Have you ever been to a Renaissance Festival? They are a great deal of fun. Renaissance festivals are located all over the country and area usually held for a few weeks every year. Many of the acts you will see at one renaissance festival just as likely travel to others on the renaissance faire circuit.
In the Dallas/Fort Worth area, the local renaissance fair is held in Waxahachie for in April and May and is open every weekend from 10 in the morning till 7 at night. I was a big fan of the Ren Faire when I was a teenager and in my early twenties, and attended the Maryland Ren Faire when I lived in Virginia.
Now, that we’re back in Texas, we’ve added Scarborough Faire back to our list of must visit locations every April or May. We went out on Sunday and unfortunately, we broke record heat weather here. That’s the only drawback to renaissance festivals. They are held outdoors and there is usually little or no air-conditioning. You have to rely on shade, offered both by trees and roof screens.
Scarborough also has a mist tent now (something they didn’t have ten years ago!) and the main souvenir shop has mild air conditioning with heavy fans. Some areas are cooler than others – especially amongst the groves of trees when the breeze blew in from over the creek.
Plenty of people like to dress up in period garb and speak in the lyrical language of Shakespeare. King Henry VIII and his Queen of the moment Anne Bolyn, for example, govern Scarborough. So that sets the timeframe for this particular festival. You can see pirates, musketeers, knights, elves, and gnomes along with jugglers, jesters and more.
If you like to dress up in garb, be sure to take the local weather into account. The heavy garments designed for English climes can be incredibly oppressive while frolicking in the Texas heat. Be sure to hydrate thoroughly and while the mead or other alcohol may be flowing, heavy alcohol consumption in Texas heat can leave you dehydrated, ill and potentially suffering from alcohol poisoning.
There’s plenty of food to be tried from spinach pie to turkey legs to ka-bobs and bread bowl stews! There’s usually lemonade, ice-cold water, sodas and apple cider. There are fruit stands where you can buy fresh, cold fruit. There are pretzel sellers and rose vendors that wander the fair. You can buy a flower coronet or a wooden sword.
So when you go to the ren faire, enjoy it in period costume or not and be sure to catch some of the shows whether they are playing flutes, bagpipes or singing alone or performing bawdy plays on the stage. There’s something for everyone when you take a moment to step back in time.