What Do We Do?

The Scarlet Onagers are a group of volunteers who perform various tasks that assist the Canterbury Renaissance Faire of Silverton, Oregon.

Before the two busy weekends every July, Onagers have assisted with landscaping, setting boundaries, and similar preparation work. Once Faire begins, though, so does the real fun.

The friday before the first day Canterbury Renaissance Faire, we set up our camping tents, set up our vending tent, and assist vendors and other participants with their camp sites and store fronts. During Faire, we assist with crowd control, emergency response, traffic, vendor setup and breakdown traffic, and barrier maintenance. We also assist with lost and found items, as well as reuniting little ones with their adults if they wander off.

Want to Help Out?

Well, what do you want to do? We have lots of people to help out, but always appreciate more. The more people we have, the easier and faster tasks are completed and the more breaks we all get to enjoy the Faire, and hang out with participants after Faire hours.

Tasks that are easy to jump right into include sales in the vending tent, trash removal, parking, ticket taking, and refilling drinking water jugs. The more you get to know the layout and flow of Faire, the more you can jump in with us for crowd control, emergency response, and other things that come over the air as in need of assistance.

Vending Sales

Our guild has a vending tent that sells children's goods, costume accessories, simple jewelry, and various crafty and artistic pieces. These goods assist us in covering the costs of attending Faire, keeping up supplies and providing food for our Guild Members. We use a simple register system to accept cash and cards that also keeps track of our sales.

We also accept local artists' and guild members' items for a small agreed upon commission. If you volunteer with us for the Faire, we'll lower or even waive the commision fees for any goods you create. You get a place to sell your inventory or try out a new product, and we'll even help you assess cost to profit ratios to make sure you make money of each of your items that sells.

Parking

For the last several years, the Scarlet Onagers have organized parking for Canterbury Faire. A couple of us can do this job solo, but it is more efficiently done with three people. This is a great way to jump into our group, help for a few hours in the morning, and wander around the Faire as an "on call" volunteer for the rest of the day.

Trash Removal & Drinking Water Jugs

As a Faire, there is a lot of recycling and trash to collect, and also provided drinking water jugs need to be refilled to keep people cool and hydrated. Both of these jobs keep you moving in small bursts, but they are often done in pairs so that no one gets to tired. This is another simple tasks to check off your volunteer hours, but have plenty of time to wander around Faire enjoying the vending booths and entertainer's shows.