06/03/2025
A Crafty Goblin, LLC & SIRF Statement
May 29, 2025
A Crafty Goblin, LLC
After a significant amount of time and soul searching, it is with a heavy heart that A Crafty Goblin, LLC will no longer be attending or associated with any Southern Indiana Renaissance Fair (SIRF) events in the future. There have just been too many issues for us to deal with, and a lack of support from leadership within SIRF has led us to this decision.
While we do not want to see the event fail, we feel that we cannot continue to support future events. In the past, as others would express their concerns, we felt it was our job to show the good of the event as well. Unfortunately, this has become harder and harder as time went on.
If we find significant changes are made in the future, we may reconsider this stance when that happens. However, those changes would have to be significant, in both leadership and policy changes.
Some of the issues we felt were significant enough to warrant this decision are (but not limited to):
• A lack of communication with the vendors. There was no communication with vendors prior to the event on any changes or reminders. There was not even a confirmation of your attendance. The only communication channel was via a “hidden” page that was not even told to new vendors.
• Ongoing vendor traffic flow issues. Several vendors were placed in areas were their traffic flow was significantly lower than the rest of the event. Because of these traffic flow issues, some vendors had to move or were just out of luck during parts of the fair.
• Ongoing safety issues and concerns. There seemed to be selective enforcement of safety issues during the fair. While several arms vendors were very safe, there was at least one in particular who allowed customers to “test”, purchase, and walk away with various knives (butterfly, switchblade, and mechanical assist) without any form of safety. The weapons were not peace tied or secured in any form of packaging.
• Additional safety concerns from patrons. It appeared that there was no enforcement of weapon securing from patrons of the fair. We saw no inspection or even hardly any weapons secured, and this included patrons who had been served alcohol.
• Safety issues from the venue. Over the past two years, we’ve had concerns from employees at Swifty Farms. While some employees were helpful, there were some that were extremely rude to both patrons and vendors. This culminated in the events on the last Sunday where a Swifty employee was intentionally driving golf balls into the event while vendors and patrons were there.
• Lack of advertising for the event. While zero numbers were ever sent to vendors as far as attendance (this could be an amazing advertising statistic with both vendors and patrons), it seems that foot traffic has dropped over the past several years. We have seen zero advertising of any kind for the event, including internet, radio, or television.
• Senior leadership of SIRF discussing vendor concerns with other vendors. We were shocked by this, but a member of the SIRF leadership discussed concerns about another vendor with one of our employees. This concerns us significantly because we don’t know what they are telling others about us as well. This information should be kept confidential within SIRF leadership, and any concerns be addressed with the vendor in question.
• Poor organizational and event management practices. Several decisions were made during the event that frustrated many people. Movement of significant events during the fair without updating the maps given to patrons, removal of bleachers during the jousting, and preventing vendors from breaking down their tents until almost 1.5 hours after the event ended on the last day.
We hope that the SIRF continues to grow and flourish, but without significant improvements in these areas, we have significant concerns. We feel that there are a significant number of events nearby that would serve us better, even though many of our close friends were fond of this event in the past.
If anyone has any questions at all about this open letter or our decision, feel free to contact us via our website or email address. We would be happy to discuss this at any time.
Angela Holmes
Owner / CEO
James K Holmes
Co-Owner / COO
