Death of a Renaissance Faire
huny...@aol.com
here is the letter I have written to a few people
I am a business owner who does the Great Lakes Medieval Faire in
Geneva,OH. I have been at this faire for 4 years and really enjoy
working it.
The Board of Trustees in Trumbull Township (all 3 of them)have decided
to close down this faire that employs at least 400 people,gives the
local high school students their required volunteer hours and raises
thousands of dollars for local charities and has a blood drive the run
of the 6 week show.
The latest attack is the Trustees have enacted an ordinance governing
Transient Vendors and passed it on June 25. Since I have been doing
this show I have had an Ohio State Transient Vendor’s License which is
required by Ohio State law to collect and turn in my sales tax. The
ordinance enacted by the Trumbull Township charges 150 for the
license,limits business days to 50 and excepts all weekends from May
til October. Faire opens 2nd weekend of July and ends 3rd weekend of
August this year. Here is the website link
http://www.trumbulltownship.org/TRANSIENT_VENDOR_RESOLUTION_2009.pdf.
Crafters were cited by the local police who were getting paid by the
taxpayers of a population of 700 people. There was one young patron
lady cited and she was just babysitting some dogs in a crafter’s booth
while the crafters in question were getting pictures done.
This kind of harassment of business owners needs to get looked at.
This show contributes greatly to both the Ashtabula and Trumbull areas
by the taxes we pay,the number of patrons who come and do business
with the gas stations,grocery stores,hotels and by the merchants and
entertainers who pay to stay in the local area.
The Trustees must expect this ordinance to get struck down because
next week on August 13th there is a meeting to zone the faire out of
business. I wonder how many of their residents know just how this is
going to affect their local economy.
My contact information
Cindy Ridgway
816 536 5402
email is Huny...@aol.com
Faire Owner is
Larry Rickard
888 633 4382
Great Lakes Medieval Faire
3303 State Route 534
Geneva, OH 44031