Monday, August 4, 2014

Wicked Renaissance 2014



It's that time of year again! Time to share photos from our annual trip to The Bristol Renaissance Faire! We had great weather this time, so we stayed a long time and got many photos.


Another Mud Show promoter. The Mud Show is what it sounds like - guys wrestling around in the mud. There's a comic element too.


This band was playing some cool, gypsy type music.


This girl was doing some cool hula hoop tricks during the concert.


Some witches and a viking take in the show.


I love this sign:


A man of many cups.


David and his grapes..




The Robin Hood family. Another Robin Hood met them a minute later, but I preferred this picture.


A wizard!


This girl always poses nicely for a photo each year.


Two well dressed gentlemen:


The Bristol Ren Faire has a really nice setting with plenty of trees. There are a series of shops, each with its own painted sign out front. Some of the signs are pretty creative.




This is a really pretty carved woman, like the kind that would be on a ship. It was on a restaurant facade that looked like an old ship.


Here I am in front of a little fairytale cottage. If you look closely at the window, you'll an eye looking back at you. I didn't notice that until seeing the photo on my computer.


There was an entire fairy village complete with live flowers and mini trees. It was so cute. If you look in the background, you'll see that a fairy happened to be walking into my picture.


A Samurai and a Roman soldier?


My mom sitting in front of one of the kids' rides. The ride has little boats that move like swings.


Catapulting Frogs!


One of the Ren Faire highlights is the tempura!


Mmmm...


We caught a little of the first joust. This is the nonviolent one where they do different tricks, like catching that little thing on a pole.



I seem to get a photo of this guy every year. His leather shop has all kinds of cool accessories like those claws. If you look to the left, you'll see a hand reaching out in some.


These two cracked me up. OK, I know he's Dr. Who, but who is she? Is she The Third Doctor? That's the best I can figure with her frilly shirt, bow tie, and hair.


This lady has been a staple at the fair since I can remember. She's a real character. I think she was giving tea time etiquette to a bunch of little girls when I took this picture.


Another character I remember seeing every year is this giant nose puppeteer. The man standing next to him and his "puppet" reminded my mom of Gepetto.


 
He was one of my favorite characters at the faire.


We visited the regal area of the faire where the woman who represents Queen Elizabeth has sort of a meet and greet with her court. Here you'll see the people who work for the Ren Faire in all their finery.



This is the woman who has played the Queen for the past several years. We've had three different Queens that I can remember.


I liked this picture. Her profile reminds me of an old Renaissance painting.


This is probably my favorite photo from this year. There is such character in his eyes.


She has also been a part of the Queen's court as long as I can remember.


As I recall, this man was presenting the Queen with an ink map he made of the faire grounds.

 
A sassy pirate wench:


She was with this guy, who bares a resemblance to John Malkovich. I'm comparing their faces now, and wow. I like that hint of an eye behind him. The man behind him was a viking who showed up in a few of my photos.

 

I'm not sure who this character is. She reminds me of a gnome.


This guy is a dragon, who happens to be wearing athletic shoes and carrying an energy drink. I think those are pajamas...


We saw this guy while waiting for the "Joust to the Death". His hat was super tall and covered in nails. There were nails spiking right out of the top of it.


Time for the Joust to the Death! The woman who introduced the knights was plenty dramatic.


One of their horses:


Each section of the audience is assigned a knight to cheer for. We got the Sicilian knight.


In his helmet:


Another one of the knights:


The Joust to the Death is different because a lot of fake blood is spilled. Knights were dying left and right. I didn't even notice our guy die, but I guess he did. There was a lot going on. As you can tell from the picture below, the audience gets really into it! There were all kinds of insane things being yelled around us.


One of my favorite parts of the day was seeing all the fairies. These ladies glide gracefully around the wooded area like they're in their own little world. I have a feeling that some of them are trained dancers in their regular lives.


This fairy was new to me. I just noticed the little horns on her head. Maybe she's a dragon fairy?


I think of this one as the fire fairy.


There's that viking again!


A pretty fairy up a tree. She had the attention of many kids below.

 
I've seen this fairy before. Well, maybe she's more of a forest critter. I'm not sure. She darts around, so I was glad to get some clear pictures of her.


Another woodland creature. Maybe a moss fairy?


I loved this costume! I think this is The Queen of Hearts. Look at the tiny legs on the side of the horse. Those look like some tricky stilts to handle. The horse was adorable and blinked.

 
There is a parade at the end of the day for the Queen and her court.


A royal Beefeater:


There is also a drum circle.

 
Usually, some of the more unique costumes appear during this time.

 
Another wizard!



I'm thinking this is Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones. I don't watch the show, so I'm giving myself some points for knowing that! I see tons of pictures of her online.


A man and his fish during the closing songs.


... and a woman and her banana.


The Queen says goodbye.


You can see her in the top of the turret. This is what the entrance/exit to the Faire looks like.


You probably couldn't see this in the photo of me before, but I wore a new dragon necklace to the Faire:


It seemed like the perfect fit. Also, we found a souvenir. It's a cast iron Fleur-de-lis.


If you'd like to take a peek at our past trips to Ren Faire, here are some links:

Wicked Renaissance 2013
Wicked Renaissance 2012
Wicked Renaissance 2011

10 comments:

  1. Wow! So much creativity in one place! That looks like it was a blast. Great photos!

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    1. Mark ~ Thank you! Yeah, we had a great time. We had perfect weather this year. Yes, there is a lot of creativity in the costumes and performances. I think most Halloween people would appreciate all the costumed characters walking around. Have you been to a Ren Faire?

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  2. Oh that takes me back to living in Chicago and several years of going to the Bristol Faire. I loved that place. We don't have anything like it here in Idaho.

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    1. Gone Feral ~ Sorry to hear that you don't have any Ren Faires nearby! When were you living in Chicago? We might have even been at the Faire at the same time. I probably live about as far as you did from the Faire, only in the other direction.

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  3. Your faeries are Ariel (who I believe is a wind fairy), Baby dragon, Phoenix, Autumn, Brownie, and the dryad. :)

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    1. Jif ~ Welcome to my blog! Thanks for telling me the faery names. I looked back over the photos, matching names to the faeries. All of those names make perfect sense! Have you been to the Bristol Faire? I ask, because you sound pretty familiar with the faeries!

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  4. There's a lot of fun characters here! It must be a standard Ren Faire thing, since the Michigan one has a lot of interesting things to look at, too. I always forget to take pics since I'm too busy looking!

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    1. Lisa ~ Yeah, it's always fun to see which new characters are there each year! Of course, there are people I look forward to seeing in the same costumes they've worn for a decade! I'd like to see some photos from your Ren Faire if you ever take some!

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  5. Always a pleasure to see this post :) Makes me so excited for the Louisiana Renissance Fest in November! I think my mom and I are going to dress up this year. She's all ready bought fabric for a wench costume and I've been dreaming up a design for either a Fall Fairy or Spirit of Fall type costume :)

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    1. Heidi ~ I'm so glad to hear it! I look forward to writing this post each year, and sharing my Ren Faire photos. Especially with those of you who have come to know our local festival. At first, November sounded a little late for a Ren Faire, but then I remembered that your weather would be a lot warmer than ours is in November. We'd possibly have snow on the ground at that point! I bet you'll have some comfortable weather for walking around the faire.

      That's so cool that you're planning to dress up! I'd love to see some photos of you guys in costume, or of the faire in general. It's always interesting to compare faires. A Fall Fairy costume sounds really pretty!

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