Hello, Adventure-Raisers! In Session 37: A Ren Faire Winter Trek, I was hoping to give a review of a local event. Now, one thing to make clear: yes, this is about a winter Ren Faire event and that’s not exactly RPG themed. That said, the Ren Faire in Michigan (and I can only assume other states) has been leaning into the trend so much D&D might as well be a walking stick. My angle is to review the experience we had with Little Green Dragon and hopefully give you all an idea of whether something like this would be fun with your littles.

At a high level, the Holly Dazzle event is running every weekend for the month of December on the Renaissance Faire grounds. The grounds are decked out in their best Christmas lights for guest to enjoy. There are high priced dining experiences (which we did not do… too rich for our blood), glass blowing classes, DRINKING, karaoke, Santa, and shopping! And while all that sounds very fun, it is also the first year the event has taken place. And it showed.

I know the list of events I just gave sounds like a lot, but compared to what the Michigan Ren Faire usually puts out, that was nothing. Like, we spent most of our time on the grounds pushing our stroller from bonfire to bonfire, wishing they’d salted the roads more. Now, we did attend on the night of a record cold snap (obviously unplanned) and that’s being taken into account here. I have Little Dragon bundled up tight under a new fluffy blanket, all snug in his stroller. But even if it was 50 degrees out, I wouldn’t have let him out of the stroller. Nearly half the fairgrounds were unlit, with strings of merry lights clearly highlighting a very narrow path for patrons to STAY ON. Letting a nearly-two-year-old out would have been begging him to take off into a part of the park we didn’t belong in. Which sums up my first complaint about the event: it was surprisingly stifling. The Ren Faire should be a place of exploration, fun, and creativity, but this event felt very… I dunno… nervous. Half done. I understand not putting your full bank account on the line for a new venture, but that venture shouldn’t feel like you only invested half your bank account if you want more of them. The poor shop keeps were all frozen to their seats, teeth shattering as they politely waiting for us to buy something they made months ago in their living rooms.

Furthermore, the organizers kept the place very quiet and clean, but they were clearly expecting more adults than children, despite not really advertising the event as adult-oriented. No, there wasn’t any lewd humor or… well, if someone had been scantily clothed in those temperatures, I’d be more concerned than anything really. What I mean to say is, there really wasn’t very much to DO. Yes, Littel Dragon met Medieval Santa, but that was after maybe 30 minutes of walking past pretty lights. Oh, and I guess we did walk a maze made out of a single string of lights. But that was also very short, and a very easy puzzle to solve. What most people were doing, was drinking. And I have no problem with that but given the number of kids I saw pouring in with moms and dads it does strike me as poorly planned resource allocation. The jousting grounds could have been used as an ice rink, the mermaid tank could have been a snow globe, etc. One idea my friends and I discussed was having two paths through the grounds, one lit and child-oriented, and one dark and 18+ only. The former is Santa’s Trail, the later is the Krampus’s. And on the Krampus’s trail, a few employees could dress up to spook you with various holiday monsters from around the world, or even Jack Skellington in his jolly red suit. Or at the very least, the events should start before 5 pm, before sundown. Let the kids play around the maypole, and then staying late to watch the lights cover the village would be a bigger event. Maybe have a parade with Christmas Fae cover the grounds as the lights come on. Just, SOMETHING.

Now I know I’ve ragged on this event a lot, so I should say that we did have fun. It was just sooooooo disappointing that we couldn’t have more fun, because all the potential was there! The Michigan fairgrounds are massive, pushing 500 acres. One a given weekend in the summer, there are probably 200 merchants in costume selling their wares and everyone’s wearing fairy dust and red-faced and happy! This was just a small fraction of that. Now, I’m glad I went and I’m glad I patronized it, because I want to see the potential this idea has become reality. But as a mother to a toddler, I cannot recommend it. Not yet. And if you know of any other walking trails like this, I advise looking out for pitfalls such as these. Maybe go with just your adult crowd and live it up instead.

Because remember, you’re not on this journey alone. See you after Christmas, Adventure-Raisers! Checkout my other posts here.