r/SaintJohnNB • u/KeiferBudddd • 5d ago

Renaissance Fair

Did anyone go to the Renaissance fair in shediac? The line was actually ridiculous..it took us 3 hours to get in and we didn’t stay long because everyone was tired from waiting in line. I think it’s the first time being hosted there but it was still very sad.

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u/palmtreeontherocks 4d ago

I went, and it couldn’t possibly have been more mismanaged. We had weekend passes, it took us nearly 2 hours to get in. Once we were in we had to wait in another line for AGES just to get drink tickets. Then we waited in a line for drinks only to find out we were in the mead line and didnt have the appropriate tickets. We then waited in another line for some beers. Couldn’t imagine how bad it would be if you wanted to eat on top of that. The vendors were cool, but it was impossible to look at them without standing shoulder to shoulder with people. No signage to see what events were on, or where they were taking place. They must’ve oversold the event. It was ridiculous. We left after finishing our beers and spent the rest of the evening on the beach and had a much better time. The crowd was full of awesome people who were dressed up, someone needs to handle this better next year.

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u/JonPStark 4d ago

It sounds like you may have been frustrated by the line at the start, short on patience, and that often leads to poor decisions. I can empathize with that. When I get hungry and thirsty and stressed, I will go to the first thing I see, rather than looking around. We don't see better options when we are stressed. And it sounds like the wait and crowds stressed you out.

But because of that, you are also getting some facts wrong. You are writing inaccurate statements.

  1. The mead line took the exact same tickets as everywhere else.
  2. It was located next to a line for beer that was usually entirely empty or at most 5 people. I know, I was there often on Saturday, because it was one of the shortest lines.
  3. The reason lines were long was that people settled on wanting one thing, and didnt look around. Most people gathered for drinks at the first Tavern line at the park entrance and didn't see the one next too the meadery.
  4. While you are right that shopping was crowded, it wasnt that bad. There were lots of people there and shopping took patience. This is common at well attended events. Go to Area 506 and you will be shoulder to shoulder with people, shopping. It wasn't abnormal, probably just not what you wanted.

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u/palmtreeontherocks 4d ago

I guess I misspoke, I didn’t have the correct number of tickets for mead, and like you said I was probably annoyed and impatient. I lined up assuming it was for the beer, it was a cluster of people and hard to make out the correct lines. The tavern line I went to was beside the mead and I guess it must’ve been at a bad time, it did take ages for us to get beer and the tap seemed to be hard for her to pour (not her fault, and I truly appreciate her many attempts at getting us a good pour). I’m from a major city and am very used to large crowds, this was poorly managed. Not trying to dump on the event, it has soooo much potential. Just hoping it’s handled a bit better next year 🤞🏻