Tag Archives: WMRF2023

2023 Ren Faire Moments

The Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire is the first three weekends in August. While this might feel a bit premature to highlight some of my favorite moments, I will probably do a full Ren Faire review next week after it is all over. I’ll include any additional excitement in that one. 

The Superfan

A young person working at a food stand for the fair walked past the first day just after opening. We snagged her with our stellar sales shouts, and she spared a few moments before her shift to come over and chat about my books. She was excited about them and said she would talk to her dad about getting them.  

I underestimated the level of excitement, though. Over the first two days of the faire, she stopped by a few times, as did her dad. He works at the faire and wanted to make sure we would still be there other weekends or at least have enough on Sunday for them to buy a set. 

He made a brief stop on Sunday and paid in advance so I could sign them for her when she came by after her shift. With her personalized books in hand, she stuck around for a while longer to chat and talk about how excited she was to read them. Sticking around could be problematic, but she did a wonderful job of letting us continue to sell and interact with other customers. 

All respect for this young lady, and I hope she enjoys them even half as much as she anticipated. 

On a Mission

I mentioned this one on Facebook already, so act surprised. 

Having just finished a sale and signing, I turned to the next person in line holding one of my books. I thought it was the one my husband had been using to wave at the passing crowds. We tend to hold a copy of Hidden Memory so we can hand it to people for them to read the back. 

“What are we doing for you?” I asked. 

“Oh, I was just hoping you could sign this,” she replied, holding up a copy of Hidden Promise.

It took my brain a moment to process the sequence of events and associated possibilities. Did someone hand her the third book by accident? What did she mean by just the signature? I recovered quickly enough with a big grin. 

Someone liked my books so much they did not want to wait for the faire to get the next in the series, but they still wanted the signature. That someone would bring a book to an event specifically for me to sign made me feel, for a little while, that I had made an impression. 

Real-Time Feedback

During the days of weekend two, a few people who purchased books during the first stopped by to tell me how they, their friend, their child, or another person for whom they bought the book was loving it and could not put it down. A handful of people have also messaged me on social media with similar messages. One told me she regretted only picking up the first while she was at the fair, and that she already ordered book two. 

Another two reviews have also already come in on Amazon, and I hope to see a few more. I’m up to 45 on Hidden Memory, which is so close to my goal for the year. 

More to Come

I also got my hair braided, braved the extreme heat, and shipped a lost book to the person who bought it from me. Someone turned the book into lost and found, so that was wonderful of them. I will try to do better at getting some pictures next time, but no promises. 

Stay cool out there, friends!

Renaissance Faire 2023

My blog posts are going to be a bit sporadic this month. During the week, I’m covering for some people out at work. On the weekends, I’m putting in twelve-hour days in Monroe selling books at the Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire.

Due to a horrid confluence of logistical nightmares brought upon by the increasing popularity of the event, it moved up north to Sky Meadows Park in Snohomish this year. The location is larger, and the event will only use a portion of it this year and next with plans to grow. It has closer freeway access to simplify the in and outbound traffic. Finally, they capped ticket sales and are not selling onsite to prevent exceeding safety capacity.

There remain challenges. The walkways could use some straw laid down and dampened each morning. They have a water truck drive through in the mornings, but the dirt paths are dry again by midday and the pedestrian traffic kicks up a fair amount of dust. People are still complaining about the food lines, but there are more vendors this year, and I would estimate the lines are about the same during peak times with more downtime to take advantage of.

As of this week, all remaining days of the faire are sold out. Hopefully, there will be more capacity next year, and anyone left out this year will look to buy tickets early. I’m excited to see the coming growth and to be a part of it.

With that, it is back to work for me. I will try to get some pictures this weekend and share some moments sometime next week. Maybe I will even post my first TikTok video in nearly a year from my tent.

Huzzah!