By Camas Frank ~
As one may have noticed, the Jolly Ole’ Land of California is experiencing a major drought.
Indeed on the first day of the Central Coast Renaissance Festival in July, there was no water to fill in the Lake o’ Laguna, so called on the maps carried by festivalgoers.
That changed overnight as the heavens broke loose and rained buckets and thunderbolts in an unseasonable surprise. The lightening gave a harrowing few hours to the merchants and entertainers who stayed overnight in the city park. Come morning the vendors who come every year to flog their wares were keeping their temporary shops closed to ward off damage. Event organizers waited with bated breath to find out who would show.
“By mid-morning on Sunday we knew we should have about 2,500 to 3,000 people coming,” said Rick Smith, the community representative for the non-profit Central Coast Renaissance Festival organization. “We powered through and opened up at 10 a.m. as scheduled. And no one showed at the gate.”
In their 32nd year as a non-profit hosting a seminal SLO County event, the festival has moved from one venue to another along with a rotating cast of entertainers. One thing remained constant. They always broke even and lived to joust another day.
“I don’t want anyone to think hat we can’t pay any bills we have outstanding,” Smith cautioned, “We certainly won’t be folding up our tent and going away next year. We have always found a way to continue.”
But, he added, after doing the math, the organization is out approximately $40,000 that they anticipated in ticket sales. That doesn’t cover the rented materials destroyed by the rain or the investment they made in items that were supposed to last for years. On the list are hay bales that were either broken up to sop up mud or were too soaked to be returned to the supplier for resale, as well as a brand new stage and Smith added, “We really went all out this year with thousands of yards of hand stitched paneling for the interior enclosure.”
The City of SLO was, “very nice to let us keep the set up out for a couple extra days to dry out,” said Smith, “but we did have to put everything away damp…how do you dry out half-a-mile of burlap?”
So, after much ado about something, the nonprofit organization is dipping into the 21st Century to recover some of their losses.
“We chose [the crowdfunding website] Go Fund Me because they actually give us all of the money pledged by donors minus a percentage fee. They are a business. Some of the more popular sites like Kickstarter or Indiegogo will only fulfill the funds once the target is reached.”
One week into their $40,000 fundraising target, in the Go Fund Me [gofundme.com/ccrenfaire] campaign only $2.285, had been collected from 50 individual visitors. The highest contributions were in the $250 range – classified as a “Lord or Lady,” with a free t-shirt and some other goodies – but, Smith hopes, a few folks will step up to be graced with the “Queen’s Favor” for $1,000. In exchange they’ll get a hotel room and a plethora of Ren Faire related favors.
“We may have set the target a bit high,” Smith concedes, “but we did calculate the loss in ticket sales.”
The experiences that can’t be recovered however, such as the cancelation of the Sunday Children’s Costume Contest – which disappointed many of the tots whose parents did challenge the forces of nature – or the lack of jousting on Sunday, bother organizers.
“Our jousters were doing it for the first time with us this year,” Smith said, although some of the troupe members did work with the faire a decade ago, “They are very authentic. They don’t use bamboo lances [that deliberately splinter]. They’re the real deal.”
Although many of the musical performers did go home early, for fear of getting expensive equipment wet, the jousters did do some “mud skiing” towing themselves behind the horses to entertain devotees.
As a silver lining, when the Sun did emerge Sunday afternoon, the festival stayed open later than scheduled to allow a sort of renaissance for the art and jewelry vendors who remained.
“We were told that some of them made quite a bit in the last three hours we stayed open,” Smith said. “ The generosity of spirit that the people here have exhibited is just amazing.”
“We will find a way to keep going,” he said.
