Renaissance Man

Larry Rabin's Unconventional Life on the Fair Circuit

Based on interviews and field observations, the Savage Collective is engaged in assembling an oral history of contemporary jobs performed by working-class Americans. These Profiles in Labor will focus on a range of jobs including the most unusual and most mundane. We aim to highlight the dignity and meaning inherent in all sorts of jobs that do not require a college degree.

In this first Profile in Labor, we highlight an unusual job, a leather goods salesman at renaissance fairs. This profile was written by Naomi Weiss, an intern at the Savage Collective and a sophomore in the Frederick’s Honors College at the University of Pittsburgh.

As this is a new type of writing for us, we look forward to your thoughts and feedback.

Larry Rabin’s greeting is loud and his handshake very firm. Two tattoos circle around both of his arms, his ears are pierced, and he sports a goatee. His eyes are sharp and focused, while his legs constantly shake. He’s slightly intimidating but a good listener. Larry works in in an unconventional retail setting--not in a brick-and-mortar store or an Etsy shop but in a tent on renaissance fairs. There among fifteenth century lords and kings and peasants, Larry owns and runs “Just in Tyme Boots” selling leather accessories.  He is a salesperson, manager, negotiator, and friend, in tall boots and a steampunk hat.

When Larry was ten years old, his mother found an advertisement for a renaissance fair in the local weekend paper. Knowing that Larry liked “knights and stuff”, they decided to visit the fair. Larry immediately loved it. After many trips to various fairs, he began recognizing some regulars and they began recognizing him. Eventually, fair workers asked him to join a group that performed battle scenes, which he grew to love. Larry was part of this group for over ten years, discovering his natural gift for performance.

In the early years of his renaissance performance, he was not earning a wage and needed a job. Throughout high school and into his early career, he worked various retail sales jobs. He realized that fighting at the renaissance fair and selling in retail involved a crucial element: performing. Whether theatrically performing in front of a crowd, or strategically performing for a customer, Larry had an obvious knack for it. In his paid retail jobs, he sold things “aggressively” to customers in various stores, including the clothing store “Merry Go Round,” which was popular in the 1980s for its trendy teen fashion. He was skilled enough that he was promoted to manager at several stores.

While working these jobs, Larry’s career at the renaissance fair was taking off, and he began getting paid for his performances. After moving to Tennessee to pursue a new romantic relationship, he began his own combat chess group at the Tennessee Renaissance Fair. Down south, Larry’s combat group lasted for five years and was a huge hit in the community. Many of his performance friends were also jousters, so he began learning theatrical fighting on horseback. One day, some of his buddies needed a last-minute replacement for a jousting show. Larry had very little experience but abruptly found himself fighting on a horse in front of a crowd.

“I had ridden a horse very little, I mean, a little here and there…they put me on that crazy mare, and it was fast.”.

Although Larry was making some money with his jousting and other performance, it was difficult to survive without a side hustle. So, he started a leather goods business,  a small enterprise with just him and his inventory.

John Kane Scott’s Day at Kennywood 1932

“I had a pickup truck. Before even that, I had an SUV and a five by eight trailer, and I could fit everything in that, and I could set up a tent by myself, and I could run the show by myself if I had to.”

Over time, this side hustle became Larry’s main hustle. At “Just in Tyme Boots,” he sells leather boots of all colors, jester shoes, leather tricorn hats, steampunk hats, red leather boot laces, boot conchos, leather gloves, leather belt pouches, and sword frogs (which bind the sword to the belt) from a tent that he sets up and breaks down before and after each fair.

Larry sees himself primarily as a sales professional. His flair for performance persists as he lobs “pick-up” lines at his potential customers. One of his most popular lines goes something like…

“ You look like Amazon threw up on you.”

Larry assures me that they laugh, though any offense taken by a fairgoer could technically be pursued using the sword attached to their hip.

One of Larry’s prime virtues as a sales professional, however, is authenticity. He strives to be the opposite of a stereotypical car salesman. By evaluating his customers, making them feel accepted, and convincing them that his products will improve their lives - something that he fully believes- he establishes trust. He treats customers like they’re his friends.

“I can get them from the street into sitting down, new boots on their feet, back out again, paid, and leaving in under ten minutes. And they just spent, you know, two hundred to three hundred dollars, maybe even five hundred dollars. They give me that money cheerfully…We sell joy.”

However, being an outgoing salesperson is just part of his job. On the daily, he deals with vendors, creates new items, conducts an inventory, handles contracts with companies, keeps track of insurance, services vehicles, repairs tents, co-owns the North Dakota Renaissance Fair…

“I have a lot of responsibilities in North Dakota…”

…tracks UPS packages, and last but far from least, cares for his employees. They are essential for maintaining and expanding his business, but also for the inherently social nature of his work. The renaissance fair fosters unique and long-lasting relationships.

Just in Tyme Boots has grown so much that Larry employs a salesforce. He takes pride in treating his employees well. He ensures that they have insurance coverage, receive just wages, and get time off. With multiple full-time employees, he especially invests in those with potential. One of his goals is to train more employees, teaching them the art of selling and molding them to reach his high standards of salesmanship.

Although he loves working, it comes with challenges. Managing the company is a full-time job, not just on fair weekends. He typically arrives at the fair on a Wednesday to start setting up for the weekend. Before anything, he will check in with the vendor coordinator, using his negotiating skills to get his desired tent location. He then unloads his trailer, sets up a tent, and arranges the merchandise.

“I work all the time. Just now, I had to field a phone call. I can choose to not take that call, but it’s just gonna pile up if I don’t. Which is good and bad. I like the - I like that it’s constant change because I’m very much an ADHD guy. If I was doing the same stupid thing all the time, it would bore me… But it has challenges…It keeps my mind sharp, uhh, but you know, I suppose I could get used to doing less. Having more leisure time.”

He travels extensively for his work. Though Larry’s home is in Florida, he’ll only see it for six months. He’ll sell at the Florida renaissance fairs from late November to March, then take a huge breath and a break during April. In May, he “gears up and leaves Florida - not to return for a while”. He drives to Virginia, and simultaneously opens up in New Jersey. He then makes the long haul to North Dakota while some of his employees head to Vermont. He also stops in Ohio and Connecticut. At the end of the primary fair season, Larry uses October to rest and regroup. As November approaches, the Florida renaissance shows will be starting up yet again, attending three simultaneously with his team.

“It has its challenges and there are times when, you know, I wish I was home. Like I really need to get back to Florida for a variety of reasons and I can't. There's no way I can go back right now - not for a while - but otherwise…yea it’s really cool.”

For Larry, one of the many positive things about traveling is meeting interesting people. Over the past forty years, he has made countless friends across the nation. Some frequently reappear, while others seem to vanish into the abyss. He also loves that the fairs cater to misfits, people that may not fit in anywhere else. The fairs function as an escape from reality, creating a different world or at least a different time in history. It’s also a place for fun where you might encounter cosplayers, history nerds, theater kids, babies, adults, and social security recipients. Larry enjoys interacting with little children, the elderly, college kids, older adults with families, moms, dads, kids, and couples.

“Everybody finds something they like. Some people could care less about the renaissance part, but they like horses. Some people just like music. Some people just like dress-up. Some people just like to be seen… there’s something for everybody, as long as you're willing to look.”

With its long hours and physically and mentally taxing duties, Larry’s workstyle at the renaissance fair has become more of a lifestyle. The distinction between his personal and work life are blurred, which Larry describes as “both of (my) worlds being fully integrated”. Although he has activities that he enjoys outside of work, sometimes he has to force himself to engage in them. Larry considers himself a “workaholic,” leisure is foreign concept to him. Even when he does have a few minutes to himself, his leisure activity is closely linked to the fair.  Larry enjoys full-contact fighting, equipping himself in full armor for medieval and renaissance reenactments. The renaissance fair takes up a massive portion of Larry’s life, and he’s proud, of what he’s accomplished.

“It absolutely is a part of who I am as a person ‘cause I created this. I did this. I am the architect. It was my idea from the conception and every decision that has been made that has allowed us to achieve the next level…I made that choice.”

His life is so integrated with his work that his young son joins him on the road, where he is homeschooled. His son has found a place for himself in the fair community, participating in a live-action Dungeons and Dragons-type game, called Dice Knights, which, according to Larry, provides plenty of social interaction for him. He talks fairgoers ears off about Dice Knights, Pokemon, and Mario. “Whenever he’s in, he’s all in”, Larry says, “much like his dad.”

Larry’s work at the renaissance fair isn’t typical, and neither is his life. He travels thousands of miles a year with his homeschooled son, his coworkers wear fifteenth-century clothing, and he meets peculiar but friendly people every single day. Yet, because Larry loves what he does, he makes this unusual lifestyle a crucial lifestyle for himself. The renaissance fair is not just his workplace but also his leisure space and his home.