Renaissance Fair? Actually, Renaissance Good!

Joe and I went to the Maryland Renaissance Fair with some good friends last weekend, and a goodly tyme was had by all. I ate a Renaissance Turkey Leg, a Renaissance dish of ice cream, and had a Renaissance Pepsi. The weather was good -- not too hot, although way too hot to sit in the blazing sun to watch Ye Olde Joust.

No matter -- there were plenty of great shows in the shady venues, from excellent celtic music by DC-area legend Maggie Sansone of Maggie's Music to good acting to great satire and circus skills.

I particularly enjoyed these lovely stiltwalking mimes, who were very tall (heh). I was quite impressed at their ability to negotiate the wooded paths on their high stilts. I never did get the hang of stilts, short or tall.

Hack and Slash were hysterical -- comedy swordfighting and other fun stuff, including this trick where poor Slash got to lie of the bed of 1,000 spikes while Hack laid a cinder block on him and cracked it apart with a sledgehammer. Yikes! The jokes were as broad as Hack's behind and every bit as bawdy, and the skills  were topnotch. Love the Hack and Slash!

Next up -- after perusing the overpriced crafts and other pseudo-Renaissancian merchandise, we enjoyed the fabulous circus arts and comedy performer -- and fellow Clown College graduate -- Michael Rosman, known as the Squire of the Wire.

Yes, he walked the wire in a kilt! Over the audience! Unfortunately, I wasn't seated directly underneath, so I can't attest to the presence or absence of underwear. For his final trick, Michael balanced a mug of beer on his head, walked out onto the wire, and juggled three razor-sharp knives while balancing on one foot. I wish I had gotten a decent shot of that one, but you'll have to be content with this, I'm afraid.

We haven't been a Ren Fair for a number of years, so I was intrigued by the costumery that folks sport. Kilts of all type seemed to be more popular among guys than in previous years. There were quite a few ersatz pirates as well, no doubt inspired by the recent movies. I'm always impressed by the folks who pay close attention to period authenticity, but more for their willingness to wear all that velvet and embellishment in the heat! And, of course, there were the more liberal interpretations of Renaissance dress, everything from corsets of all types to sweeping feathered hats to busty substances practically served up on platters. I did not, however, see any chain-mail brassieres this year. Joe was disappointed at that, but he saw enough cleavage to make up for it.

I had wonder if this merchant was making a comment on the participants or just advertising his wares. Could have been a little of both, I suppose!

And so, my Lords and Ladies, a good time was had by all -- and I was very glad to return to my modern world, take a nice warm shower, and retire to my nice modern bed. Huzzah!