{"id":3833,"date":"2025-04-30T09:51:06","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T16:51:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/riffin_griffin\/?p=3833"},"modified":"2025-04-29T13:32:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T20:32:13","slug":"oh-my-renn-fayre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/riffin_griffin\/2025\/04\/oh-my-renn-fayre\/","title":{"rendered":"Oh My Renn Fayre"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As commencement and graduation draw ever closer so does the grandest celebration of the year at Reed College: Renn Fayre! You can read more about the history of Renn Fayre in a series of articles published through The Grail<\/a>, a student-run creative magazine. I\u2019m not here to tell you the history of Renn Fayre itself, but a short history of some of its best previous themes\u2013all leading up to the reveal of this year\u2019s theme, of course!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first decades of Renn Fayre were Renaissance themed, or without a theme entirely. In the year 2000, an article in The Quest led to the first themed Renn Fayre:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our magical weekend of joyous mayhem and drug-induced glory is only the beginning. The forces of Good and Evil are upon us [\u2026] There is only one answer. SUPERHEROES.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Mistress of Costumery, The Quest, April 4, 2000<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The success of a themed celebration took off, and in 2002, the Czars made the theme a riff of a classic film with: Bill and Ted’s Excellent RF. The campus came alive with creatures for the apocalypse theme of \u201903.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The entrance to the library, decorated for the apocalypse<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201905 was graced with a hot air balloon and a Ziggy Stardust theme!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
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The view through the Sallyport of festivities in 2005<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A Renn Fayre hot air balloon on the great lawn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Body was the theme for 2009, which featured a giant vagina and a “boob room,\u201d where the bean bag chairs had nipples. In the aughts, theme reveal videos became all the rage. During a ball held a few months before the semester\u2019s finale, a Czar-made video would play to reveal the theme for the spring\u2019s celebrations. The earliest one I can find is the reveal for 2010<\/a>, where they blasted Daft Punk and revealed the Final Frontier theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In 2012, the Czars took a page from the HUM 110 syllabus and themed Renn Fayre: \u201cGenesis\u201d, although the theme was more broadly about the origins of creation, not limited to its namesake required reading. The great lawn was filled with little plastic flamingos in 2015 for the Miami Boom Boom Renn Fayre, which was surely a blast wilder than Spring Breaking in Miami proper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elvis Presley (impersonators), balloon arches, and gaudy decorations peppered Reed\u2019s campus for the Sin City Renn Fayre of 2018, accompanied by the Vegas Chapel that was set up all weekend, pictured below. Rumor has it that some of the weddings performed were never formally annulled, and some of those Reedies are still married to this day\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A wedding ceremony in the Sallyport, officiated by Elvis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For 2019, the theme was Lucid Dreams<\/a> (not the hit single by the late Juice WRLD, but the concept itself)! Student art projects for this Renn Fayre featured lights and colorful psychedelic iconography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"rf2k19-067-3883.jpg\"
Jellyfish in the grove on the Great Lawn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I might be biased, as this was my first Renn Fayre, but I think the Pandemonium theme of 2022 was truly a sight to behold. A student put together a montage of thesis burnings<\/a>, where the outfits and whimsy around campus are on full display.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While all of the themes listed above were amazing in their own right, I\u2019m most excited for this year\u2019s theme (and it\u2019s definitely not because I\u2019m a senior). This year\u2019s theme is, drum roll please\u2026\u2026. Cosmic Resurgence! The theme reveal video<\/a> features intergalactic iconography of all sorts. I hope to see an abundance of aliens, astronauts, planets, moon dust, retro futuristic outfits, and disco gogo boots!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did Renn Fayre in your time have themes? What were your favorites? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preparing to burn my thesis,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taliah Churchill \u201925<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As commencement and graduation draw ever closer so does the grandest celebration of the year at Reed College: Renn Fayre! You can read more about the history of Renn Fayre in a series of articles published through The Grail, a student-run creative magazine. I\u2019m not here to tell you the history of Renn Fayre itself, … Continue reading Oh My Renn Fayre<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2891,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[187,186,191],"tags":[197,178,114],"class_list":["post-3833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-oldereed","category-traditions","category-rennfayre","tag-reed-traditions","tag-renn-fayre","tag-tradition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/riffin_griffin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/riffin_griffin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/riffin_griffin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/riffin_griffin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2891"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/riffin_griffin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3833"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/riffin_griffin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3833\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3834,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/riffin_griffin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3833\/revisions\/3834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/riffin_griffin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/riffin_griffin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/riffin_griffin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}