The Ohio Renaissance Festival Protest

As you might know, Peter Carroll and the Ohio Renaissance Festival are suing me for an amount listed as over a quarter of a million dollars in real world damages.  As you can tell, I am quaking in my boots.

Evidently, Peter Carroll and his lawyer think I have cost ORF Inc. over a quarter of a million dollars in the year or so that this web site has been up.  I would share his specific claims with you, but they are so very vague that I honestly haven’t a clue.  What isn’t vague is just plain silly.  In one section, he claims that I dumped chemicals into the creek.  Then he claims I filed reports about environmental dangers that don’t exist.  Uh, which one is it?  Chemicals were dumped or there was no risk to he environment?  The rest of the law suit reads about the same.  As he can’t possibly think I have a quarter of a million dollars in my pockets, I had to wonder why he would bother with the law suit.

The only thing I could figure is that it is a prideful exit strategy.  When he looses the suit, he could still tell himself and associates that the Ohio Renaissance Festival failed because it became the victim of an online smear campaign.  By blaming me for his own shortcomings, he thinks he can save face.  Funny as I am a brain damaged goat and chicken farmer.  Maybe that’s why in the suit he named people and incorporations that don’t exist.  No kidding, the man is suing John Doe incorporated or some such thing.  He can’t face up to the idea that a disabled chicken farmer alone could have brought this about.

Now I have heard rumors about the Ohio Renaissance Festival closing its gates for years.  Year after year the rumors are proven wrong on opening day.  But something has changed which makes me question if such is not planned for the near future.  What has changed?  I have much more knowledge of their corporate structure.  Just what would happen if ORF Inc. went belly up sometime after this season ends?

With about 130 merchants paying around $1,000.00 each just after the end of this season, ORF Inc. would have taken in about $130,000.00 in lease agreements.  As ORF Inc. doesn’t seem to own the land on which the festival is operated, I imagine that money and more could be paid to Brimstone Limited Partnership which is in turn seems to be owned by the Carroll Investment Group Inc. of Delaware.  If ORF Inc. were to declare bankruptcy, who would merchants sue to get their money back?

What about the minimum wage, FICA, and other withholding issues which seem to exist?  If ORF Inc. no longer exists, just who would the State and Federal Government investigate?

Maybe declaring bankruptcy is the smart thing to do.  Considering all the things that have been coming to light recently, maybe closing the gates and declaring bankruptcy  is the only thing for the man to do.  But if that is what he is planning on doing, it would be highly unethical to go ahead and issue leases at the end of this season.

In closing, I want to say again that I have heard rumors of the Ohio Renaissance Festival’s demise for years and they always manage to open the following season.  I have no reason to think the latest rumors are any different.  The thing is, I do not have an investment there.  If you do, maybe it would be a very good idea to ask questions and obtain assurances.