By MARGIE TRAX PAGE - Staff Writer - mtrax@starbeacon.com
TRUMBULL TOWNSHIP — The fate of the Great Lakes Medieval Faire is in jeopardy, faire officials say, as the sudden enforcement of a three-year-old Trumbull Township resolution could shut down the fictional town of Avaloch.
The resolution requires each “transient vendor” to register with the township and pay a $150 fee, but also limits the days and hours a transient vendor can sell goods or services.
The resolution, which will be discussed at a public meeting Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Trumbull Township Fire Department, prohibits transient business owners from selling items or services from November to April and only allows these businesses to open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends from May 1 to Oct. 31.
“We are not at all concerned with the $150 vendor’s fee, but the faire is open in the summer on the weekends,” GLMF spokesperson Cindy Ridgeway said. “For 17 years we have been open in July and August. This resolution will close the Medieval Faire.”
Trustee Willis Clay said the resolution is not meant to single out the faire, but to protect township residents from fly-by-night sellers.
“People want to know who these people are, where they came from and how to get a hold of them next week or next month,” Clay said. “The fee is a way to register these sellers, a way of protecting township residents from potentially unscrupulous people.”
Ridgeway said Ashtabula County sheriff’s deputies issued citations to out-of-town business owners at the faire several weeks ago.
“We have 140 vendors and about 75 of them were cited,” Ridgeway said. “That’s everyone from the lemonade stand to the crystal seller.”
Ridgeway said crafters and artisans who have traveled to the faire for years were cited.
Clay said the resolution isn’t new to the township books, but the township has taken a new interest in enforcing it.
“There have been other situations where we would have tried to apply this resolution,” Clay said. “The faire is a central gathering place for these kinds of vendors. It is time to start making this work for the people of the township and we had to start somewhere.”
Local businesswoman Victoria D’Orazio brings her merchandise to the faire each year.
“I sell fairy dolls and Royal Inca Alpaca clothing at the faire, which has helped my income greatly during these hard economic times,” she said.
D’Orazio said the tourist dollars that flood the area over the faire’s seven-week yearly run should be enough to make the trustees happy.
“Medieval and Renaissance fairs are held all over the country,” D’Orazio said. “Any other place in Ohio would welcome this festival with open arms because of the amount of commerce it brings into the area.”
“This show contributes greatly to (the area) by the taxes we pay, the number of patrons who come and do business with the gas stations, grocery stores, hotels and by the merchants and entertainers who pay to stay in the area,” she said.
Trustee John McMahan said the trustees have several issues with the faire and its owner, Larry Rickard, but are focused on the transient vendor license, for now.
“There are 120-140 vendors at the faire,” he said. “Multiply that by $150 and you have a benefit to the township that could begin to offset some of the problems the faire brings to the area.”
McMahan said he has taken dozens of telephone calls from people across the country who support the faire, but he is only interested in what Trumbull Township residents have to say.
“I think the trustees would listen to anything anyone has to say if it came from people who live in our township,” he said. “I don’t really care about people from Tennessee, Indiana or New York who come in and try to sell stuff for seven weeks a year.”
