You apparently don’t understand what it means for food to be Kosher.

I’ve often left to my car for one reason or another and been allowed back in without a problem. I simply explain at the gate why I wish to do so.

Really? That’s quite remarkable. We were told told quite firmly by several different gate staffers that we would not be allowed back in if we left, that this was the policy of the Faire and that it was non-negotiable. Several other commenters on my blog have had exactly the same experience, including a woman who was denied permission to return to her car to change medical dressings on her leg! I would be delighted to hear that they have changed their policy, but I can find no evidence of this on their Web site.

An article published by southcosttoday.com dated September 10, 2009, asserts, “…no readmittance is allowed once patrons head back through the gates to their cars.”

It is NOT discriminatory,

Well, yes, if they refuse to let people bring in their own food and refuse to let them leave and re-enter, then it is discriminatory. The former is still the Faire’s explicit policy as posted on their Web site, and there’s nothing other than the word of one anonymous commenter on the Internet, which is contradicted by published reports, to suggest that they’ve changed the latter.

Yet another intrepid commenter, I see, who didn’t bother to read what has been written before.

King Richard’s Faire has a no re-entry policy, a fact which is mentioned briefly at the end of my article, which you obviously did not read very carefully. We asked to be allowed to leave the Faire to eat our lunch and then re-enter, and we were denied that as well, a fact which I will add to my article (it’s mentioned already in the comments, but clearly not everyone takes the trouble to read the comments before commenting themselves).

do you think this only happens to people who keep kosher?

No, I think it happens to people of all sorts, and I think it’s wrong for all of them.

If you’re going to have a no-outside-food policy, then you have to let people leave and re-enter the faire. If you’re not going to let people leave and re-enter the faire, then you have to let people bring in their own food. It is completely, utterly unacceptable to tell people that they can’t bring in their own food and then tell them that they can’t leave to eat.

Keeping Kosher is not the only special dietary need for which this is relevant. People with allergies, people with medically necessary diets, people with diabetes, etc. often cannot trust food prepared by strangers. The KRF policy is discriminatory and offensive.

Those vendors make their money by selling their crap and if the public was allowed to bring in an alternative to crap, those vendors would not be in business.

Bullocks. The faires that allow outside food have just as many food vendors. Do you think they’re all losing money?

Whenever I go to a carnival or fair, I eat before I go, and if I’m going to be there all day, I pack a meal-leave the grounds to eat- then return to the grounds. Are you too lazy to walk the 100 yards to your car?

Are you too lazy to read other people’s comments before bloviating?

If you are eating kosher, as you claim, you shouled have plenty of energy to deal with this MINOR inconveniece.

It’s hard to imagine why you think that keeping kosher has anything whatsoever to do with having “plenty of energy.”

OR- do you just want to whine about something?

Pot. Kettle. Black.

What is your problem? You brought your own food, you can eat it at your car during your meal break and then re enter the faire.

do you think this only happens to people who keep kosher? how about people who just don’t want to cram fried crap into their bodies? It’s a FAIRE! the food is always going to be crap. Those vendors make their money by selling their crap and if the public was allowed to bring in an alternative to crap, those vendors would not be in business.

Whenever I go to a carnival or fair, I eat before I go, and if I’m going to be there all day, I pack a meal-leave the grounds to eat- then return to the grounds. Are you too lazy to walk the 100 yards to your car? If you are eating kosher, as you claim, you shouled have plenty of energy to deal with this MINOR inconveniece. OR- do you just want to whine about something? People like you ruin the fun of playing in public. You’re like the kid who begs to go to the beach, but can’t stand the feel of sand.

Stay home, watch TV and get fat. Sounds like that is more your style anyway.

You do not know me, but recently whilst searching the internet for information about King Richard’s Faire, I came across your online post about the particular situation you had the misfortune of going through. I’ve had only been to the Faire for the first time last summer, but I must agree, you argue a number of very valid points despite the fact that I am not Jewish. I also believe that despite the fact that I had an enjoyable time, it did cost entirely too much. One can easily spend upwards of $60 on just themselves which the entrance fee and purchasing food. I consider this amount to be entirely too much considering less can be spent at other numerous and more enjoyable events.

Though I have never been discriminated against due to my religion, I can only imagine the embarrassment you and your family had to undergo just because you are clearly dedicated to your religion. I find this fact very admirable and believe in instances such as yours, rules should be bent in order to maintain a professional and customer friendly image. Simply allowing paying customers to eat lunch in your parking lot doesn’t exactly spell “returning customer” to me.

In short, I appreciate the fact that people like you aren’t afraid to be David in what seems to be a world becoming more and more overrun with Goliaths. I know I will be telling my friends about this story the next time we speak of attending the Faire and propose that we attend the Connecticut Faire as a cheaper and less greed ridden alternative to the King Richard’s Faire. I know that discrimination still exists today, but it’s hard to believe it would be to the degree as to not allow paying customers to bring food into a public place. I hope that one day the people behind King Richard’s Faire sees the error of their ways or new management takes over and allows this change in policy (although I wouldn’t blame if for not going back even if they did). I wish your family the best in your future endeavors and hey, maybe I’ll see you at the Connecticut Faire this year.

This is not the only faire with these sorts of policies. All the RenFair.com shows say no outside food too. And there is no list on their sites of what food they DO have that a kosher jew, diabetic, celiac, nut-allergic, etc. person could eat. There is no information about how their food is made or what is in it.

So eat in the car or risk your life. Or you could just stay home. Or go to some other event. Your choice. No help from management at some of these faires. Money is all that matters. Complaining does not influence them. Only something that causes people like Bonnie to lose money or to spend money has any effect, like a letter from a lawyer (though she usually toughs that out). Dealing with Bonnie Shapiro and all like her … leave a bad taste in the mouth. Thanks for trying!

Thanks for all the info.

Halfway through the day, I tried to get a hand stamp so that I could return to my hotel and change the dressing on my foot – something that had to be done several times per day. I was told that reentry would be impossible if I left for more than a few minutes, and was told to either change the dressings in the car or at the first aid tent. Okay, so *maybe* the first aid tent would have had the bandages and sterile solutions I needed, but I rather doubt they had the prescription medications required to repack the wound. Foregoing the medications, in this case, was not an option. It would have meant risking internal scarring that could have affected my ability to walk in the future.

The gate people had seen me hobble about for hours on crutches, and the bandaging was clearly getting, not to get too graphic, a bit soiled in a way which could be clearly seen from the outside. I don’t think it was a matter of their not believing me.

Not to get too graphic, the whole process of soaking off the bandaging, cleaning out the site, and rebandaging involved a certain amount of mess and unpleasantness that *could* have been done out at the car, had I brought all the supplies with me (mere water was insufficient, I had to use vast quantities of sterile saline). However, I would have risked serious infection from the introduction of whatever parking lot debris was flying through the air, and again, not to get too graphic, but where could I have poured out the ahem, byproducts?

Anyway, the staff at the gate wouldn’t budge, and rather than force my family to leave so early, I opted to stay for a few more hours – in increasing discomfort, and making the eventual removal of the bandaging much more painful and messy than it should have been – all at the pleasure of the Bonnie Bitch.

It is unfortunate she has no real competition. The Ct. Faire doesn’t open until late September.