Renaissance Festival Part Tres.

Eventually we got to go into the banquet hall. Our hosts were Jim Cunningham



and Laszlo Nemesi.



Laszlo and Jim entertained us for a while, while we got our first glasses of wine. They gave us some funny hats to wear and that put us in a festive mood.

Or maybe it was the wine!



Our hosts told amusing stories and introduced the different courses!

 After a while we got to see some other entertainers like these singers and dancers.

This guy's Pierrot costume was really cool, but I have to say that I was appalled by the act.

 I thought they were going to do something clever as they talked about doing stupid things, but instead we got to see Pierrot slam a fiery sledge hammer down onto the stomach of the man with white hair while he was lying on a small bed of nails (not really my idea of entertainment). The best thing about this act was his batman underwear.

 Much more to my taste, because he was a sweet and gentle person, was Cale the Juggler.

As you can see he juggled fiery batons, but also did a fire breathing act.

There was also some sword play...

For some reason the villain (right) was (as is so often the case) portrayed as a Frenchman and the "good guy" was English. I guess we have Monty Python to thank for that.

I really enjoyed the food and the wine (maybe the latter too much since I forgot to take pictures of most of the food.) We started off with a lovely cheese and fruit plate. We had a delicious salad with pears, some soup and then a couple of main courses including a beef dish and this pork dish.

The singers and dancers were my favorite part. They did some non-period songs, but also some from the Renaissance and this really added to the atmosphere of the Feast.

Of course towards the end of the feast they brought in the belly dancers.

The dancers were good and we enjoyed the show while we finished our meat.

One of our hosts joined in the dancing too.

... and then there was the wildly inappropriate poet. I'm not sure why they like to have him at the feast so much, but I rarely enjoy his words.

At least this time he was a bit more even-handed and slammed both men and women. Last time he seemed to come down much harder on the women than the men.

And before we knew it, we had finished our dessert and it was time to go. We were presented with our Laszlo bobbleheads and packed our goblets and decided to head on over and visit our friend Marla at Lost Art Leather.

Marla is always so good-natured and kind. We just love visiting with her and we almost always find something cool to buy from her.

Then before we knew what had happened,  the day was over and it was time to say goodbye. We headed toward the exit and ran into Cale the Juggler.

There is always a grand committee of interesting people to send you off when you depart. We were even bid goodbye by a gnomish one....

..and several gentle ladies and gentlemen ...

 

These women were especially friendly (and what beautiful clothes they wore!)

 

The setting sun glistened on this woman's wings and truly reflected the magical quality of the day.

Here is a parting shot as we headed toward the scooter rental place.

Glam patted her trusty steed goodbye...

and then it was time to head off into the sunset.

And finally here is your narrator in the costume she did not manage to get finished in time for the visit to the festival.

I am (alas) still working on it, but have almost gotten things to a presentable state.

Next year I should be ready!

Renaissance Festival Opening Day August 18, 2012

 

What a glorious day at the MInnesota Renaissance Festival! Thanks to a gift from my sister  of a season pass (for two) we spent a lovely day strolling around in the 1500s. The weather was relatively cool and clear without a single touch of rain. Even though I have my precious new Felix Needleworthy brocade dress, I want to wear it under proper circumstances and I did not have the accoutrements for a proper debut, so I decided to dress in middle/working class style and wear my bodice with a long skirt. Due to my sister's generosity I will have multiple occasions to dress for the festival, so I will try to find some sewing time to make a kittle, some sleeves and a head dress for my beautiful costume.



After all my earlier traveling I was a bit tired, so it seemed like a good idea to start off with a seat at a show. We ambled over to the big Schooner and got a chance to catch Puke and Snot's first performance. They did a version of their Magaga routine about Spanish doormats and bull-fighting.



The new Snot 's not the old Snot, but he has settled into his role as an older less naive buffoon and I think the routines work very well. The chemistry is still there. We had our mandatory turkey leg and made reservations for the Feast of Fantasy for when my Mom and Sister come to visit and then decided to go off and spend decadently at the Puzzle Ring shop. (I must remember to get a photo next time as the people are quite humorous and nice and we have visited them regularly for several years. I still wear the rings that I bought from them in prior years, the puzzle ring I don't dare to take off my finger lest I have to spend an hour on the website trying to laboriously reconstruct it and then a Celtic style garnet ring and this year I could not resist adding to the collection.

(Gosh, middle-aged hands look awful in close-up!)

The booth owner Sean is an excellent salesman and has rapier sharp wit both in terms of humor and technologically it turns out. He is a crafter of Astrolabes as well as a metal smith. We learned some fascinating things about the properties of rare metals and got to feel the difference in density between platinum, white gold and palladium.

After food and iced tea we decided to  visit our friend Marla at Lost Art Leather. I've blogged about her before. She does beautiful one of a kind leather and cloth creations, including those famous patchwork Renaissance tights.

 

She s so much fun as you can tell by this animated conversation. It turns out that she's originally from Lufkin, so there's a Texas emigré connection.
 
 

You can see some of Marla's designs in the background there. I highly recommend you check out her booth when you go to the Fair. She's across from the jousting (on the entrance (pavillion) side). There's a bunch of food there and the best place to get coffee or tea is just past her shop.)

Then we went to watch one of our favorite jugglers, Tuey Wilson. We've been watching Tuey for some 20 years now. (He's been juggling for more than 30 years and is now 50 years old and still does tightrope walking and acrobatic juggling.) I love that he answers questions about his act and craft before the performance and that he has such a great sense of humor.  His 12 year old daughter was helping him this year, but as teenagers are wont to be, she did not look too happy about being associated with him.

 

I absolutely love the picture of her above. She is a stunningly pretty girl and her discontent speaks volumes. I think maybe it's that, I don't want people to think I'm connected to such a geeky parent syndrome. If she only knew how many kids would love to be associated with a parent that does such cool things!

Here are some of the cool things that her dad does!

And how about this!

And how about this?

Geeky? Well maybe, but still totally cool!


And yes, Marla made those tights!!

We also went to see the Danger Committee - a knife throwing, juggling, yo-yoing act that has really funny schtick. The show we saw this time around was the Ninja show. Since there was a pet theme this weekend Reynaldo (the ax throwing part of the team) brought his pet Ninja.

This ax throwing routine was pretty impressive.

 

Reynaldo pinned the balloon without bursting it.

 Pet weekend was fun. There was a whole wing dedicated to rescue groups and pet supplies. Do you think this was a part of pet weekend?



There was a basset hound rescue group and it seemed like half the dogs at the festival were bassets. Some came in costumes.

 This isn't exactly period authentic, but it is cute.

We also saw this at the pet part of the fair. I bet they are expensive to feed.


Then there are things that I saw and photographed along the way. I always enjoy the dancers although we rarely sit down and actually watch them do an entire dance.



Some of the Terpsichore costumes are absolutely fabulous.

And of course there is always free live music accompanying them. I wish I had gotten a better shot of this creature blowing bubbles. Seeing her was a cheap thrill.

I feel like I wander around the fair with my mouth open in awe - just drinking in the sights.  This little lady was watching one of the shows with us.

The gentleman in green we see every year - he asks and answers riddles.



And I just liked the colors of this image.



Before we knew it, it was time to pack up and leave. We had had a great time at the Fair, and were happily exhausted and ready to head for home. (And we get to go back as much as we want! Huzzah!)