STERLING FAIRE (STERLING ,
NY
Americans have a love of
Renaissance Fairs probably because we’ve never had that culture as part of our
history. Medieval things were long gone
by the time the exploration of the New World
really began. We have this dream-like
quality about how nice the Middle Ages were, and try to re-create the best
aspects for fun. It should come as no
surprise to anyone that England
(and other European countries) were never big on the Ren Faire idea. Strangely enough, I know that England
has similar-themed ideas, but done as re-creation of the American Old
West. The British Empire did somewhat
have a “western” period with the expansion of Australian colonial period in the
late 19th Century; but English “Western Faires” capture all the best
part about the American Southwest.
That’s just a little interesting tidbit there.
Ever since I became a member of the
SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) back in 1990, I’ve gotten my medieval
fix by going to their events, thus I’d never actually attended a real Ren
Faire. The closest Ren Faire located to
me was out in Sterling , which was about an hour
north of Syracuse (or an hour east of Rochester ). While that really wasn’t that far of a drive,
Sterling was
only open during weekends in July and August.
For me to be able to fully enjoy it (which wouldn’t happen after a long
drive to get there), I’d have to be already in the area to make it happen. I had some time off coming up, so I made
plans to head out to Rochester
where Brian was living, so we could attend this.
Once inside, we started off by
watching a jousting tournament. The King
who officiated this got to sit in a nice shaded building, while the rest of the
audience sat out in the open on this bright, cloudless sunny day. Sterling
is open “rain or shine,” so I’m glad we were there when it was shine. If it’d been raining, we would’ve been
sitting in mud. Yeah, there weren’t any
benches to sit on, so we parked our asses on the grass. The jousting arena needed to have natural
rises for the audience to be, in order to provide better views. It was difficult to see the combatants, but
we got good looks at the people in front of us.
We escaped to the shade to get
something to eat, and partake of some of the carnival games. We had demonstrations at SCA events where
someone could try things out, but this was no where near that skill level. Ren Faires are made for the masses, so things
need to be safe and simple (as opposed to the SCA, which is essentially a
closed party). Throwing the balsa wood
javelins into a hay bail provided a few moments of interest.
Since the shows seem to have more
interest, we went to watch the Mud People’s comedy routine. We were smart enough to stay to the back, as
those who were in the first ten rows had mud slung at them. I had my nice white McKrells concert shirt
on, and that’s something I wanted to keep in good condition. The Mud People’s show was a lot of physical
comedy, which normally wasn’t my bag, but the environment made it funny.
When I was at the SCA events, it
wasn’t uncommon for someone to “step out of character” and snap a few pictures
(especially if it was for the newsletter).
SCAers were usually pretty okay about the brief “break in character” as
it was an admiration of how well someone’s garb had been put together. A couple knights I encountered here (which
appeared to be part of the Faire, as opposed to dressed-up visitors) had some nice
armor that I wanted to take a shot of.
While I was allowed the shot, there was a quite a bit of resistance in
doing it. No, I’m not going to steal
your soul; I’m getting your portrait. It
was nice to stay in your 14th Century persona for the day, but don’t
be so tightly wound about it.
I’d heard so many things about how
good Ren Faires were, and really had more fun at Medieval Times (which was a
highly commercialized event). Sterling was interesting,
and I’m glad I went, but I wanted to find other Faires to go to so I’d have
better experiences.
I’d been in Austin for a month, and the job prospects so
far hadn’t been the best. Because I was
living with Brian and Chaz, I didn’t have to worry about the roof over my head
or where my next meal was coming from.
Chaz suggested a “fun day” where we’d drive out to Navasota to go to the
largest Ren Faire in Texas . I figured I could swing the cost of admission
this once, and eat pretty sparingly while I was there.
Texas Renaissance Fair (also known
as TRF) is actually located near Plantersville, in a small hamlet called Todd
Mission. Once we got off the main
highway, we went to progressively smaller and smaller roads. We were out in the small town area, much like
where I grew up in New York . At one point we weren’t sure if we’d find it,
until we saw a group of cops directing traffic towards a place with a
hastily-marked “Ren Faire” sign.
There was a huge field to park in,
and it was nicely ordered with a line of trees.
Depending on where and when you arrived, you might have shade when you
left. It was about a two hour drive for
Chaz and I to get there, and we’d be looking at that on the way back. We enjoyed going around the area, and seeing
the various vendors. There were a lot of
things which would’ve gotten our money had we let them.
One thing that I noticed here which
was very different than what I’d seen in the past (and pleasantly so) was the
number of people who were in costume. I
was used to just the employees being dressed up in period stuff. But there were so many visitors here decked
out in fantasy outfits, it made the whole experience rather fun. These were serious Ren Faire people,
considering some of the costumes they had.
I liked the drow lady, as it takes a lot of dedication to wear face
paint all day.
The layout of TRF is designed like
a big horseshoe from the main entrance, with a couple of additional cross-spurs
so you don’t have to travel in the outer circle to get from one place to
another. A crier goes around to let
everyone know when the parade is going to happen. The parade contains various individuals,
grouped by theme, who march around the outside parameter. It goes without saying that I enjoyed seeing
the cadre of Highlanders.
We learned that a good number of
those involved in the parade were made up of campers who spend the entire
weekend at the ren faire. That reminded
me of some of those weekend events I had when I was doing SCA, mixed with those
times the Argyle troop of Boy Scouts would camp (as an exhibit) at the
Washington County Fair. We had to live
day-to-day on-site (eating, showering, sleeping, and such), but also having a
lot of fun being a constant part of the festivities. As Boy Scouts, we were only required to wear
out official shirts (with a minimum of two buttons buttoned). I’m sure we stayed much cooler (temperature
wise) than these guys in the black leather armor, who incidentally looked much
cooler (style wise) than we ever did.
It was a great experience coming
out here, as the weather was nice the entire time. There were numerous shows (comedy skits and
Shakespeare-style performances), as well as demonstrations. It was fascinating just watching the blacksmith
forge a sword, and the interesting smells that came from the leather
tanner. This was quite the sensory
experience, and it felt like a living community. This was something that we’d have to return
to. The show we watched that we enjoyed
the most was called the “Ded Bob Sho.” A
guy had a skeleton puppet (“Ded Bob”) he manipulated, and the puppet was rather
on the rude side. Trust me, if you’re
wearing anything interesting in the audience (and are sitting up front where
it’s easy to see you), you’ll be a target.
Knowing that TRF was only open for
just over a month’s worth of weekends in the Fall, I was quite sure that by
this time next year I’d be in the position to enjoy the experience even
more. Even though it had been years
since I’d done anything with the SCA, the positive energy I had from here had
me considering rejoining the group so I could be one of the people who spent
their time here. That’s something to
look forward to for the future.
For current information on the places visited:
Sterling Renaissance Faire: http://www.sterlingfestival.com/
Society for Creative
Anachronism: http://www.sca.org/
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