Camping at TRF
I had heard good things about the camping at TRF, so I thought I would give it a try.
I'm glad I did.
First of all, I had always left a little early to avoid the 1-2 hour line to get out after the fair closes, and thus I never before saw the very impressive fireworks display.
Because the audience is more or less restricted to the jousting auditorium, they can have it much lower in the sky and have the same results as larger shows, this also means that each individual firework can be smaller and still have the same visual effects. I would consider it to be easily better than any municipal fireworks display I have seen in Austin, starting with the faeries running around with sparklers and spark shooting torches at the beginning up to the final finally(there were 3-4 times I thought they had done the finally, but then, after a brief pause, they just shot off some more)
While there is not much shopping after hours(as opposed to almost every booth being a shop inside TRF), and the 'shows' are neither scheduled in advance, nor are they restricted to specific venues as they are in the fair proper, they are much more varied and participatory.
Most of the more conventional fair goers leave at the end of the day, leaving a more concentrated fair-like atmosphere
Some of the more conventional show-like activities I witnessed include:
fire-breathing,
Poi and other types of fire-dancing,
Drum circle and associated dancing around the fire,
A camp-site set up sort of like a rave (UV lights, at least one strobe, live DJ, plenty of glow-stick dancing )
a make-shift movie theater(computer, LCD projector, white backdrop for the display)
Less conventional shows:
At the 'safe haven' campsite (peopled mostly by off-duty police, ems, military, TRF actors, booth workers, etc; but everyone is welcome so long as you don't act 'stupid'), identified by the pair of strobe lights on on tall poles to make it easy to find, you can hear stories about stupid fair-goers, unusual events at the fair, things that happened previous years and so on. You also get to see or hear about much of the aftermath of drunk or stupid campers (it is, after all, the primary place on-site to get medical attention until an ambulance can arrive[if needed]).
There was a fire inside the fenced-off fair grounds. At first we were told that a chainmaile shop was on fire, and two motor-cycles zoomed off, each with two people and a fire-extinguisher. They were turned back at the gate by the local Fire department and we watched as an orange light started illuminating the bottom of a black cloud, speculating that it was probably not just one shop with that much light and smoke. After the fire and smoke went away, we discovered that it was just an RV belonging to someone who worked at the faire, started by an electrical system which had just been worked on the week before (everyone was ok).
There was a display campsite with halogen UV lights some large aluminum tripods made up like tents(20+ feet tall, including at least one 'sky chair'), and one of them had a hot-air balloon blower hooked up to a propane tank which they would occasionally use to shoot fireballs into the sky (I suspect they also may have been the ones to release a small number of Japanese lanterns [paper balloons with lift provided by a candle])
Later I put on my cloak and wandered around (I was still wearing a white shirt and no mask or gloves), I startled a number of people without even trying to, then startled a few more intentionally.
I also gave out a fair number of back-rubs, including one to a massage therapist who commented that I was 'pretty good', especially for someone with out any formal training.
I finally got to bed at around 4:30 Sunday morning, and was woken by the lightening sky at around 6:30 (this would be the reason I have thick curtains in my bedroom, I am a light sleeper, and I like it that way)
All in all I got about 16 hours of fair enjoyment for about 1.5 times the ticket price(camping is $10 for the weekend, and I did not arrive until about 12:30 Saturday afternoon. the three hours after I awoke before I left was a more or less standard morning camp-fire ambiance, excepting perhaps the lady wearing the maile bikini who came around for breakfast)
a few notes:
the trailer with the strobes marking the 'save haven' campsite is a kitchen and the owner cooked up both a dinner and a breakfast, I believe it was mostly a community contribution type thing, and since the food I brought was more or less single person portions, I just ate my own food.
I can specifically remember being offered alcohol at least 3 or 4 times, and there was a significant amount of it present.
There is a separate 'family camping' area further away from the main entrance with noise restrictions and the like, but I was mostly interested in the more wildlife side of the camping(it's fun to watch, just don't get too close to anything that might get aggressive)
All in all, I would highly recommend it. If you go to TRF without camping, you miss half the fun.
I'm glad I did.
First of all, I had always left a little early to avoid the 1-2 hour line to get out after the fair closes, and thus I never before saw the very impressive fireworks display.
Because the audience is more or less restricted to the jousting auditorium, they can have it much lower in the sky and have the same results as larger shows, this also means that each individual firework can be smaller and still have the same visual effects. I would consider it to be easily better than any municipal fireworks display I have seen in Austin, starting with the faeries running around with sparklers and spark shooting torches at the beginning up to the final finally(there were 3-4 times I thought they had done the finally, but then, after a brief pause, they just shot off some more)
While there is not much shopping after hours(as opposed to almost every booth being a shop inside TRF), and the 'shows' are neither scheduled in advance, nor are they restricted to specific venues as they are in the fair proper, they are much more varied and participatory.
Most of the more conventional fair goers leave at the end of the day, leaving a more concentrated fair-like atmosphere
Some of the more conventional show-like activities I witnessed include:
fire-breathing,
Poi and other types of fire-dancing,
Drum circle and associated dancing around the fire,
A camp-site set up sort of like a rave (UV lights, at least one strobe, live DJ, plenty of glow-stick dancing )
a make-shift movie theater(computer, LCD projector, white backdrop for the display)
Less conventional shows:
At the 'safe haven' campsite (peopled mostly by off-duty police, ems, military, TRF actors, booth workers, etc; but everyone is welcome so long as you don't act 'stupid'), identified by the pair of strobe lights on on tall poles to make it easy to find, you can hear stories about stupid fair-goers, unusual events at the fair, things that happened previous years and so on. You also get to see or hear about much of the aftermath of drunk or stupid campers (it is, after all, the primary place on-site to get medical attention until an ambulance can arrive[if needed]).
There was a fire inside the fenced-off fair grounds. At first we were told that a chainmaile shop was on fire, and two motor-cycles zoomed off, each with two people and a fire-extinguisher. They were turned back at the gate by the local Fire department and we watched as an orange light started illuminating the bottom of a black cloud, speculating that it was probably not just one shop with that much light and smoke. After the fire and smoke went away, we discovered that it was just an RV belonging to someone who worked at the faire, started by an electrical system which had just been worked on the week before (everyone was ok).
There was a display campsite with halogen UV lights some large aluminum tripods made up like tents(20+ feet tall, including at least one 'sky chair'), and one of them had a hot-air balloon blower hooked up to a propane tank which they would occasionally use to shoot fireballs into the sky (I suspect they also may have been the ones to release a small number of Japanese lanterns [paper balloons with lift provided by a candle])
Later I put on my cloak and wandered around (I was still wearing a white shirt and no mask or gloves), I startled a number of people without even trying to, then startled a few more intentionally.
I also gave out a fair number of back-rubs, including one to a massage therapist who commented that I was 'pretty good', especially for someone with out any formal training.
I finally got to bed at around 4:30 Sunday morning, and was woken by the lightening sky at around 6:30 (this would be the reason I have thick curtains in my bedroom, I am a light sleeper, and I like it that way)
All in all I got about 16 hours of fair enjoyment for about 1.5 times the ticket price(camping is $10 for the weekend, and I did not arrive until about 12:30 Saturday afternoon. the three hours after I awoke before I left was a more or less standard morning camp-fire ambiance, excepting perhaps the lady wearing the maile bikini who came around for breakfast)
a few notes:
the trailer with the strobes marking the 'save haven' campsite is a kitchen and the owner cooked up both a dinner and a breakfast, I believe it was mostly a community contribution type thing, and since the food I brought was more or less single person portions, I just ate my own food.
I can specifically remember being offered alcohol at least 3 or 4 times, and there was a significant amount of it present.
There is a separate 'family camping' area further away from the main entrance with noise restrictions and the like, but I was mostly interested in the more wildlife side of the camping(it's fun to watch, just don't get too close to anything that might get aggressive)
All in all, I would highly recommend it. If you go to TRF without camping, you miss half the fun.