HUNTINGTON BEACH : College Faire Seeks Renaissance of Funds

Facing the same stringent budget cuts plaguing other California colleges, Golden West College officials are taking a creative approach to raising money: They are holding a Renaissance Faire.

The campus’s transformation to 16th-Century shire today and Sunday is expected to draw at least 20,000 people.

College officials expect to raise $30,000, more than double the $12,000 they raised last year.

Though it is not the college’s first Renaissance Faire, it is the first one with so much at stake, and organizers have stepped up their efforts to make it the major fund-raiser of the year.

“All California community colleges are feeling the brunt of the budget cuts,” said Glenda Blackburn, president of the Golden West College Foundation.

“We were expecting not to get the same amount of money, so we planned to make this year’s fair better.”

Participation in campus groups has doubled, amounting to a campuswide involvement of about 600 people.

Students, faculty and staff have joined in recreating a 16th-Century community replete with Renaissance-type food, games and music.

Entertainment ranging from music to drama will be provided all day long.

However, in an effort to preserve as much authenticity as possible, no electrical loudspeakers will be used--or they will be well hidden.

About 90 vendors will be selling everything from temporary tattoos to ceramic wares.

Students from the theater arts department will be dressed up in Renaissance costumes mingling with the public, either playing tricks on them or acting scenes and soliloquies from Shakespeare.

“Hopefully, people will just want to join in. Anyone can interrupt us when we’re doing the scenes,” said Jennifer Severance, 18, a first-year student majoring in theater arts.

Fair-goers can also expect to see personages such as Henry VIII and Mary, Queen of Scots, who will make up this year’s theme, “Famous Monarchs.”

“It’s like stepping into a bit of history because it’s a combination of history and drama and language,” said Roxana Ross, librarian and adviser to the college’s honor society, one of the student groups volunteering in the fair.

The money raised by their organization will go toward funding student scholarships, Ross said.

The event evolved from a community festival, held annually for 22 years, to a Renaissance Faire in 1989.

The yearlong process of planning and preparing for the fair is strictly a volunteer effort.

While no one is actually paid, all the money raised goes toward supporting student organizations or campus departments, such as language arts or theater.

Each campus group that is sponsoring a booth will get some money.

“We all know that funds are scarce and it provides an opportunity for families in Orange County to participate in a little bit of history,” said Jennifer Lawson, student body president.

Blackburn noted that the campus community has taken great efforts to make the fair a success.

One of the school’s librarians made 60 costumes.

“We don’t know of any community college who does this kind of event,” Blackburn said.

“It is historical in nature and educational because it gives people an opportunity to see how life was lived in another period. It’s just a paradise for children. It’s truly a family-type affair.”

The fair will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today and Sunday.

Fair-goers should enter the Golden West campus on Gothard Street.