Pretty cool images. I have many memories of that place when it was active, so seeing it now 24 years after the last cannon is a bit sad. But still cool to see. Thanks for the production.
I’m a mailman in that area. Grew up about 20 minutes from it and remember it being fairly lack luster. The rumors of it being bad climate weren’t wrong but the issue was mainly the people in this area weren’t interested nor were they willing to pay the prices they were charging. There’s also a really cool abandoned railroad that used to lead to a lumber yard but I’m unsure if much of that is still. You got really lucky on the timing of when you went, the fine for that property’s trespassing is really steep, I believe the owner purchased the land to turn it into a paintball course but then ended up using it for a hunting club. They still often go back there and it’s super dangerous depending on the time of day which is why the fine is so high. Anyway, thanks for the upload! It’s been a while since anyone’s updated TH-cam with new footage 😊
I worked this fair three weekends as a musician. It was a fine faire - small but fine. I worked the original Renaissance Faires in Southern and Northern California and nothing compares to those two old sights.
Completely just stumbled onto this video. I live less than 10 miles away from this site. To bad the Faire didn’t work out here. The Virginia faire is much smaller and not a big site. This would rival the Maryland Faire.
@@Addict10nFootball things change nature itself will make the site different, and I would like to see the biohazards removed from the former faire site... if nothing else is done there.
Really neat video! You may want to learn to identify poison ivy. You walked through some and there was even some graffiti with the warning "leaves of 3, leave it be" lol.
Honestly, the real reason was MDRF. It had a "ban you if you performed at VRF" policy, meaning a good chunk of the people who would have performed there, didn't. Merchants had built places (as the video shows, some are still standing), some performers from Bristol (it's sister Faire) made the trip out there to work, but in the end it was clear that MDRF was going all-out to make sure no site (even a restricted one like VRF was) would survive to compete with it. Although there's a Virginia faire, it's nothing like the forever-site VRF would have been with less going against it.
@@JohnKelso You'll also notice that while old VARF was around, none of their acts got a slot in MDRF even with different scheduling. That was why- after all, an act good enough to be popular for MDRF would get to be more of a pull for VARF too
Haha, not really. More like very tense knowing that I’m trespassing with a borrowed Harley hidden in the bushes. Also, in one of the previous videos a bat flew right in my face. Not keen on having that happen again..😅
At 6:08 you are in what used to be my shop at the faire! It was a beautiful fair. I miss Virginia.
I use to buy the allergy tincture from you. Echinacea, Elder and Eucalyptus if I remember correctly. I still tell people about it to this day.
Yes, I used to make tinctures! I haven’t done so in a while, but I plan to bring them back in the future. 😊
Pretty cool images. I have many memories of that place when it was active, so seeing it now 24 years after the last cannon is a bit sad. But still cool to see. Thanks for the production.
I’m a mailman in that area. Grew up about 20 minutes from it and remember it being fairly lack luster. The rumors of it being bad climate weren’t wrong but the issue was mainly the people in this area weren’t interested nor were they willing to pay the prices they were charging.
There’s also a really cool abandoned railroad that used to lead to a lumber yard but I’m unsure if much of that is still. You got really lucky on the timing of when you went, the fine for that property’s trespassing is really steep, I believe the owner purchased the land to turn it into a paintball course but then ended up using it for a hunting club. They still often go back there and it’s super dangerous depending on the time of day which is why the fine is so high. Anyway, thanks for the upload! It’s been a while since anyone’s updated TH-cam with new footage 😊
This is absolutely crazy to see, I really hope someone will takeover the site one day and make something fun!
It’s been taken over already… by Mother Nature. And that’s the way it should remain.
Beautiful photography enjoyed the aerials.
I worked this fair three weekends as a musician. It was a fine faire - small but fine. I worked the original Renaissance Faires in Southern and Northern California and nothing compares to those two old sights.
Completely just stumbled onto this video. I live less than 10 miles away from this site. To bad the Faire didn’t work out here. The Virginia faire is much smaller and not a big site. This would rival the Maryland Faire.
Wow, this is so interesting!
Great video. I thought the squirrel would turn out to be a bat 😆 Also amazing on how much plant growth has occurred in the past 24 years.
I wish I had the megafunds it would take to buy this land and put a faire training school on it.
@@Addict10nFootball things change nature itself will make the site different, and I would like to see the biohazards removed from the former faire site... if nothing else is done there.
Really neat video! You may want to learn to identify poison ivy. You walked through some and there was even some graffiti with the warning "leaves of 3, leave it be" lol.
Rumor was that a foreign investment group was looking into purchasing the property
I've allways wanted to explore this area I was wondering if you knew who owned the property and if you knew a way to contact them
Honestly, the real reason was MDRF. It had a "ban you if you performed at VRF" policy, meaning a good chunk of the people who would have performed there, didn't. Merchants had built places (as the video shows, some are still standing), some performers from Bristol (it's sister Faire) made the trip out there to work, but in the end it was clear that MDRF was going all-out to make sure no site (even a restricted one like VRF was) would survive to compete with it. Although there's a Virginia faire, it's nothing like the forever-site VRF would have been with less going against it.
I was a performer at MDRF while this fair was open and never heard anything about a ban on performers who had performed at VARF.
@@JohnKelso You'll also notice that while old VARF was around, none of their acts got a slot in MDRF even with different scheduling. That was why- after all, an act good enough to be popular for MDRF would get to be more of a pull for VARF too
Scared of a tree rat?
Haha, not really. More like very tense knowing that I’m trespassing with a borrowed Harley hidden in the bushes.
Also, in one of the previous videos a bat flew right in my face. Not keen on having that happen again..😅