To The Renaissance Festival!

Today I went to the Michigan Renaissance Festival. I did not go to the Festival alone.  Going by yourself is no fun and Abby declared she had teenage things to do instead and Tash and Leah were out of town.  Thankfully, two friends volunteered to come along.

Mr. B and Midwest Chick flew in to Pontiac from Indiana for the festivities.  In Mr. B's new plane.

 

It's a great looking and speedy plane, with about an hour flight time from wheels up to touch down on 27L.  Mr. B now travels in style.

I met them at the airport and we drove up to Holly, Michigan for the Renaissance Festival.

The grounds was fairly well packed with a long line of traffic just to get onto the grounds.   On the upside the staff and the Oakland County Sheriff have this down to an art and got traffic into the grounds as efficiently as possible.

There was quite a turn-out:

Some masked, some not, and some in period masks:

We first saw a glass blowing demonstration which was rather neat.

We then toured the many stores, including some fine weapon shops with many sharp implements.

Lots of shiny things to see, and Mr. B was impressed with the highly polished sword, polished to a mirror finish:

All were quite sharp.

So sharp, that one is warned to always practice safe seax.

We then came to a fork in the road.

She was very convincing about viewing her shop. After viewing the shop it was time for lunch.

Turkey legs!

The smoked turkey legs are not to be missed.  Simply awesome and rather filling. Mr. B. covered lunch which was much appreciated.

Then on to some musical entertainment.

Tartanic was at the Festival and put on a great show.

It's always great to hear them play and their patter makes their show very entertaining. They've got some of the best pipes and drums around.

Pictus was also at the Festival, and they too put on quite an excellent and entertaining performance.

 If you like pipes and drums, you'll enjoy both groups.

After spending a good day at the Festival and touring the grounds, we headed back to the airport and they headed back to  Indiana and made good time to land in IFR conditions at their home airport.

It was a great time, and I enjoyed Mr. B and Midwest Chick's company profusely and it was a great day.

At The Renaissance Faire

Many a store would accept not only coins of the realm, but cards of note as well:

As such delicious turkey legs were eaten.

The children sipped upon cider while the adults enjoyed some mead.

Then off to see more sights.

There were birds of prey:

Verily, there were armored beasts:

And a viking settlement and smith demonstration:

The helm, along with the chainmail was made by the smiths.

Jugglers with wands of fire

There were feats of skill on the tourney fields:

Rings Speared from posts:

Rings caught after being thrown in the air:

And There Was Jousting:

The winner and tourney champion was Sir Edward:

Then it began to rain and having seen all there was to see, we headed for the car and home.

It 'twas a grand time indeed.

At The Renaissance Fair

Today the weather was perfect for a visit to the Michigan Renaissance Festival. If you're near Michigan and you've never gone, you owe yourself a trip.

So the family, including my niece visiting from Toronto, hopped in the car and headed to Holly, Michigan.

Thankfully, they not only take cash but renaissance plastic:

Much of the fun in going to the Ren Fest is people watching. Lots of people dressed in period (or period as they imagine it was) costume, be they actually workers at the fair or just visiting:

And it wouldn't be the Ren Faire without the jousting:

There was plenty of live entertainment, including the incredible Tartanic:

The also gave perhaps the first ever demonstration of belly dancing to bagpipes:

They put on a great and fun show and have a really awesome sound whether live or on one of their albums.

We wrapped up the day with the kids watching a puppet show that was quite hilarious.

The puppeteer came out early and warmed up the crowd and could really play to the kids:

He then put on a show that had the kids completely immersed and interacting with the puppets. The kids loved it.

Then tired and with the money all spent on turkey legs, cheesecake-on-a-stick and waxed hands for the kids we headed home.

At the Michigan Renaissance Fair

Last Sunday we took the kids to our annual visit to the Michigan Renaissance Fair.

Held annually on the weekends in Holly, Michigan, this year from August 22nd through October 4th it is not to be missed.

First we had to get tickets, luckily they took a variety of renaissance forms of credit:

The kids get more into it each year and have more fun seeing people all dressed up:

As you can see people really go all-out in their costumes and get into the spirit of the faire.

The kids also found the juggling show quite fascinating as the jugglers tossed multiple flaming and sharp objects back and forth without missing a beat, but lucky for us they were too young to catch some of the slightly raunchy humor:
The humor was quick and the adults got it and the kids in the audience didn't, being completely wowed by the juggling that was so skilled it looked like magic.

The weather was nice and cool, abnormally so for August (must be a clear sign of Global Warming right?) with occasional bouts of rain that made the day quite pleasant temperature-wise. During one rain-burst we sought cover and had the kids take a pony ride, which they really enjoyed:

They then went on a swing and got a good idea of the concept of leverage:


This year because of a fair bit of rain it wasn't nearly as busy as it is normally and the kids were invited to have a fairy tea, which consisted of playing fairy chairs, singing some songs and having cupcakes and sierra mist with a bunch of friendly fairies.

As we were heading out I heard the call of the pipes and drums. There was a wickedly good band playing - Tartanic

Here's an example of how they sound:

Very cool and they'll be at the Fair quite a lot this summer.

The Fair of course would not be complete without the food - including the famous turkey legs that have to be tried to be believed, and a visit to the fair is simply incomplete without one.

The Renaissance Fair is a great time for the whole family and you'll easily spend a great day enjoying yourself there.

At the Renaissance Fair

On Saturday, the family and my wife's friend and her kids and I piled into the van and we all went to the 2007 Michigan Renaissance Festival in Holly, Michigan.

We were there for the Scottish Fling weekend. Yes, men in kilts (They get annoyed if you call them dresses).

Indeed as part of the festivities some of the Scottsmen pickup a 120 pound telephone pole called in Scottish a caber and throw it - they do this for fun. Anyone who can carry a telephone pole and hurl it end over end should not be greeted with the words "nice dress" -- bad idea.


Doesn't it look like fun?

There are always a variety of acts including these comedic Jugglers:



And of course, full contact jousting between armored knights:


And, not to be left out, an incredible moving statue that absolutely enthralls the kids (don't tell the kids there's a person in there, it'll spoil the magic).


If you are close to Holly, Michigan or want to take a very worthwhile trip for some serious fun, the Renaissance Fair is still going for quite a few more weeks and its great fun. Tons of fun to watch both the performers and the crowd all dressed up in "period" costume and acting all medievelish.

I highly recommend that you have one of the famous roasted turkey legs and a glass of mead for a snack. Simply excellent.