Held in downtown Cedar City, Utah, the Utah Midsummer Renaissance Faire is another small town fair that doesn’t go on Sunday [see Show Low – previous post].  They start on Wednesday, however, and we had to drive almost direct from Show Low to make load-in. Main Street Park in old downtown is smaller than the Show Low site, and they packed twice the number of vendors. Many were very cool. Many were the sort you would see at any First Friday. None of them sold period clothing in any real quantity, and we did well.

We were one of the few that slept on site, a practice we cannot recommend.  With no room for an actual tent, we slept in what was effectively an outsized dressing room bisecting the Cave of Wonders. We had little trouble from the locals, but plenty of mosquitoes.

I normally make coffee behind the tent in the morning, but we were warned off anything like the propane stove I use to boil water in the city park. The grocery store across the street has block ice and a Starbucks.

There are also several good restaurants in walking distance and one bar that stays open after 10pm.

Even so, next year – and there will be a next year, we are getting a hotel, even if we barely break even.

Getting in and out with a vehicle is requires a great deal of patience and finesse. Particularly loading out, as that happens Saturday night. The sprinklers, we were warned, come on at midnight. Happily, loading out in adverse conditions used to be my day job, and we made it with time to go to the last open bar downtown.

We didn’t. We were too tired. But we had the time. And, wisely, a hotel room waiting for us.