This may be the only event in Arizona with reasonably priced good food. We did learn to stay away from the turkey legs and steak on a stake, but that's because we're from the south and we demand some form of seasoning on our meats. You're just not going to convince me they didn't at least have some salt and pepper during the Renaissance. However, the shrimp and chips were plentiful and cost less than a burger and fries at BK. Affording the food will not be an issue when you go and I want you to GO.
I want you to drop your grown up pants, don a pair of tights and a peasant shirt or something and just GO. Remove that broomstick from your situpon and use it to fly to your local Ren Fest. Truly, your face will not crack into slivers if you smile or actually laugh. I'm sorry, but someone duct taping a bunch of firecrackers to their chest, using a juggling torch to light them, and then having the audience douse the embers with water balloons is funny stuff!
This is not Cirque du Soleil, and if dressing up to go see jugglers is your idea of a grand time I sort of pity you. Ren Fest is earthy, gritty, broad daylight entertainment. There are puffs of smoke, usually from someone lighting their chest on fire with black cats, but no concealment, no dreamscape. The entertainers are real, not ghostly shapes on a stage with no personality. Well, okay the Cast in Bronze guy is kind of weird in his costume, but I'll put up with his somewhat disturbing beak in order to listen to him play the carillon. How many of you have even heard of a carillon, much less seen one being played live?? They're quite rare these days.
Many things at Ren Fest are rare these days. How many harpists do you meet outside your city symphony? Trust me, the harp is best enjoyed in the shade of a tree whose leaves are whispering in a mild breeze. How about listening to a harpsichordist on a patch of soft grass? Think heavy metal gets your heart pounding? Try bagpipes and drums that vibrate your soul. Then again, there is that carillon played as rarely a carillon has been played.
True, the Renaissance Festival has little to do with the actual Renaissance and if you want to be a snobby stuffed shirt about that, stay home, but I can think of little else that would inspire great writing, great thought and great art than some of the music you will find at Ren Fest. Exactly how much fun would it be to sit around and watch people think or pretend to compose, or, god forbid, pretend to carve the statue of David (which would be heresy)?
Rather than people pretending to recreate the great works of the Renaissance, you will instead find much frivolity and excess. They will clap you in irons if you so desire (and indeed some of the costumes did look more like medieval dominatrix garb) but there is jousting, rope ladder climbing, games of skill like axe and knife throwing, great music and entertainment. The street performers and stage performers are all friendly and make you feel part of this 30 acre town. The buildings are beautifully constructed and, if you're a Harry Potter fan, make you feel like you stepped onto the streets of Hogsmeade. This fact alone, well okay and the harp music, had me wondering how I could train one of the horses and volunteer us to wander the festival streets dressed up every weekend next spring. In essence, I wanted to run off and join the circus!
