"It's a pity. My closest faire started as a reasonable compromise with history, but now it's become nothing but a theme park. Alas."

The one I've seen linked to on Facebook is in Maryland, and a theme park was exactly what it reminded me of.

Yes, Tam, I am American living in the UK. But having lived for a similar amount of time in each country, and pretty much all of my adult life in the UK, I have not really experienced the Ren-faire phenomenon. I did once see a video of my uncle's step-daughter, who had a Ren-faire-themed wedding. I must confess I found it all rather odd, especially as they all queued up in their costumes for the lasagne and meatball buffet and had an Irish pub band as the entertainment. I guess I thought if you were going to have a medieval or renaissance theme for your wedding, the various elements might be a bit more carefully thought through...

I guess you either get the whole escapism thing and grownups having big fancy-dress parties, or you don't. It seems the comparison between people dressing up at science fiction conventions is apt. Good luck to them if it makes them happy - they're certainly not doing anyone any harm and obviously get a lot of enjoyment out of it. But I'm still puzzled by the people who want to pay to go and watch it...

Yes, Sean, I do remember that ren-faire version of Abbots Bromley that we found on Youtube - hilarious and appalling in equal parts, largely because it claimed to be something that it wasn't.

I think there's probably a good parallel between the ren-faire community and certain kinds of morris sides - but not all. Some morris sides adhere to whatever vestiges of tradition they can, while others seem to enjoy the dressing up and the face painting at least as much as they do the dancing.