Renaissance Faire -- 06May2012

Two years ago, Acacia fell in love with the Ren Faire, as I knew she would, and this year she put together a van full of kids, and then some, for a full-on expedition. We left at 7:30am to pick up kids in Costa Mesa, Huntington, and Long Beach, on our way to make the Opening Ceremony in Irwindale.

Everyone was in costume -- even the boys -- but that's as you'd expect of OCHSA kids. Acacia's musical genius boyfriend, Reid, brought along his tenor recorder which we hung around his neck with some twine like it was a sword. He even had use of it when he jumped right in with some street music people in the afternoon, despite never having heard those tunes before.

The weather was perfect, and we practically had the place to ourselves for the first half of the day. The layout of the place had changed from the two years before -- a new "Golden Jubilee" stage was added for this 50th anniversary Faire, and some of the other stages moved, upgraded, and up-sized. They also addressed my biggest complaint (that the Faire was one long serpentine track that you had to wander into, and then all the way back out of) by cutting some paths through at the tops of the loops, so you can take the shortcuts when you're tired and ready to go home.

A new feature of the Faire this year is a group called "The Fantastikals", which are "fae, nymphs, fairies and spirits". They were several girls with elaborate makeup and costumes, scattered around the Faire, acting "mystical". They never talk, and don't directly interact with anyone. Acacia was enthralled, and desperately wants to "be one" next year. She might have a chance, too -- they were all tall, slender, and pretty, and their main requirement/skill is acting aloof and kinda strange. No problem!

Because of the lack of crowds, we were able to see most of the artisan booths before lunch. The kids could just walk up and see what they wanted to see, and they (and I, as The Dad for the day) could keep track of each other and not get separated and lost.

We went back to the van for lunch, and as I swung around to get back out, the backside of my ancient khaki pants split wide open. The cloth was just dissolving, and I'd already fixed several split-open spots the day before. Indeed, I'd *almost* been clever enough to bring a backup pair of pants, but forgot. I borrowed Acacia's apron, and just tied it around my waist backwards. She was actually somewhat relieved to be rid of some of the mountain of cloth she was carrying around in her three layers of skirting. It was a bit strange of a wardrobe feature, to have a "train" hanging out from under my shirt in the back, but less attention-getting at The Faire than anywhere else I can think of...

After lunch, we ran into an Elizabethan lady's man in the street. He proceeded to flatter and woo each of the girls (and Reid!) with hand-kissing and Shakespearean compliments, to much amusement of the rest of the kids. He was very good -- smooth but not too sleazy, comically forward, but not so much that it scared the girls away. Give that man a raise.

After that, we looked up some shows. First was a reunion of "Cock and Feathers", the most famous troupe/show from the early days of the Faire, back when we used to go in the 70's. The old guys still had it, but the venue was noisy so you couldn't hear the jokes, puns, and double-entendres that make the show unless you were in the first 3 or 4 rows, which we weren't. A few of the kids wandered off at that point, but the rest of us stayed, and afterward saw a great one-man show with Will Shakespeare himself recapping the story of "Hamlet" in everyday modern terms (who knew that Rosencrantz sounds exactly like Keanu Reeves?). Really well-done, funny, and incidentally educational -- I had never really grasped the whole complicated story there before.

After that, we saw "Moonie", who was just as funny the 4th time as the first, despite the show being identical, year after year. After that, the kids wanted to do some more shopping, and after a while I left them alone to go see the "Dread Crew of Oddwood" band. They're what a heavy metal band would have been in pirate days, singing about pillaging, looting, plank-walking, etc. Really great, rowdy, cacophonous, banging and bellowing stuff.

I went back and found the kids, and walking past, we were drawn in by "Paleo Circa", an anachronistically amplified but rockin' fiddle-tune dance band. The girls were swept up in the rhythms, and danced with glee, dragging the boys along. One of those terrific, "Only at the Faire" kinds of moments.

I finally managed to herd the group back into the van, stopped and bought them some dinner on the way home, deposited them all back at their respective houses, and got ourselves home a little after 9:00. Quite a day -- I'm in to do it again next year!

P.S. Lots more pictures -- click here.