Long-Awaited Silver Leaf Renaissance Faire Pictures

As promised, here are some of the pictures from opening day of the 2006 Silver Leaf Renaissance Faire. The faire was situated mostly in a forest, so there was lots of shade. Only a few areas were out in fields where there was direct sunlight. The grounds were lovely! Many thanks to Jeanine and the many other volunteers who spent the previous week making the grounds look so nice.

Here is a picture of Mary, Laura, and myself after our participation in "Drench a Wench, Soak a Bloke," where we paid money to throw wet sponges at boys and then let them kiss us (on the cheek or hand...nothing disreputable, Jeanine!). It was fun, and it raised money for breast cancer research. It was a blast particularly to watch the kids do it...there was one little girl who absolutely would not let the boys kiss her but insisted instead that they give her high-fives.



Early in the day, we got to watch some of the swordfighting. As the announcer put it, "If we look hurt, it's because we're hurt. If you see blood spattering from one of the combatants, it's because he's bleeding. If a sword should come flying out of the knight's hand and into the audience, duck!"



Throughout the day, there are several plays that run, showing a bit of the story at one time, at bit more at a later time, etc. One of our favorites was the Knights of Iron, which featured King Arthur and the Camelot story. Here is a picture of Arthur and his Knights as they draw swords for battle upon the human chessboard, facing off against the evil Mordred and his band of mercenaries.



Below is another battle scene from the Knights of Iron. Here, King Arthur (in red) whirls in the air to face his opponent, the Moor. (I thought the Moor was great; of all the actors, he was probably my favorite.)

And here's another scene from the chessboard, where Galahad defeats the Russian.

Of course, you can't have a Renaissance Faire without a joust! We actually missed most of it, but we arrived in time for me to snap a picture of the last run.

This "stinky" pirate decided to sneak up on us while we were snapping this picture. I call him stinky because he is actually a musician who does a show where he and his "bonnie lass" are the "stinky pirates." Their music was quite fun, and he was a nice fellow as well, though at one point during the faire he did grab me by the waist and, in his best pirate voice, say, "I've come for the blonde!"

Sadly, I don't have my own picture, but here is the "creepy pirate," so dubbed by all four of us after he tried to commandeer Jeanine and take her "back to his ship," where...well, let's just say his suggestions were, um, quite suggestive. I do, however, have a picture of myself in full garb. Though it wasn't the perfect costume I might have put together on more notice, I was quite pleased with it and was so thankful to Laura, Jeanine, and Mary for their assistance in putting it together. Because seriously, going to a Renaissance Faire in costume is the only way to do it! People treat you as though you're part of the festivities, and you get to banter with the other people in a way that you couldn't do if you were just a "tourist." However, I must say a brief word about corsets; that is to say, after a full day of wearing one, I have never been so thankful that women's modern fashions allow us the comforts they do. It wasn't unbearable to wear, but when I loosened it at the end of the day, my lungs let out a serious whoosh of air.



And here's one last picture of my lovely friends (Mary, Jeanine, Laura).



I had such a blast doing this. I highly encourage anyone with time, imagination, and accessibility to a Renaissance Faire to dress up and just go to one of these. It's so much fun, and if nothing else, you'll walk away with a brand new life experience to add to your list.