The Renaissance Faire!

I had never been to an event like this, and neither had Sarah or her boyfriend, Sopha. While I had a good idea what it was about (having seen many of Suzie's pictures from past events), neither Sarah or Sopha had a clue. We could both tell when they showed up Saturday morning that they really didn't know how far to dress for it. That soon changed when they got to dig around through Sue's bags and boxes of goodies. "It's all about accessorizing!" Suzie said, handing out some choice items for them to wear. It was plain that Sopha was feeling a lot better about things when he donned a nice hat and dagger that complimented his look.

When we were in the car and on our way, I asked if anyone had eaten yet. Everyone shook their heads. "Okay, I'm buying us breakfast." I announced.
"Are we going through a drive-through?" Sarah asked, obviously hoping.
"No way!" I said, "We're going to parade through the restaurant. After spending this much time and effort to dress up, we want everyone to see us!"
Our restaurant of choice was Denny's, and I'm sure we caused a few remarks among the patrons. What better way to enhance someone's mundane meal?

The Faire was very busy. Maybe because it was a cloudy and cool day (especially for August) or maybe it was the location, but whatever the reason it was quite a turnout. I can't really say that I have ever seen such a myriad of people decked out in such interesting ways. Knights, ladies, kings, peasants, pirates, minstrels--You name it. There were even people dressed as mythical creatures like dragons and centaurs. There were people playing music, and actors putting on shows. There were places where attendees could try their hand at fencing, battling, or archery. There were places where you could buy any manner of weaponry from the era, get your armor tuned and adjusted, and tons of places with clothing and accessories. Popular eats included things like turkey legs, corn-on-the-cob, and pickles. There were other things, but these foods I mentioned were the ones you kept seeing people carrying around. After all, what better thing to be chowing down on when you're dressed in armor than a charred turkey leg?

Every event like this has a beer garden, and this was no exception, but theirs was different. While both of the beer gardens (one at each end) at the event did have plenty of beer, that was not their main seller. Mead was the beverage of choice that everybody was quaffing. That's pretty good stuff!

We ran into Scott (from my work) and his wife there, but neither of them were dressed up. Apparently, they live just a little ways from the event and just had to check it out. They were both enjoying themselves in the Mead Garden.

We met up with Sarah and Sopha over and over, but it was apparent that nobody was in any hurry to leave. We were there for a few hours I think. Sarah was having a good time with her camera too. When we all met up for the horse riding show, it was Sarah that took the awesome pictures. She was the only one of us with the long lens, and she took some awesome shots of them riding, juggling, and tumbling around the ring of hay bales.

When it was all over, we were all in agreement that it was a great event. You can always tell when nobody wants to leave. The funny thing about this event is that it's not the wares or events that make it unique--It's the people attending. We walked around and around that place for hours and always saw new people and things. It was a hoot! I highly recommend it, and in fact, I'm going to recommend that my parents attend next weekend if they can. They were both dressed up so great at our wedding that they should indeed make use of their excellent costumes and take in the event.

Be sure to click our pictures link over on the right to see all the great shot we took!

This weekend wasn't only about the Renaissance Faire though. It actually started out with dinner and a concert Friday night. We stopped in at Olive Garden for an excellent meal (one of our wedding gifts!) before continuing on to the show. We saw Los Lonely Boys at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma. While the casino itself was nothing to write home about, the show was very good. The three brothers that make up the band are very talented and very much "in tune" with each other. Not only did they play a good concert, they entertained as well. They also included a guest during one song: Lee Oskar, the harmonica player from War. Remember The World is a Ghetto and Lowrider (to name a few)?

It was quite a weekend... Yes indeedy.