What's going on with Renn Fayre?

In just three weeks, the biggest and most anticipated Reed tradition will come to life: Renn Fayre. What once started as a one-day Renaissance festival has, over time, transformed into a three-day-long celebration commemorating seniors and the end of the school year. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Renn Fayre was almost like a smaller version of Burning Man. Not only was it a celebration for current students, but alumni and visitors traveled around the country to visit, and large-scale art projects were at the forefront of the festivities. 

This year, there have been debates around campus as to whether or not the Reed administration aims to interfere with Renn Fayre traditions and institutional memory. While some alumni have come forward expressing this suspicion, the Renn Fayre Czars disagree completely. Yet, both parties agree that the main issue surrounding Renn Fayre is student engagement and have stated that with more engagement comes a more creative, transformative, and tradition-filled three days. 

Because of the pandemic, Renn Fayre (along with other Reed traditions) lost its momentum and began to suffer from a loss of institutional memory. This loss of memory not only surrounded specific traditions that occurred during Renn Fayre, but also changed the way students conceptualized the event as a whole. The party shifted, and what was once an open, large-scale, community-built sequence of events became decentralized. The idea that Renn Fayre was a party built for the whole community, by the whole community, lost its footing. However, there are a lot of attempts this year to increase student participation and engagement, whether it be through art-building and creative projects, or through volunteering. 

In the past, Renn Fayre was revered for its out-of-control nature; anything could happen. Whether it be students accidentally setting off homemade fireworks in Commons, or groups of students battling atop homemade castle-like wooden structures, Renn Fayre had it all. A lot of this chaos arose from different traditions that went into creating a pre-COVID Renn Fayre, many of which have been rendered mythological due to the disruption of the student body’s collective memory. According to an anonymous source, there have been attempts made by the Reed administration in the years after COVID to address and get control over the wildness that once constituted Renn Fayre. Moreover, in recent meetings, it has been reported that administrative staff have stated that things that were once possible pre-COVID are no longer possible. For example, according to this alum, Gary Granger had stated that “closing campus is ‘impossible,’ when it has been done many times in the past.” They continued, “To be fair, students primarily enforced it, through Boundary Patrol and wristbands, but it is possible.” Other changes include locking buildings overnight and the inability to host seniors on campus who otherwise are living off-campus, overnight during the three days. 

In response to these concerns, the Quest decided to sit down with some of the current Renn Fayre Czars to understand their perspectives on the possibility of administrative interference in Renn Fayre and Reed traditions. When asked whether they felt that the administration is trying to prevent the passing down of institutional memory surrounding Renn Fayre, the Czars replied “Absolutely not.” Instead, they stated that both they and the Renn Fayre Committee are working hard to bring traditions that existed before COVID back into existence. In their opinion, they have not experienced anything that has come off as stopping creative authority over Renn Fayre. They noted that their goal is to create a safer Renn Fayre, with the main regulations enacted surrounding student projects. Last year, some projects were torn down by CSOs due to the fact that they were not registered officially, so this year, the Czars have stated that they want as many creative projects as possible to be present during Renn Fayre, but all must go through the same revision and approval process. The Renn Fayre Czars wanted to make it clear that if there is a specific issue with the administration, they will be “very vocal” about it and will act as voices for the student body. They have asked that, instead of providing feedback through the Missed Connections, students provide feedback to them directly. 

Regardless of where they stand on the administration issue, everyone has agreed that the key to a successful Renn Fayre is high levels of student engagement. Where the Czars are responsible for food, contracting, and logistics, the student body as a collective is responsible for making the creative effort and bringing the magic of Renn Fayre to life.