SeanM, thank you for the insight. I really do not know that much of the other Faires. I've been meaning to go to Palm Springs for a while now and have never made it and I have not been able to find out when or where San Bernadino is held. Again thank you for all that you have contributed to this thread.

Gargolye: First of all, let it be known THAT I AM ONLY A SIMPLE HARKER WHO IS TRYING TO SAVE AN EVENT THAT I THINK IS WORTH SAVING!!! Maybe we aren't "preserving the original spirit" but we have a unique spirit all our own. As a costumed participant, I would love to get in free but I never have. Most the people that I have meet through Crossroads are not doing it for the money or the commericialism but are doing it for the fun, the experience, the people, and being able to dress up in cool costumes and live in the 1500's for a day or two. Maybe we AREN'T completely commericalism free and maybe we HAVE let the spirit slip but we're having a good time and living and learning a little along the way. It may not be the biggest or best-known Faire in the nation but IT'S OURS!! We just want to keep it that way so that we can share that sense of culture, history, and awe with others. Instead we find ourselves constantly being forced to balance between maintaining it as commericalism free as possible to preserve the atmosphere and allowing that same commericalism in so that we can survive. This whole thing was never about keeping the Festival around so that I could have a job or that a vender could make a living, but to preserve something that we think is worth saving. Is that too much to ask?

Rebecca <><