Scribe Goes to the Ren Faire Part One

So after a super-hectic week, and a nasty bout with foot poisoning Friday and Saturday (ick) the last thing in the world I really wanted to do was to go to the Ren Faire with friends. However, we'd been planning this for months, and had to do a rain check once all ready. So Saturday night I called up, confirmed that we were on for going on Sunday, and then went to bed. Jesse, who isn't featured in any photos unfortunately, had pity on me and picked me up at 8:30AM instead of having me drive up to her house to meet her there at 8:00AM. She said she had to get gas and was headed my way anyway but I think she was being kind. Just smile and not and agree that she's a good friend. Anyway, so we leave my house at 8:30AM and get to the fairgrounds around 9:20(ish). This is always a good thing to do if you have to buy tickets, which we did. She had mine and she had hers, but she needed to secure one for her brother and so we were there forty minutes before it opened to stand in line. Also, we wanted to see the opening promenade of characters and stuff. That's always cool and happens right as the Faire opens at 10:00am. We stood around and admired other people's costumes, though Jesse and Christians (her brothers) were my two favorites of the whole day. Here's Christian(no, not the one in the armor. The other one):



See? Awesome costume! And if everything goes right, he'll be wearing it AND a pair of the most righteous bracers I have seen in a long time this coming Saturday at the signing. But I digress.


So we arrived at the Ren Faire and waited outside for it to open. Here's the entrance:
Well, that's the stone lion AT the entrance. I think he looks rather smug, I think that he looks like he knows what's going on and no one else does. Smug metal lion, mocking our not knowing the inner workings of the Ren Faire. I wonder if he comes to life at night and roams the fairgrounds, sniffing for bits of funnel cake and turkey leg? That smugness comes from somewhere. The funny thing is that he looks just as smug when he's covered with kids, even the ones trying to stick fingers up his nose. Although that smugness might be from the fact that they can't get them in there, no matter how hard they push and wiggle. Right, anyway, that's the lion that guards the entrance to the Faire. However, the gate, the part that you actually walk through is massive. I think there are three or four gates, and each one is at least fourteen feet high and the wall has to be four feet thick. It really feels like you're walking through the opening in a old town wall, which is what you are suppose to think. I thought I had a picture of the gates, but I don't. What I do have is a pull-back on the gate that the actors enter through, and you can see the second smug lion there. What I want you to pay attention to however, is the thickness of the wall. Here it is:


See? See that massive arch and the way that it seems to go back forever? Yeah, walking through there is like stepping back in time. Well, except for the plague, religious inquisitions, wars, body order, and rotting food. No, no the Ren Fest frowns on all of those things. This is a sanitized if slightly goofy version of history. Not exactly Disney(TM) but it is suppose to be family friendly. Anyway, we waited outside for the procession to begin and sure enough, around 9:55 we heard squabbles and screeches and noises like someone was having a fit. The actors were scrambling around on top of the gate and towers, and the "mayor" was upset because some local bumpkin from a plagued town was standing in his spot, eating apples. The mayor was very annoyed, (as he is every year) because he wanted to get back into King Henry VIII's good graces and return to Court. He didn't want to be Mayor or Revel Grove. Poor man, I don't think that he's ever been able to free himself of Revel Grove. The actor's been the Mayor for the last five years that I've been going. However this year, he had a wife. That was unexpected and rather cool too, they're changing the story line a little which make life interesting for those of us who go year after year. Anyway, there was a mix up with the sheriff arresting the wrong people, including Captain Jean the Pirate Queen(TM) and several members of the Royal Family.



Here's the Apple Eater taking center stage away from the Mayor of Revel Grove. This is the area above and beside the actors entrance. So it's easily 20 feet easily over head and I wasn't standing right below it because then I'd just get shots of their feet. Which wouldn't be that interesting. *sigh* I can never get really close shots of the action.





There's the far too happy sheriff bringing his prisoners to the Mayor. The Mayor immediately points out that he has Captain Jean the Pirate Queen, one of the Royal Daughters, AND THE MAYORS WIFE trussed up there. The gentleman at the end right next to the too-happy sheriff in black and red is related to the King, and is also Scottish. And NOT HAPPY.




Thankfully for all involved in the mini-drama, the trumpets sounded and MAKE WAY, MAKE WAY FOR THE KING rumbled along the ground along with the clatter of armor and the thud-thud of very heavy horse hooves. These animals are really beautiful as well as well behaved. Most of the time. King Henry greeted the Mayor and said he was glad to be out of London, where the sickness was spreading. Oh, dear. Sickness? Yup, apparently the Plague has been sighted in Revel Grove.



The King's Champion laughed and said that with all the fine clean air and good food, and good wine, that they'd be safe enough from the traps of the city. And King Henry confessed that he might be willing to look for Wife #6 among the Revel goers this year. As long as she hadn't a cough or fever.








Once we got through the gates (after avoiding the Scotsman's 'boiling oil' and the Mayors questions about who might be carrying the plague, and Pirate Jean's shanghaiing) Jesse and Christian and I ran smack-daub into the King's Entourage. The gentleman on the end was very courteous and bowed to all of us. His costume is amazing, and it looks like it weighs 90 pounds. Look at all the layers!






But it wasn't just the well dressed that we found this year in Revel Grove. Oh no, there were scalawags and pirates too. As well as the rather harmless if shifty looking musicians. I'm not exactly sure what category these particular gentlemen fall into.