2 posts tagged “renaissance faires”
Saturday, Strix and I went to the Ren Faire here in Farmington. It's a fairly small affair, but fun, and there are always interesting vendors and performers there. I didn't take many pictures, because when we got there we realized we only had one set of fresh batteries between us, and I let Strix have mine. I did take a couple shots with my camera phone, though.
A couple of weekends ago we went to a Renaissance Faire in Mancos, Colorado. I'm just now getting around to posting the pictures.
I've been to a couple of Renaissance Festivals in my life. The first was in Bristol, Wisconsin, which is a very large Ren Faire in a permanent village built for that purpose. It's very impressive, and if you ever get the chance to go, I highly encourage it. The other is the San Juan County Renaissance Festival, which is a much smaller affair, but still a lot of fun.
Mancos has a population of just over 1,000 people. How they can manage to pull off a Ren Faire at all, I don't know, and that in itself makes it impressive. However, it's very hot there in June, very dry, and there is no way you can pretend that you are in England or Europe. You're in the desert. And there's little to no shade. And you're wearing a costume.
Here's one suggestion: sunscreen and sunglasses aren't period appropriate. Wear them anyway. There was one tent selling cold beer (ale), and it was very popular.
This cardboard cutout of a Viking warrior greeted people entering the Viking Reenactor Society. Being of Swedish heritage, Strix spent a good deal of time in this part of the Faire. Cardboard cutout warriors, by the way, may be very intimidating to your enemies at a distance, but they're lousy at hand-to-hand combat. As can be seen by the couple in the background, costumes are not mandatory.
A recreation of a Viking tent.
This is where they were holding "The Mud Show." The Ren Faire we went to in Bristol also had a mud show, so I have to wonder if this is a staple of Renaissance Faires everywhere. It's basically grown men throwing mud at each other. I'm not quite sure what the appeal is.
Gandolf? Couldn't tell you, but this very tall wooden statue of a wizard was impressive.
I wonder what part of Medieval Europe this tepee was supposed to be from. Actually, I think that might be a permanent part of the park where the Renaissance Faire was held.
This woman was selling wolf pelts, among other items. These are real wolf skins. Were they killed legally? Humanely? Who knows.
There was some deuling going on, too. This is like fencing, with more weapons and somewhat complicated rules. If you get hit in the leg, for instance, you're not out but you have to sit on the ground, like the girl on the left is doing.
Some acrobats performing. The most amazing thing about their performance... that they were in bare feet on that hot concrete.
