Why does the Renaissance festival suck now?

You know, for years now, it's been a tradition to go to the Carolina Renaissance Festival in the fall. For me in a lot of ways, it was kind of a part of celebrating the coming of fall and a chance to reflect on the year, the coming winter, etc. I suppose it's the whole anachronistic/"new age" vibe that gets me feeling pensive, but for some reason it just resonated with me. I'd find myself being particularly aware of the colors of the leaves, the cooling of temperatures, thinking what it must have been like many years ago to truly be celebrating the harvest and preparing for winter, etc.

I always imagined that I'd eventually bring my daughter to this festival, and she'd be taken with the same "magickal" sense that can sometimes sneak up on you at events like this. You know, for some reason you end up having an interesting, spiritual conversation with a guy who makes wooden carvings and sells them for a living, or you hear some music from hundreds of years ago being played on a hammered dulcimer and you just seem to connect (if just for a moment) with the season in some special way. We took Lily to the festival for the last 2 years, though she was a ltitle too small to really grasp it. This year, she's 2 and a half, and is at the perfect age to get swept up in the mythology/imagery of this type of thing.

Sadly, it was a complete waste of time. Not only did it take forever to get there due to the HUGE amount of traffic, it has regressed into just another one of those cheesy gatherings that's really nothing more than an excuse for the slightly too young to the slightly too old to get hammered and act like an idiot. Gone was the somewhat mystical feeling and the mystery that used to accompany the festival. Rather it felt like being at one of those downtown street festivals with about 10 bands who you've either never heard of or were famous about 15 years ago for 15 mintues. You know the type of festival I mean, the ones where some local radio station hosts it, and it's supposed to be cool but it ends up feeling like a festival that's desperately trying to be cool (and failing miserably in the process)...

Anyway, I guess we'll have to keep our eyes out for something more interesting. For those of you who are considering going to the Carolina "Ren Fest", I say don't bother. I'm sure you can find somewhere else crowded where you can buy $7 beer and even more expensive, bad food.