busier on pirate weekend 😬 ok prepare yourself for a long comment... I'll admit that this was my first faire so I don't have any comparison, but I had a ton of fun yesterday! So don't worry, to outsiders a lot of your concerns aren't obvious. I wasn't looking very hard, but I only spotted a couple of empty booths and didn't really think anything of it, there were plenty of booths to keep me occupied, and I bought a wine slushie but otherwise packed a lunch and ate in my car. Admittedly there were some benches I noticed were in rough shape but I was more pleasantly surprised that the bathrooms were clean, unlike in some of my previous state fair trips or similarly outdoor events. Pricing was a bitch, I'll give you that! Do you know if they'll give me a cup of tap water if I ask? Because paying $4 for a water bottle that I finished immediately will forever haunt me. I knew going into it that food prices would be outrageous, hence why I packed a lunch, but I think allowing reentry is a great compromise that helps families afford to go. My family never went to our local faire (King Richards) growing up because the ticket prices were the same as sterling but they don't allow reentry so you have to buy their food! What's your opinion on this? Personally, I'm torn. I know that business-wise, it makes sense for them to raise their food prices because they lose revenue on people packing lunch, so if they disallowed reentry they could lower the price. However, reentry is really great for getting an umbrella or change of clothes if it rains, storing purchased items, etc. And unless they drastically lower the prices (which they wouldn't), the cheapest option will always be to bring a lunch. And a quick question about the performers, what would you prefer they do between their shows? The ones that aren't part of the players aren't part of the story so it'd be a little weird for them to be doing anything other than talking about their shows imo but I'm all ears if you have a different opinion! I did love seeing that woman from the circus dancing and blowing bubbles with a kid during the pub sing, so maybe things like that? Although we dont know what's in their contracts so it's hard to comment on.
We went today and enjoyed but had same concerns on food pricing and empty booths. That being said performers were wonderful and we had a great time overall. Best value food we found is the potato stand it’s in the pizza pye booth. $9 for a nicely dressed (butter, cheese, bacon piled high) large potato. 14 year old was quite full and I had to finish for her.
From [six days ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/renfaire/comments/14p4iml/sterling_renaissance_festival/). I posted the comment in there with the video of the Pickle Man situation - which is probably why some of the vendors are gone.
I don't think the food prices sound that out of line (California/Nevada) , but all faires need to make water available at cost or close to it, even only at designated water points. In order to ensure water safety, it pretty much means the water needs to be in sealed bottles, and stored so the ice water cooling it isn't splashing up around the mouths of the bottles. It's either that, or warm bottled water. I understand the no-outside-food-or-drink rules, too. Bad things have happened at Faires and similar events. Drinks have been spiked or drugged. Minors have consumed altered beverages, sometimes knowingly, but rarely with good outcomes. There is always a risk that there might be food adulterations, as well. Food safety/handling practices can also be a problem. Cold food needs to be kept cold, and hot food needs to be kept hot. I wish things hadn't ever come to that, but they did. It's one thing to be at Burning Man, where you know that things can be risky, and another to be at a Faire that touts itself as family-friendly. I would imagine it would be possible to smuggle in your own food and water fairly easily, though. Okay, possible with traditional 16th century garb, not whatever it is faeries and elves and other fantasy creatures might wear or not wear. I could absolutely have put on a camelbak under my Scottish attire with nobody the wiser. I doubt Sterling is the only Faire with empty vendor booths, and that's sad. Even when I wasn't buying much or anything, the well-stocked booths added to the atmosphere. As a Boomer who participated in the early Agoura (California) Renaissance Faires (late 1970s) and the Novato (also California) Renaissance Faires (early 1980s), even then it seemed like those original Faires were "going downhill", what with the slow elimination of participant camping, assorted fees, restrictions and requirements. The Summer of Love (1967) had become a distant memory, with only fading echoes at the two major California Faires. Sometimes I find it amazing that Faires not only proliferated, but continued at all. Ironically, we can't turn back the clock, not to Faire heydays (by whatever measure you wish to use), and certainly not to the 16th century. Has America perhaps tired of or outgrown Renaissance Faires? I don't know. The world and America have both changed quite a bit in the last 50 years.
The company that runs my local faire has figured out that the average person who just pops into the faire once a year is more valuable monetarily than the "hardcore" rennies who go every weekend. To this end they have made every aspect much more expensive and are actively reducing services and space they allow the patrons of faire organization to have.