As promised, below are lots of pictures from this year's RenFaire in Tuxedo, NY, about a 45-minute drive north of where we live, up in Orange County. As we took advantage of the half-price tickets on Labor Day, and knew there'd be a huge crowd of others thinking along the same lines (particularly after the horrid weather the previous Friday and Saturday), I'd foolishly arranged to meet Leah in the parking lot around 9:15 or 9:30 (gate opened at 10), but 'twas not to be. First they split up parking so that we couldn't go into the usual lot, and secondly as it turned out Leah didn't make the scene until later that morning anyway but couldn't connect to let us know because, unlike her cell phone, ours don't get a signal in Sterling Forest.
But not to worry, we reasoned we'd meet up eventually even with the daunting crowds, and this year I was determined to actually see a show or two. After looking in vain for Leah we settled down by the Maypole, as festivities there were just getting underway and the sun wasn't blisteringly hot yet. (Thing #1 to know about RenFaire: Most of the entertainment takes place in sunlit areas, which can get very uncomfortable on cloudless days even with mild temps.) Besides, since Labor Day was created by the government in part to discourage workers from celebrating on MayDay along with the rest of the world, I reasoned why not celebrate MayDay on Labor Day after all, complete with Maypole?
After these folks untangled the ribbons in preparation for the dance, a faux-"gypsy" couple did a kind of lame but earnest warm-up. (Thing #2 to know about RenFaire: Most of the workers, entertainers and vendors effect fake accents to go along with the fake clothes, and it's accepted knowledge that priates, gypsies and English folk didn't actually look and talk like that back in the Renaissance era but that pretending is fun so just sigh inwardly and accept every "thank thee" graciously.) The gal was friendly enough (even tried to engage me in conversation but I admit I don't follow Thing #2 as well as I should) and the guy was pleasantly amusing, particularly with his "Baby Bait" act. He had a rubber duck on a string which he claimed would attract babies which he could then sell for pets or meat, I forget the narrative at this point, but darned if it didn't work:
That's a lot of kids! Speaking of which, it was very cool to see lots of kids dressing in garb this year. Hey, that's the best age to pretend anyway, isn't it? So I snapped some "cute kid" pictures:
Mother and child, I presume. Here's the child among other dressed-up kids:
And I think this little girl was my favorite. Not only is her dress gorgeous, but she had a smile that lit up that beautiful little face, and how she loved to dance!
Speaking of which, back to the "action" as it were. Some musicians came out to play, and would later accompany the Maypole dancers:
I should have turned my camera for the first photo below, but even though you can't see the top of the pole I think you'll still get a good idea of the progression of the dance:
It only now occurs to me that I should have used my camera to film a silent movie of the dance and uploaded it to YouTube for y'all to see but, you know, hindsight is 20/20. Besides, there's always next year!
While we were watching the dance, I suddenly realized there were some peculiar things floating on the stream in the background:
Yes, it's a "sea monster" and a "treasure chest"!
There was a "pirate" raft with a skeleton on it further along, but I didn't get a photo of it as I needed to get out of the sun by that point. We noshed a bit (Thing #3 to know about RenFaire: The food is overpriced but lots of fun and usually pretty good, so bring money and a don't-care attitude if you want to eat and you'll have a great time.) So we scoped out the new pub Leah had told us about, the Blue Boar, to see if she'd arrived yet, and no luck but we did catch a cock:
The rooster was right around the entrance to the pub. My only animal picture this year, I fear; maybe next year I'll get photos of the birds of prey show. Anyway, no Leah yet, so we decided to take in a glass blowing demonstration:
I didn't have a very good seat, so my photos of the glass blower herself didn't come out all that well, particularly this one:
But I still like it because her head is obscured by one of her more fanciful creations, so it's "her" all over anyway! Anyway, after I got the mandatory turkey leg we finally found Leah and friends, and eventually made our way to the Blue Boar. She was spot-on that it was shady and comfortble and had table service, but way off in her assurances to us that there would therefore be no bees.
Thing #4 to know about RenFaire, and I'm not putting this in parentheses: There are bees. Always. Tons of them. Nothing keeps them away, except maybe rain, and then you won't want to sit around outside anyway. Anywhere there's food or drink, there are bees. The rest of my very good, very tasty turkey leg went uneaten because the bees just surrounded it and took it over. We tried lighting incense, hoping the smoke would make them somnambulent; didn't work. We left a little mead in our little mead glasses as an Offering to the Bee Gods; didn't work. We were informed that wearing Bounce dryer sheets will keep them away, so I look forward to trying that next year even though I'm figuring it's going to be hard for folks who like to dress up to make them look garb-like. My idea is to create a tablecloth out of the things to set down at whatever spot we park ourselves next year, and use it as a cape when we're walking about. As my sewing abilities are next to nil, this is unlikely, but I'm willing to pay someone good money to do it for me! Seriously. And a Bounce kilt for Robin, please. Sporran optional.
Due to having to constantly dodge the bees and cover up our drinking glasses whenever we weren't actively imbibing, we were pretty exhausted after our pub stop, and that wound up putting an early end to our day. Leah had met up with her friend Kate aka "Cricket," who brought the accessories for her "Black Monday" costume. (Thing #5 to know about RenFaire: As I've mentioned in previous pictorials, there's a whole fandom subculture at RenFaires, just like with sf or comics or sports or whatever, with its own in-jokes and rules and games and message boards and LiveJournals and "doing the circuit" and so forth. One of the in-jokes is that Labor Day is called "Black Monday" when all the in-the-know Rennies customize their garb by adding something goofy, usually involving animal ears and/or tails.) This year Leah and Kate-Cricket decided to be Renaissance-era Playboy bunnies. Of the six photos I took of them (yes Leah, I'll email them all to you), this one came out the best:
Don't ask about the tails, just, just don't.
Anyway, like I said by 3 PM or so we were too bee-draggled to stick around for any pub sings or foot-long sausages or any of the other shows, so we headed on home to collapse, and I'm only just recovering. Naturally, tomorrow we head down to south Jersey to visits the 'rents, so I expect that'll be another few days of fatigue to follow...
P.S. Peter and Kath David are going there today to celebrate her birthday, so if you see them wish Kath a happy 43rd!
But not to worry, we reasoned we'd meet up eventually even with the daunting crowds, and this year I was determined to actually see a show or two. After looking in vain for Leah we settled down by the Maypole, as festivities there were just getting underway and the sun wasn't blisteringly hot yet. (Thing #1 to know about RenFaire: Most of the entertainment takes place in sunlit areas, which can get very uncomfortable on cloudless days even with mild temps.) Besides, since Labor Day was created by the government in part to discourage workers from celebrating on MayDay along with the rest of the world, I reasoned why not celebrate MayDay on Labor Day after all, complete with Maypole?
After these folks untangled the ribbons in preparation for the dance, a faux-"gypsy" couple did a kind of lame but earnest warm-up. (Thing #2 to know about RenFaire: Most of the workers, entertainers and vendors effect fake accents to go along with the fake clothes, and it's accepted knowledge that priates, gypsies and English folk didn't actually look and talk like that back in the Renaissance era but that pretending is fun so just sigh inwardly and accept every "thank thee" graciously.) The gal was friendly enough (even tried to engage me in conversation but I admit I don't follow Thing #2 as well as I should) and the guy was pleasantly amusing, particularly with his "Baby Bait" act. He had a rubber duck on a string which he claimed would attract babies which he could then sell for pets or meat, I forget the narrative at this point, but darned if it didn't work:
That's a lot of kids! Speaking of which, it was very cool to see lots of kids dressing in garb this year. Hey, that's the best age to pretend anyway, isn't it? So I snapped some "cute kid" pictures:
Mother and child, I presume. Here's the child among other dressed-up kids:
And I think this little girl was my favorite. Not only is her dress gorgeous, but she had a smile that lit up that beautiful little face, and how she loved to dance!
Speaking of which, back to the "action" as it were. Some musicians came out to play, and would later accompany the Maypole dancers:
I should have turned my camera for the first photo below, but even though you can't see the top of the pole I think you'll still get a good idea of the progression of the dance:
It only now occurs to me that I should have used my camera to film a silent movie of the dance and uploaded it to YouTube for y'all to see but, you know, hindsight is 20/20. Besides, there's always next year!
While we were watching the dance, I suddenly realized there were some peculiar things floating on the stream in the background:
Yes, it's a "sea monster" and a "treasure chest"!
There was a "pirate" raft with a skeleton on it further along, but I didn't get a photo of it as I needed to get out of the sun by that point. We noshed a bit (Thing #3 to know about RenFaire: The food is overpriced but lots of fun and usually pretty good, so bring money and a don't-care attitude if you want to eat and you'll have a great time.) So we scoped out the new pub Leah had told us about, the Blue Boar, to see if she'd arrived yet, and no luck but we did catch a cock:
The rooster was right around the entrance to the pub. My only animal picture this year, I fear; maybe next year I'll get photos of the birds of prey show. Anyway, no Leah yet, so we decided to take in a glass blowing demonstration:
I didn't have a very good seat, so my photos of the glass blower herself didn't come out all that well, particularly this one:
But I still like it because her head is obscured by one of her more fanciful creations, so it's "her" all over anyway! Anyway, after I got the mandatory turkey leg we finally found Leah and friends, and eventually made our way to the Blue Boar. She was spot-on that it was shady and comfortble and had table service, but way off in her assurances to us that there would therefore be no bees.
Thing #4 to know about RenFaire, and I'm not putting this in parentheses: There are bees. Always. Tons of them. Nothing keeps them away, except maybe rain, and then you won't want to sit around outside anyway. Anywhere there's food or drink, there are bees. The rest of my very good, very tasty turkey leg went uneaten because the bees just surrounded it and took it over. We tried lighting incense, hoping the smoke would make them somnambulent; didn't work. We left a little mead in our little mead glasses as an Offering to the Bee Gods; didn't work. We were informed that wearing Bounce dryer sheets will keep them away, so I look forward to trying that next year even though I'm figuring it's going to be hard for folks who like to dress up to make them look garb-like. My idea is to create a tablecloth out of the things to set down at whatever spot we park ourselves next year, and use it as a cape when we're walking about. As my sewing abilities are next to nil, this is unlikely, but I'm willing to pay someone good money to do it for me! Seriously. And a Bounce kilt for Robin, please. Sporran optional.
Due to having to constantly dodge the bees and cover up our drinking glasses whenever we weren't actively imbibing, we were pretty exhausted after our pub stop, and that wound up putting an early end to our day. Leah had met up with her friend Kate aka "Cricket," who brought the accessories for her "Black Monday" costume. (Thing #5 to know about RenFaire: As I've mentioned in previous pictorials, there's a whole fandom subculture at RenFaires, just like with sf or comics or sports or whatever, with its own in-jokes and rules and games and message boards and LiveJournals and "doing the circuit" and so forth. One of the in-jokes is that Labor Day is called "Black Monday" when all the in-the-know Rennies customize their garb by adding something goofy, usually involving animal ears and/or tails.) This year Leah and Kate-Cricket decided to be Renaissance-era Playboy bunnies. Of the six photos I took of them (yes Leah, I'll email them all to you), this one came out the best:
Don't ask about the tails, just, just don't.
Anyway, like I said by 3 PM or so we were too bee-draggled to stick around for any pub sings or foot-long sausages or any of the other shows, so we headed on home to collapse, and I'm only just recovering. Naturally, tomorrow we head down to south Jersey to visits the 'rents, so I expect that'll be another few days of fatigue to follow...
P.S. Peter and Kath David are going there today to celebrate her birthday, so if you see them wish Kath a happy 43rd!
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