Rennaissance Festival Pictures
I arrived at Ren Fest at 9:45, just in time for the opening banter and arrival of the king. This year they have a special entrance for season (fairever) pass holders. It was funny how many of those are the Rennies in garb. There were very few folks on our side of the wall in mundane clothing. The same guy who has been here for the last two years as deputy is playing the sheriff this year while the cute deputy, Roper, is gone. 🙁 King Henry arrived on horseback and in we went.
The first couple of hours were all about replacing and repairing so it went like this…
- Leather Rose: New hair slide and hair stick. Thanks, Big Rob for putting in my new purple slide. Hair slides are lengths of leather lacing strung with beads and they hold your hair into a kind of braid, keeping it neat and off of your neck.
- Hope’s Journals: New pen with leather and copper wire wrapping with a green feather at the end.
- Milestonne: 3 leather laces, one for my bodice, one for tying my chainmail balls to my belt and one for extra.
- Somewear Beyond: Replacement for my dragonfly/jester coin that was lost last year.
- Tideline Salvage: One titmouse (which I later lost), one bodice rat with pirate hat (hat lost almost immediately) and one shoulder rat. I have no luck with these guys. The pirate one I had last year got eaten by Harley! I’ve got to figure out how to keep one alive for more than a day or two.
- Catskill Mocassins: Just mooning over custom made, custom fitted boots. They start at $429 with design elements starting at about $200 and up. Guess who is NOT getting a pair of these boots! Thanks, Linda, for letting me try them on and dream. Maybe if I win the lottery…
I finally finished shopping around 11 or 11:30 and wandered down to the Globe Theatre to see what was playing. I decided to skip the Pirates Royale and kept going. I stopped by to say Hi to Heather at the juggling school. She said I’m doing better, but I’m still lifting my hands too high in the air. I played for a bit and then got on the move again.
I stopped by Unicorn Strings to see Gene and meet his new employee. I’ve forgotten her name and I didn’t think to write it down. I’ll ask her next time I see her. Gene was busy selling, but he waved when he saw me and told me that Mary and John didn’t come back this year, which is a bummer, but Sarah will be back, she’s just sick today. It turns out that the new gal is Big Rob’s (Leather Rose) girlfriend. We chatted for a bit and she’s from Last Vegas, too. I didn’t stay long, though, because I didn’t want to interfere with Gene’s sales.
I went looking for the laser woodcutter who makes those great pins. He has had a guest booth the last two years, but he’s not there this weekend. I need to replace my chaos symbol pin, the one that fell off of my psaltery case last year. That reminds me, I need to solder the other pins closed this year so that I don’t lose any more.
I ran into the “hippie” couple from church and we chatted about the heat, which was considerable… high nineties and it felt at least ten degrees warmer thanks to humidity. I also ran into Jack Sparrow and his lady and I got a picture!
About 12:45 I found myself at Bullseye, which is the clothing store that has the great wooden shelf that is always so shady and comfortable but has a great view of three corners. I sat and rested with the new fan I had gotten and juggled a bit. A russian family sat down around me and their three young boys had lots of questions about my chainmail juggling balls, my unicorn shoulder pet and the bird that perches on my staff. I thoroughly enjoyed their company and was sorry to see them go. I sat there and rested as I wrote in my notebook. My new pen ran out of ink, though, so I had to go replace it.
After doing that, I headed to the Globe Theatre. I got there just in time for As You Like It to end and got a great seat for the first Shakespeare Skum show of the year. They did Richard III and it was fun, not as good as Romeo and Juliet, but better than King Henry the V from last year. The actors kept forgetting their lines, but they’re so good at what they do that it just made it funnier. After them was the Bloody Drama Comedy Show. They did the soothsayer bit and one person in the audience asked, “Who would win in a fight, Picard or Kirk?” The soothsayer (the two new guys in one robe) said Kirk. About half the people booed and half cheered. Bob (everybody’s favorite guy) said, “No fighting, we’re all geeks here!” Which, of course, got a big laugh and a cheer, because indeed, we ARE all geeks, and proud of it.
The final show I saw was this year’s King show, which was infinitely better than last year. It’s still a little unsatisfying, because it’s only part of a whole, but King Henry gave a funny and warm performance in a very short period of time. The young girls next to me kept saying, “Poor King… I want to hug him and make him feel better” I wonder what Fred, the video editor our company uses on our videos who also happens to play King Henry, would say to that.
Suddenly at 3:00 I realized I was lightheaded from the heat and humidity and decided to come home early. I stopped to get a bubble wand for Harley and headed for the TinkTerra. It was a good day, but I was no longer having fun. Besides we’re celebrating my Dad’s birthday today, so there was a good reason to come home early.
I had a great day today and I’m glad it’s just day one and I still have 18 more to go!
Becky, you look fabulous! I love the outfit, particularly the skirt (my favorite color!)
I had to go looking for you since you’ve vanished … but I figured, well Ren Fest started and so she just plain forgot *sob* me, poor *BIG sob* li’l ol’ me.
And you are having SUCH a great time! You’re so good as describing, it is just as if I’m there with you!