Renaissance Faire

Today the family went to a Renaissance Faire in Gloucester. There were many things to see and vendors and re-enactors to learn from. First, we stopped at the weaponry tent and learned about Medieval weapons. You can see here, Brady and Matthew tried the chain mail on. A man at the table behind them was making chain mail and dragon's scales by hand.

Next we went to see the "Magical Mind of Mad Maggie" who sang songs and did tricks with her pet Richard. Since Matthew wouldn't participate, she made him come up and sing into a kazoo and dance the "Cortez shuffle" (the Hokey Pokey).

There were lots of vendors. We saw a man making Kettle Korn (we had to buy a huge bag). We went to talk with a leather tooler who had lots of different types of Medieval containers for bowls, notepads, combs, and tools.

Then we went to the knife tent where we met a young girl who was, to put it mildly, obsessed with disfigurement. She demonstrated several of the knives for us. No one lost any fingers.

Victoria was met by a dragon in the center courtyard. He made her a princess after she listened to his two pieces of Dragon Wisdom: 1) Never do anything for beads and 2) Shiny is good 2b) someone else to pay for the shiny is even better.

Lady Aela, a belly dancer, performed several dances. Some were to Medieval music and some were to Middle Eastern music. She also taught the crowd how to do the traditional belly-dancer "call." She invited members of the crowd to come up and dance with her.

Lastly we listened to Hither, Dither, and Yon, a singing group of three ladies. One played mandolin, one played lute, and they all sang songs they had written.