Last Saturday I went on an excursion with my sister and brother-in-law to (I’m not making up the name) Superstition Mountains to go to a Renaissance Fair.
I had never been to a Renaissance Fair before this…except one time in Cambridge, OH, but it was a traveling festival and was much, much smaller. That was where I bought my two empty halves of coconuts as tribute to Monty Python and the Holy Grail gags.
But this? This was my first time at a Ren fair and my very first time dressing for the part.
I confess I wanted to take more pictures while I was there, but I was too entranced with everything in the moment to stop and take photos. Every since my trip to the Navajo Reservation, I learned that being in the moment is more important than taking a photo every five minutes.
However, I DID manage to nab a few, starting with ones of a performer who danced with whips. One was literally on fire.
Honestly, that was the greenest section of the fair grounds, because the rest looked a lot like this.
There were also a lot of people in period clothes, gypsy and pirate outfits, viking outfits, chain mail, Game of Thrones cosplay, TARDIS dresses (I wish I got a picture of that woman, but she looked like the type of person who avoids cameras).
One comedian performing joked that one day during the Fair he saw Storm Troopers and Klingons standing next to each other, and a row of Doctors Who sat in the front row and kept proclaiming, “We’re in order! WE’RE IN ORDER!”
We also saw several kinds of shoppes, like fortune tellers, archery specialists, leather shoemakers, bookmakers (I got a lovely leather bound sketchbook), pirate stores galore (I particularly wanted a skull necklace at one of the shops, but I missed my chance to get it), and even swords dealers.
There was also a book shop where I got a book of “Folk Costumes from Around the World” and the first volume of A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel. Because I am a nerd.
At the end of the day we saw the jousting tournament.
Each section of the stands rooted for a particular knight. Our section was rooting for the green knight.
The jousting was kind of “meh,” but it got better when they started sword-fighting. That was when the knights got off their horses and KILLED EVERYONE.
Or, you know, pretended to, because they’re all actors. Very good actors, but actors.
As we walked out, we found the lady my sister and brother-in-law found last year at the fair. The lady sold buffalo bone and ivory pins with nerdy things engraved on them. Several had Doctor Who quotes (one even had a TARDIS), and a few had some Firefly quotes (Shiny!). The one I got was a pin that says, “Hell hath no fury like a woman with a sword.” Because that’s a true fact, man.
Also a true fact: Superstition Mountains is the best name for a natural rock face.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading!