Medieval Times

So, we went to a medieval fair in a nearby town last Saturday. I kind of just went because I thought E might like it. There were Renaissance fairs every year in a town 30 minutes from where I grew up, but I never attended one, for some reason. I have been to similar events (the British variety, actually, so slightly more authentic as far as actual location goes...), but I didn't really know what to expect.

I definitely did not expect to have a BLAST!

E and I went with my little brother, David. We got there at about noon, and settled down to having some fair food. E had a pepperoni pizza pastry, and I had a broccoli and cheese puff (being on my Lenten vegetarian kick), and it was shockingly delicious! Broccoli, cheese and the "puff" factor does not sound a) delicious, b) sweetly flaky or c) extremely filling, but it was definitely d) all of the above! I can't really vouch for the pizza pastry, but seeing as how E devoured the thing in about 10 minutes (which is eating very quickly, for him...), I assume it was divine.

They had tons of stuff to do at the fair. Aside from the countless medieval clothing booths and toy sword booths, they had a real forge with men making real weapons, a knife/axe/"Oriental star"-throwing section, fortune-telling, "beer" stands (the fair took place on a dry campus, so it wasn't really beer...), acrobats, pirates, mermaids, elephant/camel/llama/horse/cow/donkey rides, a hammock swing tree, jewelry counters, witches, 2 play areas, fairy stores, a medieval crime & punishment corner, King Arthur's court, belly dancing shows, jousting, medieval singing, bagpipe concerts, and pretty much everything under the sun. Lots for kids to touch and play with, lots for adults to look at and pay too much money for. I was impressed by the level of involvement of the fair attendees. There were entire families rigged up in their best costumes, which ranged from pirate to Tudor to Renaissance to true medieval and everything in between. Everything was clean (as in, nothing that I had to cover E's eyes for) and nothing was too expensive. The only thing I couldn't find was cotton candy, and I was pretty disappointed about that, but I figured that it was a divine sign that I didn't really need cotton candy...

Some of the coolest attractions were the people in really awesome costumes just wandering around the fairgrounds providing camera-happy people (ahem...) with photo-ops. Like the man all in black on stilts, with a black mask, long black claws and long black spider legs (or something) coming out of his back. He was awesome and scary, and we got some cool pictures. Or the girl dressed as a real-live satyr (except she had clothes on, unlike some of the pictures you will find if you choose to Google the word). She was also on some sort of stilt-like contraption (I assume) that enabled her legs to have that awesome backward look that animal hind legs have. She was cool.

E finally met the 3-yr-old son of a classmate of mine, and they really hit it off, as I knew they would. They're both only children, both 3, both boys, both spoiled rotten, so why wouldn't they get along, right? They were comparing weapons (they both got toy swords, naturally), and even taught each other some choice phrases. At one point, E broke into the adult conversation with "I doubt it", and N quickly picked that up, and then N said "holy moly!" when the jousting tournament was beginning, and E was immediately trying it out. Little boys are hilarious.

Let me put it this way, when N's mom, Becky, said "Now, N, E may not want to sword fight with you," I knew it was a match made in heaven...

The long and short of it is, that the fair was awesome, and I'd highly recommend it as a family affair. Or as just a sightseeing expedition. Let me tell you, some of the things I saw were not excusable just because the wearers were in pretend-mode. But that's another, more grown-up story...