Good Marrow...New here with a question...

[ladydiwinter]

Greetings everyone!
I've been reading the forums for a little bit and everyone seems so awesome! But I do have a question for all the experienced Rennie's here: What weekends are the best to come to MNRF? I would love to make it to all of them, but my hubby works some of them, and we are 4 hours away and can't afford it.  We were thinking one of the first three weekends. Any suggestions would be wonderful!

Thanks

[DeadBishop]

First, welcome to R/F.com!

As to answer your question, probably the most popular weekend would be Labor Day weekend, being that it is three days of faire.  There are usually a number of out of state forum members that invade us over that weekend because of this, as will be happening again this year.

[majikboxman]

ANY day is great to attend Fest. ;-]

As per your weekends of choice noted, I agree with DB... ... ... Labor Day Weekend.

My personal fav weekend is last weekend 'last day is too fun'.  If you a shopper, great deals to be had.  The grounds 'to me' have a different feel then they do early in the season 'do to the seasons change'.

[Marietta Graziella]

Welcome to the MN page!
Any weekend at fest is better than a weekend at home, IMHO.  lol   Whatever weekends you do chose to attend, post here so we can be sure to find you.  Our defacto meeting place is the main mead booth at 10:00.  You will ALWAYS find some R/F members there at that time.  Any Dreg's show will most certainly have a couple.  And the Foaming Stein is the only place most of us buy our ale.  All three spots are pretty close together.  We kind of just make a loop all day.  LOL

Don't hesitate to introduce yourself!  You'll be able to spot us from the R/F pins most people where.

[escherblacksmith]

Yeah, I'd say it depends entirely on what you like.

Beginning of run:

• Everything is fresh, everyone has really high energy
• Some acts are a bit rough
• marginally less people
• generally warm to hot weather, generally

Middle of run:

• Acts are smoother
• cast is in tune
• lots more people
• generally warm to hot weather

End of Run:

• Acts are getting more risque' and try new stuff
• somewhat less people
• generally hit or miss weather wise (90+ to 45 and sleet)

Otherwise it is a matter of picking out the weekends that have something going on you like, like a gathering of RF hunyucks.
Speaking of which, I will be working out there on Labor Day for the first time in a long while.

[renren]

Welcome!
I think Escher explained it quite well!
Don't be afraid to introduce yourself. Where are you from? I live abvout 4 hours north of MNRF, myself.
Hope to see you there!

[William_MacKean]

Avoid last weekend.  It will be cold (being secong weekend in October), more likely to rain, and be pitch dark by 700p closing.  Also, everyone is hung over from the parties.

On the plus side, the shows are the raunchiest and there are plenty of gags on closing Sunday.

[Muffin]

Avoid last weekend.  It will be cold (being secong weekend in October), more likely to rain, and be pitch dark by 700p closing.  Also, everyone is hung over from the parties.

On the plus side, the shows are the raunchiest and there are plenty of gags on closing Sunday.

I wouldn't say the weather will be cold for sure.. Two years ago the first weekend in Oct. was the weekend of the Jaycee's recovery party and it was a blistering 90+ degree day, this followed a cold and rainy closing weekend at fest! It can always go either way!! 

I am going to join in with some of the others on Labor Day weekend being a good one to visit.. Three days of fest, lots of visitors, and lots of fun!!

Final weekend is great fun as well, lots of good deals at the shops!!

[DeadBishop]

Next to Labor Day weekend, I think the last weekend is the next best (another 3 day weekend!).  "Fest Friday" as it's called, is fairly quiet after 2pm...kids come in the morning as a field trip day...and after that is a great day for bargain shopping and meandering at a slower pace, and to just hang out with friends. 

[ladydiwinter]

Awesome answers, and thank you for the warm welcome! Personally, I would love to go every weekend, but the hubby DJ's weddings for work and weekends are usually not a good time to try to go anywhere. Also living in Bemidji makes travel to any where fun a 2 hour drive minimum. Who knows, I might get to come down for two weekends ( I can hope with all my might!!!)

Crowds are never really an issue, I've done Disney World in August and that's nuts between the heat and "massive crowd mentality," but I know that at some rendezvous I have been to in the past, sometimes some of the vendors and acts are not there the whole time or possibly not open the first few days. I've only been to the RF 1 time so far and I told the hubby that we were making it down every year at least once...and also told him I'm gonna dress up, he doesn't have to...but I am going to. So this year I'm excited since I've been working on this dress for a little while now. Any way, please forgive me,, I tend to go off into left field when I post on forums, but if it all works out right we're going to come down Labor day weekend. That's the weekend we came down last year. And I'm bringing friends!!!

[SleepyArcher]

All the more merrier!
Welcome as well. It's always more fun with friends.

[Marietta Graziella]

As they say...

"It's better to play with a group, than with yourself."   

[Phelyp, Lord Maydestone]

MG - you dirty dirty woman!  LOL  Couldn't resist, it was begging for a comment.  We will be coming over Labor Day weekend just due to the fact that school starts the week prior for us this year.  In 16 years I have never been to Fest at that time, so it will be interesting to see it all at that point in the run.

[tcindie]

Swing by the fencing booth in the morning..   I'll be working mornings (and hopefully only mornings) this year so I can participate in the drum jam.

[Goody]

Greetings everyone!
I've been reading the forums for a little bit and everyone seems so awesome! But I do have a question for all the experienced Rennie's here: What weekends are the best to come to MNRF? I would love to make it to all of them, but my hubby works some of them, and we are 4 hours away and can't afford it.  We were thinking one of the first three weekends. Any suggestions would be wonderful!

Thanks

Well since you asked about attending one of the first 3 weekends I would say the opening cuz there's breakfast and cuz the energy is high. But then again, by the second and third things are a lil more settled and a bunch of fun too!

[Will Gamwell]

As you can tell from the posts, there are definately pros & cons to each weekend that you could choose.

My personal favorite is the last day.  For most of the reasons that everyone has stated, plus the closing gate show is something you won't see any other weekend.  

Rafe

PS:  Welcome!!

[Castle Canine Creations]

If you have a dog, the Pet festival is September 12 & 13, so it is the 4th weekend, but should be a bit cooler and loads of fun. You can't go wrong heading to the faire.

[Leyla]

With the cooler weather I think I might be a bit more inclined to bring the pooch out with me this year. I hear that the summer we've had so far is about the best of it, it's not getting any warmer. Which on the one hand BOOOO that sucks, on the other, great festival weather.