The morning following the hubs and I hosting a party for over eighty people on our farm, we decided to hop in the car and hurtle north to beautiful Sandpoint, Idaho for a bit of restorative entertainment.
The Sandpoint Renaissance Faire beckoned our partied out souls with its herald song promising all manner of old world scenes.
And it did not disappoint!
There were cosplay displays aplenty, and the ever-popular pickle on a stick. Apparently pickles on a stick are a thing at Ren Faires. I didn't know this as it was my very first trip to such a thing.
I did, however, dress appropriately. My weary carcass felt a bit lighter as I sashayed through the Bonner County Fairgrounds in my peasant getup of a flowing white skirt, black undershirt, and indigo blue lace up corset. That corset did wonders for my posture, let me tell you!
That said, I did cheat a bit and wear twenty-first century walking shoes, because I know all peasants would have dug memory foam.
After the hubs and I paid our entry fees and got our wrists wrist-banded, we met up with some dear friends and went to watch some jousting.
The jousting was most enjoyable, the competitors were skilled and entertaining. I especially liked shouting Huzzah when the queen initiated it.
I have to admit though, as a person who has spent more than a modicum of time with horses, I was pretty distracted by on knight and his trusty steed. The poor horse was just not having it, and by it, I mean anything to do with the rider, jousting, and life in general. The gelding was such a good boy, he didn't unload his rider, but after five minutes of watching the horse try to tell the humans that it hated the tie-down tension, the man's heavy handedness on the bit wasn't working for him, and would you please just get his actual rider back, well, I felt more than a bit of sympathy for that mighty steed. (The people finally reunited that wonderful creature with his person, which was totally noticeable as it was a different horse all together as he and his girl tore around the arena.)
There was also a unicorn. Well, it was an Andalusian with a horn affixed to its forehead. What a beautiful, majestic creature that horse was.
I always admire displays of horsemanship, so watching the knights and dames crash sticks into each other was pretty great!
Afterwards, the hubs and I walked with our friends and their three small children over to Weesil, a forger of excellence.
Weesil had multiple tables set up with different ironworking crafting stages for different ages. He even had a table full of toys for the under five set. Weesil is a marketing legend let me tell you, he had activities for the kids so that the parents could peruse his very fine metallic wears. Smart that.
Since our kids are grown and almost grown, the hubs and I took leave of our friends and meandered through all the vendors at the faire. There was an abundance of soap, which struck my funny bone a bit, as I imagine smelling fine was probably a very important goal during the olden times.
The falconry booth drew my eye almost immediately, as I am also a sucker for birds of prey. They are just so regal. And deadly.
One vendor had some wears that captivated my full attention. Inside these Victorian lantern looking apparatuses were the dessecated carcasses of little bats and birds. They were some of the most peculiar looking curiosities I had ever beheld.
Demonstrations abounded round every cedar tree. All of the vendors and demos were set among the cedar trees on the edge of the fairgrounds and it gave the whole event a very cool fairy forest vibe. Scenes of forging, fiber spinning, belly dancing, and weaponry were spread all over the place, and I was most thoroughly entertained.
And the food! Aside from pickles on a stick, roasted turkey legs seem to be the Ren Faire food of choice. Really though, that was no surprise as the smell of four huge roasting racks of turkey legs hitting your nose had an almost hypnotic effect.
The hubs and I weren't overly hungry though, so we walked up to the huckleberry ice cream lady and got a couple waffle cones. Well, the hubs got huckleberry, I got pistachio almond.
While we waited for our very not renaissance times food, we watched an archery display, but as soon as we grabbed our cones we ducked between the Cajun and Greek food trucks and headed for an empty pavilion in the adjacent fairground RV park.
During our meander over, we both became aware of an approaching gaggle of humans. Before I could turn around, a voice erupted from behind me,
"Make way for your queen!"
The queen and her entourage proceeded by us, her heralds giggling and whispering just joking under their breath.
"My lady," I murmured as I curtseyed low, doing my best to keep the smile of mirth off my face.
For I am pretty sure no royal during the Renaissance time strolled into a Winnebago for a much needed reprieve.😉
And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's doesn't resemble a hamster but probably smells of elderberries iPhone.
