Renaissance festival (Concord/Huntersville, NC)
We arrived at the Renn-faire at 10:30 a.m. A crowd of people were waiting for the castle gates to open and much hilariousness was happening in the balcony with the King, Queen, nobles and such. Soon we were allowed to enter, and what a fantastic day was ahead of us! First we rented a costume for Bill, as I was already dressed and we started walking around. I don’t even know where to begin, there was so much so see. We saw a gazebo in the middle of the “town” square where some minstresls were playing. They were very good and very funny, they were singing “He’s in the dungeon now”, to the tune of “He’s in the jailhouse now” (O Brother where are thou soundtrack)…using mandolins , wooden flutes, guitars and a bass fiddle. One portly gentleman even did the yoddling part, what a hoot!
So we took the tour and talked to many of the “towns people”. We ran across two very funny sisters who did a bit about the history of undies, called “Naughty knickers”, very funny and soon they got into a water fight. Bill and I had our picture taken with them and then we were on our way.
Soon it was high noon and it was time for the jousting tournament!
Our champion was Sir Matthew and was quite the “hottie”, black curly hair and dimples! However, he lost to the ugly guy..ha ha.
We decided to have some lunch and on the way observed some belly dancers practicing in the street. For lunch we had baked chicken and smashed potatoes, and some pumpkin/wheat beer, which was yummy. We wandered around some more, watching some more of the stage shows, some jugglers, some magicians, some unusual routines. There were the usual game booths: throwing tomatoes at some guy in a stockade, throwing hatchets at a targer, flinging a frog from a catapolt to a target (no they weren’t real frogs!), smashing platters, etc.
Many of the costumes were amazingly detailed. Some animals were even dressed up like fairy dogs. There were fairies, grim reapers, gypsies, renaissance men and woman of all classes, just wonderful stuff.
It was time for dessert and we went to “Ye chocolate shoppe”, and got some wonderful chocolate candy, we sat in the town square an ate it while a beautiful dark haired girl play softly on a harp.
We walked around some more went to the petting zoo, watched people ride the camel and the elephant. Checked out all of the vendors selling crafts, jewelry, magic charms, perfume and other interesting items. In one booth you could make a wax figure of your hands. People would decide what position their hands would be in and then you would dip it on wax, get in line, dip it in cool water, then go back to the wax again and again. Until it was thick enough. I don’t know how they got it off of their hands in one piece , but then you could add colors, glitter or a rose and then you were done, it was creepy and interesting at the same time.
It was getting late, but people just kept coming into the faire, thousands of people, about 25% to 30% were in costume.
Now it was dark and the faire was closing. Close to the front gate was the “town cripple”, he just sat in the road and had a can for money. If you put money in his cup he would hit himself in the head with a skillet or blow a horn with his left nostril, it was hilarious! We just kept laughing, he was very animated and funny, what a gig!
It took us an hour to get out of the parking area. We were starving so we drove to Monroe, NC and got a room at Motel 6. We found a great family buffet and I didn’t even take time to change clothes, just went on in , in my renn. Garb. Naturally people were staring, but I didn’t care. Some lady came up and asked me if I had been in a play at church!...(not with my boobies exposed!!). I just explained about the Renn-faire and went on my way. We were pooped!...went to bed early!
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