Past Faire Reports

This was the first Renaissance Faire that I attended. As I recall from the time, the group of family members that were in attendance included, my parents, four sisters, two brother-in-laws, a niece, a nephew, my son and my wife.

As this was my first Faire experience I and my immediate family were dressed in mundanes, which did not detract from our enjoyment of the faire in the least. From the opening show, through the close of the day I remained fascinated by the interaction of guests and the members of the faire itself. My son particularly enjoyed the pickle vendors and their hawking of their wares. It seemed they competed to attract the attention of passerby's, and in a vocal manner to be louder, and sustain the cry longer than the next vendor. As a student of the theatre, and knowing how difficult projecting a voice in the open air that way I was both amused and impressed by the talents of these specific individuals. Needless to say they retain the highest ranking in my memory at this time.

The costumes, the shows, , and oh yes, the Wenches, *sigh* . I was transported to a realm I had enjoyed in books and theatre, and loved every minute of it.

Unfortunately, I wasn't in a position at the time to continue a pastime of attending Faires, due to my permanent residence, and lack of available time. So there was a long hiatus until my next faire.

The opening show commenced, , the magic began, , the minstrels began to transport me to a gentler time, and I recalled the pleasures of my first Faire. The gates opened, and the crowd, though small, surged forward. Our first entrance into the show involved a wench hawking for the Zucchini Brothers, , a juggling act extraordinaire, or so she said *chuckle* but would a wench lie? nay she would not, so we ambled forward to seat ourselves in the front row. The audience was warmed up by Tuey, who wasn't a participant in the Zucchini Brothers show, he had an act that we did manage to catch later on in the day. The Zucchini Brothers managed to gather a somewhat sizable crowd, and began their show, , hehehe, , Green and Ripe Zucchini, my amusement began even before the show really began, , ok, , I'm easy to amuse, but I'm  kind of used to me being this way, , ,

On to the visiting of many Many crafters, and entertainers, I thought more and more about buying an outfit right then, but was dissuaded, for the time being anyway. My son had a fascination for arrows, so on to the archery range, and the expending of nearly 100 arrows, by which time his arm Finally got tired and we could continue on to enjoy the shows. My favorite of the weekend was the OxyMoron Theatre, in which I as an innocent bystander, well, maybe not so innocent, became the Joe of the show. you Have to see this group for yourself, no secrets given out here, but they are my Most memorable group from the weekend, and I'll go back and strive my best to be the innocent bystander again, funfunfun. My son, at age 9, received his first double wenching of his life, and though I'm sure he didn't appreciate it as much as he will in coming years, he Did blush, *chuckle* kids are just too cute sometimes.

The other favorite memory of the weekend was being challenged, by my son, to a duel, (two duels actually, one each day), in which we strove to pop the balloons tied to the fencing masks we wore. Now, although I dearly love my son, and want him to have fun, it has always been my position that he must earn a victory, not by his opponent allowing him a victory, but by his winning it on his own. A small group of teens were near and, much to my wife's amusement, performed a running commentary on out match. Unfortunately for my son, I had both the reach and the experience in this match and he lost quickly, yet gracefully, and we both enjoyed it. The second day he managed to strike a blow, popping one of my balloons, and he felt a lot better about the match, though he ultimately lost both days. *sigh* Unfortunately for me, he has youth on his side and shall one day get his revenge, hehehe, but he'll have to work at it.

Oh yes, the policy that existed, yet didn't exist. The official stated policy regarding weapons at this faire was said to be "NO WEAPONS" though I saw a lot of costumed patrons bearing arms, and none of them were peace-tied. Now, as this is the land where famous last words are often "Hey Y'all, Watch THIS ! ! !," I was a slight bit concerned. When I asked a long time attendee of this faire they investigated the matter and reported that the then official policy was, "NO WEAPONS-unless you happen to be wearing one and then it must be peace-tied," umm, that didn't make a lot of sense to me, and when I was then informed that this person had to explain to security just exactly what was meant by peace-tied, I grew even more concerned.

:danger-opinion about to be expressed:
Now, I like sharp pointy things as much as the next person, but I do believe that keeping your weapon securely peace-tied is a Must for a responsible bearer of arms. It is not to keep you from drawing your own weapon, but it is meant to keep it from being drawn by someone else, who may not know exactly how dangerous it can be, and was merely curious. I'd like to see every site have a policy that set aside an area where live steel could be brandished and played with by knowledgeable individuals, but also have security on hand to ensure said weapons were again safe when participants left the live arena area.

Although I had planned on meeting a couple of otters there, no Not the furry kind, at least I don't think they were, *snicker* that plan was preempted by another situation, which I hope to rectify in the near future. More on otters can be found at the newsgroup Alt.Fairs.Renaissance.