2/16/09 Our First Visit to a Renaissance Festival

The Renaissance Festival is in town and we've never been to one before. We joined Kim and Bill and Dona and Darrell and followed them to Apache Junction for this first visit.

The local grocery store, Fry's, offered a coupon for buy one get one in the local paper so we took advantage of that. Why pay $40.00 if you can pay $20.00? The days it was available for use was limited but it didn't matter to us because, hey, we're retired anyway. Everyday is Saturday.

Now I knew absolutely nothing about a Renaissance Festival before we got there. I take that back, I had seen commercials on TV for the festival in Pennsylvania and I knew that it was supposed to be in the time period of jousting and dragon slaying and hats with horns coming out of it. That's all I knew, period.

The annual Arizona Renaissance Festival is a medieval amusement park, a 12-stage theater, a 30-acre circus, an arts and crafts fair, a jousting tournament and a feast, all rolled into one non-stop, day-long adventure. And what an adventure it was!

Imagine my surprise when the first person I saw "dressed up" was dressed as none other than a fairy. Hmmm, a brown and white fairy. This doesn't nearly add up to my vision of Tinkerbell as far as fairies go.

Maid Marion????

Now here's a fairy!

I'm still trying to make the connection where fairies come into play. I don't get it. What am I missing? If you know, please email me and explain so I understand too.

I did take the opportunity to get my picture taken with a jester.

As we walked through the grounds we came across many little acts going on. We watched this one fellow for about 15 minutes and he was funny! Here is getting strapped into a straight jacket.

Next came the chains, he kept complaining about a really bad wedgie.

He managed to get out of the chains and straight jacket in no time flat.

Take notice of the buildings in the background above. The buildings are permanent and the festival runs for nearly two months on weekends only, plus President's Day of course.

Some of the fair goers had quite elaborate costumes and really got into this.

This young "lady" really got into her job. She was supposed to get people to go over to a shop to try out some free chocolate in hopes you would buy more. Her sign was a piece of board shaped like a hand with a pointing finger at one end. Written on the sign was the word chocolate. Look how she entertained passerby's. I'm sure her mother is very proud. LOL

The first show we caught was "Hey Nunnie, Nunnie". This show was hilarious!

These two young women, dressed as nuns, put on a great show! We laughed so hard. As soon as it was over I went to them and asked if they did RV parks. They do! I got their card and am going to look into booking them next year for Quail Run. Ginny, in the park, told us to be sure see them if they were there and we're glad we listened to her. We were very glad to have caught their show! They tell jokes, they sing and there is lots of audience participation.

Evidently, the Renaissance period had its dark side too.

There were just tons of little shops to buy things in.

Some things were very beautiful and VERY expensive! Take for instance, this carved deer antler.

Another shop where we did a lot of oohing and aahing was this shop that had tables made out of slabs of redwood. This table had a price tag of $3,250!

Another show we caught the tail end of was a show on birds of prey. There were several hawks and falcons but I couldn't take my eye off this handsome eagle.

I was captivated by this street performer. He could make that brass ball go from the tip of one hand to the tip of the other by way of his neck and shoulders and make it seem all so effortless. This guy has some skinny legs, doesn't he?

I didn't see one single person walking around the park with the purchase of one of these under their arm! Is there really a market for these horns?

Now here is a horsy ride! Is it a merry go round horse on steroids?

Look at it! It's huge!

Another couple who really gets into the festival! I heard their conversation with a group of people, they aren't employed by the festival, they just really get into dressing up like this.

The next show we saw was all about a guy who was really into whips. Even whips on fire! This is one pastime that holds no interest for me at all. I find it strange that someone wants to crack whips all day to begin with, but then to set them on fire???? It was entertaining for a short while but I lost interest quickly and we moved on. Bob didn't object at all so he must not have been too interested either.

I have to wonder how many times he's burned himself when he whips this string of fire around him.

I have to wonder if this guy has looked in a mirror when he dressed this morning!

This fella really looks the part doesn't he?

This is a "ride" I really wanted to go on but since I didn't see one single adult in line I decided to pass. But oh how I wanted to do this!

As we passed this woman she offered us a taste of the latest snack that all dragon slayers are enjoying. Fish sticks! Look at her right hand, a fish on a stick! And they were real fish! You could smell them before you saw her!

We watched this glass blower for awhile. Take note of his sign on the podium. It says, "Don't piss off the fairies".

He made some beautiful pieces.

Even the land of dragon slayers, jesters and jousters had some modern day conveniences.

I'm sorry, but this guy is too, too much into this for my taste.

This leather worker was fascinating to watch.

We talked with these little girls for a while and listened to them as they explained what life was like back in the day for children their ages. They had the sweetest "Swedish????" accents. I asked where they were from thinking they and their parents followed the Renaissance festival circuit and were actually from overseas somewhere. The youngest pipes up, "Oh, we're local yokels." "Local" I asked. "Yep," she said, "had you fooled didn't we?"

We watched these young guys play a game much like one that youths of that time period would have played. They all stood on small boxes and had a four way tug of war. They had a great time playing this.

These younger kids played with hottest toy of the day.

Since I have a ton more pictures I'm going to stop here before it gets too big to load. See the next post for the rest of the story.