All’s Not Faire, Say Some in San Marcos : Community: The popular Renaissance Faire will expand to two weekends, but its new location in a city park has nearby residents up in arms.

The annual Renaissance Faire in San Marcos will expand to two weekends and move across town this fall, a prospect that has some residents predicting a medieval mess for their rural neighborhood.

Neighbors of Walnut Grove Park in Twin Oaks Valley, who unsuccessfully jousted Tuesday night with the City Council, say the expected turnout of 7,500 people a day will overwhelm the area’s narrow roads.

Faire director Elainna Carter promises a smooth operation for the Chamber of Commerce-sponsored event. “I know everybody is hysterical . . . but give us a chance,” she asked residents, noting that the faire has an eight-year track record in the city.

In the past, the event was held at an industrial park off Rancho Santa Fe Road. But, when the industrial park rejected a request to expand the faire to two weekends, the chamber turned to Walnut Grove Park.

That sparked complaints from surrounding residents, who foresee an “invasion” of errant knights and damsels carousing through their neighborhoods, urinating in public and blocking driveways with their cars.

A survey of 75 to 100 households in the Twin Oaks Property Assn. found the faire opposed by a 2-1 margin, spokeswoman Linnea Stimpson said.

Carter said traffic will be directed by a private security force and sheriff’s deputies, parking violators will be towed and noise would be tame compared to the chamber’s annual chili cook-off, also held at Walnut Grove Park.

In contrast to the cook-off’s smaller but boisterous crowd and loud battle of the bands entertainment, the Renaissance Faire will feature a family-oriented audience and musicians playing wind instruments, Carter said.

A 10 p.m. curfew for vendors camping overnight at the park should also put a lid on noise, she said. Faire organizers will also recycle trash from the event, replace any trampled grass at the park and make sure there are more than enough parking spaces and portable toilets, she said.

“This faire is home-grown; it’s not from L.A. or out of state,” Carter said. Many of the vendors are from North County, she said, adding that San Marcos benefits from the sales-tax income and the publicity.

Residents, however, complain that much of the park will be closed to youth sports groups and others who normally would use it during the 18 days it will take to set up, run and take down the faire.

“A city park should be open to all residents on a daily basis . . . not just those who pay admission to the faire,” said Bill Jeffrey, who lives a half mile from the park.

He also complained that “all the traffic control possible does not compensate for the resident who gets stuck in it at the end of the faire’s day.”

But, when he and other residents voiced objections to City Council, Mayor Lee Thibadeau said the Chamber of Commerce should be allowed to use the site because “it was the business community that built the park in the first place.”

But city and chamber officials promised that the move to Walnut Grove Park is only temporary. By 1994, the faire will switch to another location, they said.

Stimpson called that “a redeeming factor” but said she still doesn’t want the event in her neighborhood.