This past weekend, my sister and I
continued our tradition of going to the Renaissance Fair on its last
weekend. This time we also took my friend Melissa, and it was her
first time attending. I even managed to convince her to dress up with
me, since I have enough bellydance costuming to dress at least two
people. It's always fun to have someone dress up with me when I go,
since I feel like that's half the fun of going. It's also a lot of
fun to see what other people wear (especially on Steampunk Weekend!),
and I make sure to let someone know if I really like their outfit.
When we were there this last time, I even got a couple of
compliments, which definitely helped make my day.
It's a lot of fun to just walk around
and take in the atmosphere of the fair, interacting with the cast
members. Not long after we got there, we came across two of the men
playing bigger-sized Jenga, having women pick which block they'd take
out and then using their sword to do so. We usually go with a list of
things to do/see in mind, but we also take advantage of random things
like that if we just happen upon them.
We had a list of
shows that we wanted
to see/wanted Melissa to see, and we got to see a number of them. The
top ones were Gypsy Geoff (a sort of clown/comedy/juggling act), Adam
Crack (a whip show), Moonie (another clown/comedy act, except he
communicates by whistling – it's awesome), Bluebeard (a comedy
act), and the jousts. We saw all of them except Bluebeard, since we
decided to watch a glass-blowing demonstration instead. I will usually
give tips to my favorite acts, since that's how they make a lot of their
money, and I enjoy seeing them every year so much. I gave Moonie a
bigger tip than usual, since he was especially hilarious and had me
doubled over in laughter at least twice. Before one of
the jousts, we stopped by the Vegetable Justice area (a guy
taunts/insults you and you try to hit him with tomatoes). It was
pretty amusing for a little while, but after a bit it got kind of
grating. He had some really good jokes, but maybe I'm just the sort
of person who doesn't like to see others insulted.
This year, we managed to catch all
three jousts. We don't always catch them every year, because
sometimes the storylines are pretty similar. It was different this
year, though, and they added a new knight - Sir Gareth, Prince of
Idlewilde. Though, our favorite knight is Sir Maxmillian and we
always sit in his section and cheer for him when we can. He's one of
the “bad guys”, but he knows just how awesome his is, mouths off
to the other knights all the time, and poses on his horse. He calls
his supporters “naughty little monkeys” and Megan refers to him
as the rockstar of the group, which I kind of agree with. The final
joust is a joust to the death and it was amazing, with me on the edge
of my seat during the fight. They even got the squires involved in
fight at the end! For a second it looked like Max had won (he'd
killed the last of the knights), but then one of the squires killed
him and won!
While we're at the fair, we also kind
of like to go with the flow and sometimes stumble across fun stuff.
In this manner, we randomly stopped by the military camp and watch
some of the shows that they had. The barber surgeon show was really
good, with him talked about all that he did, and did a good job of
involving the audience. I got points from him because I knew some of
the answers to his questions. The other one we saw was on medieval
armor and weaponry such a swords (obviously), pikes, and muskets. I
really liked the shows because they did a really good job of
balancing comedy with real information. You walk away feeling
entertained, but also think, “Huh. I learned some really cool
stuff.”
All in all, it was a really great day
and I had so much fun. I can't wait for next season and might have to
go three times in order to see everything that I want to!
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