Unfortunately, Renaissance Faires is not really a good name for the Faires. Some have differing time periods and some have even done away with the term Renaissance in there names and are going more to fantasy faires. The group i run, we jump around depending on what faire we are at, one day we can be based in the time of the English invasion of Scotland, and then next day more toward pirates of the early colonial days. We try and match what the faire has chosen as its time frame, but even then it can be a bit open.

Some of the faires are small, drawing maybe a few hundred visitors, 5-10 performer groups, and 20 vender's. These are usually only one or two weekends long and are held in parks with lots of tents. Then you have some of the big events, that take up 10-15 arcs, draws crowds in the 10s of thousands, 100's of performers, and close to 1000 vender's. These can go all summer long ever weekend and are true spectacles to be seen.

We do one faire in IL that is a Fairy Festival, so time period is not a problem, but it does make for an interesting time when you have a Scotsmen in traditional great kilt fighting a Caribbean pirate.... with wings... lol

So, Renaissance Faires or Ren Faires has become more of a generic term for faires that are based anywhere from the middle ages up to the Renaissance. Also, the term Rennie is a generic for anyone that works the faires, kind like carnies, we just dress a bit older. There are constant joking around what a true Rennie is, based on years working the faires, how many faires you work, whether your a performer or a merchant or staff, etc.

Me, i have been working faires since i was about 5 years old, and it can range from two faires a year to 10. For me, i love the travailing of going to smaller one and two weekend faires all over then working the same faire for 11 weekends in a row at the same location all summer long.