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Vacation Day 3
May. 29th, 2005 12:48 pmScarborough Ren Fest Day 1
The day dawned cool and cloudy, the radio said 'afternoon thunderstorms likely' and off we went to the Scarborough Renaissance Festival. We had pre-ordered tickets (discount) so we didn't have to deal with the ticket lines (and saved some money). The parking lot is huge and much more friendly than I am used to. The rows are numbered (it would help if I actually paid attention to the numbers) and between the rows are some very pretty wild-flowers.
Walking up to the opening gate (we missed part of it) I was impressed with the size and design of the gate. It has the normal (to me) bridge over the gate proper but it also has a couple of towers, one of which has a jutting window for people to look out. When we got in hearing range, they were talking about hunting something more challenging and someone was sent into the crowd to pull people forward. A fair amount of the Opening Gate at that point was down on the ground level (instead of up on the bridge) and was rather hard to hear (partially due to crowd noise, partially due to participants pulling the crowd forward, partially due to lack of projection). The king (who looked fabulous and rather like the pictures of Henry) and queen (Anne Boleyn) were up top. After the regular show, some of the stage acts were called forward and allowed to do a fast (30 seconds or so) bit to encourage people to come to their show (basically a series of commercial breaks). Then the cannon fired (from a tower) and off we went. The season pass holders have their own line which could be better marked. They do give you little programs for free and sell larger ones. The problems with the little ones are that they can't fit all the stage schedules on one page (2 sheet faces) so you have to keep turning back and forth to check all the options at a given hour; the map is also a grey printing of the large color map in the large program so it is rather hard to read (as in the shop numbers are pixilated and medium grey). I would have preferred to see the schedule rotated 90 degrees so that the hours were on the top of the page with the stages going down the side. They may have been able to fit them all on one page that way. We did look at the larger program and it had a lot of really nice pictures (including the 4 winners in the photo contest from 2004 in color, the little ones had the B&W bitmaps). It also included short (3-4 paragraphs) explanations of the shows, some history and so forth. I did like having the faire divided up into sections that were marked on the map and on the schedule so it was easier to plan how to get from Point A to Point B.
We got in, watched part of music and dance just inside the gate then started wandering around a bit to orient ourselves to the site (which is spacious) and then the rain came (maybe 15 minutes after the gate). The joke is that everything is larger in Texas. Well, their 'scattered showers and thunderstorms' were larger than I am used to. It was a serious frog strangler with some fairly close lightning strikes (to the point that I was feeling the thunder … and it was affecting the power). So, we started checking out the shops. We saw some very nice stuff for sale but due to lack of space in the luggage didn't buy much. We watched the glassblowing show. Very nice arrangement with seats under a roof (which unfortunately leaked in places), 2 gathering places and 1 glory hole. One gathering place had colored glass, the other clear. Not as much explanation of what he was doing but some. Unfortunately (due to rain et al), he couldn't show us the finished piece in his hand. I had fun watching the resident cat getting around and being highly offended at water in HIS domain. There were some interesting shops throughout the site such as a pepper shop (with such interesting names as Dragons Breath and Phoenix Fyre), a bakery, a carved antler shop, etc.
I appreciated having the performers encourage us forward and their determination to get some fun out of the day. Duncan (of London Broil) was offering to do posed pictures, blurry pictures, etc.. The Corsairs (4 members today) were singing wonderfully in the downpour, gathering water in their hands and throwing it at each other. The stage they perform on (PegLeg stage) is a flat area in front of a rigged ship. The rain really didn't seem to faze them much at all (but they are sailors). Queen Anne's Lace (6 women, acapella) were wonderful with tight harmonies, friendly teasing among the members, playing in character between songs and while singing. We did buy a CD.
At the joust there were 4 knights (and their 4 squires) and the master of horse (also on horseback). The joust was not one of the best that I have seen though they did do some cool stuff. I did NOT like being encouraged to boo; booing is rude and it seems wrong for an emblem of chivalry to be booed. Since it was a scripted show, the knights weren't in full armor nor were the horses (the horses trappings were strictly cloth). I was worried about the horses wearing polos in that slop (sometimes when polo wraps get soggy they can slip and start binding in bad ways). The horses were beautiful and well trained. The knights saluting their sections with each knight on the outside was very well done (each would salute his section then drop back and maneuver to the inside while the other 3 moved out). Having the games set up so that 2 knights at a time could ride was cool (and having the rings being on the straight and on the diagonal was also cool). The rings were held by the squires in the early portions and in the later sets of rings the squires would throw them up and the knights would catch them in the air. The rings were rather large maybe 10 inches in diameter with an 8 inch target area (though the lances were not gaming lances with fine points). I did like how each knight was riding for 2 ladies (young girls) and the kids put their colors on the lance (with a lot of safety help from the squire who held the lance tip in case the horse shifted). The criss-cross jousting pattern was interesting (each jousted the other 2 bad guys multiple times on straight, diagonal, straight, diagonal). The falls were too scripted for my tastes (though having the horses know that the squires had nummies made things fairly easy with regards to catching the horse. The script was not that good (and again, we had some trouble hearing it in places). All in all, one joust was enough for me but I am spoiled by the Free Lancers.
Unfortunately, due to my blister (which was very tender and sore) and the rain, we didn't see too much the first day. We saw Corsairs, Queen Anne's Lace, London Broil, a joust, glassblowing, and the pub sing. We also saw part of the afternoon court dancing instruction but in an attempt to keep me off my feet, we did not participate and it was a little hard to hear the person. The pub sing was interesting. They have a set of tables near a pub but not in the pub. They are partially covered but not completely. The court wasn't there (except for the Royal Astrologer). A group of musicians and singers were standing on a bench and top of a picnic table at one end of the sing, others were along the sides or in the middle area. They apparently encourage dancing during Spanish Ladies. The songs were fun (Johnny Jump Up, Spanish Ladies, McIntire, Viva). The talking was fun and had a lot of teasing without being too crude. Anyone in the audience (apparently) could make a toast or call out for a song. Some of it seemed scripted, some not. The participants who were not 'on stage' seemed to really enjoy it. The music was quite nice. The cast members made limericks to tease each other with as well as toasts (and the Dominican refused to translate some stuff). There were maybe 50 people total at the Pub Sing.
London Broil is now 3 members (I remember 2 from when they were at Maryland). They have some very nice tricks and are very silly. The 10 club passing pattern was impressive. The fire trick on Rolla-Bollas was also impressive. They did some drumming while juggling but not as much as I remembered and no singing this time.
We saw part of a knife throwing show and while it was well done, it wasn't that amusing (to us) and it didn't really grab us (or at least didn't grab us enough to want to listen to the begging pitch).
One thing we saw was the "Lowland Games" (not to be confused with the games that Sally Sly came up with several years ago). The key game (ok, the only one we saw) was the distance slide competition. Someone drew a line in the mud and marked it (with those paper umbrellas from a drink). Then each contestant backed away from the line, ran forward, jumped onto their belly and slid in the mud. The goal was distance. The first guy had a bit of a handicap in that just as he was taking off the King walked by and he was doing everything he could to avoid muddying the King. They decided to give each person two attempts. (Marking each attempt with another paper umbrella). This seemed to be quite amusing to the few patrons I saw and the participants. Chris had been worried that we were in the splash zone and he did have his camera but we managed to not get muddy in spite of our front row seats (well, until someone went by and inadvertently whapped Chris with a muddy cloak). It may have been some "actorbation" but it did amuse me and some of the by-standers were explaining it to us so it wasn't complete actorbation.
Back at the hotel, we finally managed to get a hole in the blister (from Friday) so it could drain (followed by a shower to get it as clean as possible). The next morning we bought some antibiotic infused band-aids to keep it under control and it really hasn't caused any major problems since though it may when the chunk is ready to fall off.
The day dawned cool and cloudy, the radio said 'afternoon thunderstorms likely' and off we went to the Scarborough Renaissance Festival. We had pre-ordered tickets (discount) so we didn't have to deal with the ticket lines (and saved some money). The parking lot is huge and much more friendly than I am used to. The rows are numbered (it would help if I actually paid attention to the numbers) and between the rows are some very pretty wild-flowers.
Walking up to the opening gate (we missed part of it) I was impressed with the size and design of the gate. It has the normal (to me) bridge over the gate proper but it also has a couple of towers, one of which has a jutting window for people to look out. When we got in hearing range, they were talking about hunting something more challenging and someone was sent into the crowd to pull people forward. A fair amount of the Opening Gate at that point was down on the ground level (instead of up on the bridge) and was rather hard to hear (partially due to crowd noise, partially due to participants pulling the crowd forward, partially due to lack of projection). The king (who looked fabulous and rather like the pictures of Henry) and queen (Anne Boleyn) were up top. After the regular show, some of the stage acts were called forward and allowed to do a fast (30 seconds or so) bit to encourage people to come to their show (basically a series of commercial breaks). Then the cannon fired (from a tower) and off we went. The season pass holders have their own line which could be better marked. They do give you little programs for free and sell larger ones. The problems with the little ones are that they can't fit all the stage schedules on one page (2 sheet faces) so you have to keep turning back and forth to check all the options at a given hour; the map is also a grey printing of the large color map in the large program so it is rather hard to read (as in the shop numbers are pixilated and medium grey). I would have preferred to see the schedule rotated 90 degrees so that the hours were on the top of the page with the stages going down the side. They may have been able to fit them all on one page that way. We did look at the larger program and it had a lot of really nice pictures (including the 4 winners in the photo contest from 2004 in color, the little ones had the B&W bitmaps). It also included short (3-4 paragraphs) explanations of the shows, some history and so forth. I did like having the faire divided up into sections that were marked on the map and on the schedule so it was easier to plan how to get from Point A to Point B.
We got in, watched part of music and dance just inside the gate then started wandering around a bit to orient ourselves to the site (which is spacious) and then the rain came (maybe 15 minutes after the gate). The joke is that everything is larger in Texas. Well, their 'scattered showers and thunderstorms' were larger than I am used to. It was a serious frog strangler with some fairly close lightning strikes (to the point that I was feeling the thunder … and it was affecting the power). So, we started checking out the shops. We saw some very nice stuff for sale but due to lack of space in the luggage didn't buy much. We watched the glassblowing show. Very nice arrangement with seats under a roof (which unfortunately leaked in places), 2 gathering places and 1 glory hole. One gathering place had colored glass, the other clear. Not as much explanation of what he was doing but some. Unfortunately (due to rain et al), he couldn't show us the finished piece in his hand. I had fun watching the resident cat getting around and being highly offended at water in HIS domain. There were some interesting shops throughout the site such as a pepper shop (with such interesting names as Dragons Breath and Phoenix Fyre), a bakery, a carved antler shop, etc.
I appreciated having the performers encourage us forward and their determination to get some fun out of the day. Duncan (of London Broil) was offering to do posed pictures, blurry pictures, etc.. The Corsairs (4 members today) were singing wonderfully in the downpour, gathering water in their hands and throwing it at each other. The stage they perform on (PegLeg stage) is a flat area in front of a rigged ship. The rain really didn't seem to faze them much at all (but they are sailors). Queen Anne's Lace (6 women, acapella) were wonderful with tight harmonies, friendly teasing among the members, playing in character between songs and while singing. We did buy a CD.
At the joust there were 4 knights (and their 4 squires) and the master of horse (also on horseback). The joust was not one of the best that I have seen though they did do some cool stuff. I did NOT like being encouraged to boo; booing is rude and it seems wrong for an emblem of chivalry to be booed. Since it was a scripted show, the knights weren't in full armor nor were the horses (the horses trappings were strictly cloth). I was worried about the horses wearing polos in that slop (sometimes when polo wraps get soggy they can slip and start binding in bad ways). The horses were beautiful and well trained. The knights saluting their sections with each knight on the outside was very well done (each would salute his section then drop back and maneuver to the inside while the other 3 moved out). Having the games set up so that 2 knights at a time could ride was cool (and having the rings being on the straight and on the diagonal was also cool). The rings were held by the squires in the early portions and in the later sets of rings the squires would throw them up and the knights would catch them in the air. The rings were rather large maybe 10 inches in diameter with an 8 inch target area (though the lances were not gaming lances with fine points). I did like how each knight was riding for 2 ladies (young girls) and the kids put their colors on the lance (with a lot of safety help from the squire who held the lance tip in case the horse shifted). The criss-cross jousting pattern was interesting (each jousted the other 2 bad guys multiple times on straight, diagonal, straight, diagonal). The falls were too scripted for my tastes (though having the horses know that the squires had nummies made things fairly easy with regards to catching the horse. The script was not that good (and again, we had some trouble hearing it in places). All in all, one joust was enough for me but I am spoiled by the Free Lancers.
Unfortunately, due to my blister (which was very tender and sore) and the rain, we didn't see too much the first day. We saw Corsairs, Queen Anne's Lace, London Broil, a joust, glassblowing, and the pub sing. We also saw part of the afternoon court dancing instruction but in an attempt to keep me off my feet, we did not participate and it was a little hard to hear the person. The pub sing was interesting. They have a set of tables near a pub but not in the pub. They are partially covered but not completely. The court wasn't there (except for the Royal Astrologer). A group of musicians and singers were standing on a bench and top of a picnic table at one end of the sing, others were along the sides or in the middle area. They apparently encourage dancing during Spanish Ladies. The songs were fun (Johnny Jump Up, Spanish Ladies, McIntire, Viva). The talking was fun and had a lot of teasing without being too crude. Anyone in the audience (apparently) could make a toast or call out for a song. Some of it seemed scripted, some not. The participants who were not 'on stage' seemed to really enjoy it. The music was quite nice. The cast members made limericks to tease each other with as well as toasts (and the Dominican refused to translate some stuff). There were maybe 50 people total at the Pub Sing.
London Broil is now 3 members (I remember 2 from when they were at Maryland). They have some very nice tricks and are very silly. The 10 club passing pattern was impressive. The fire trick on Rolla-Bollas was also impressive. They did some drumming while juggling but not as much as I remembered and no singing this time.
We saw part of a knife throwing show and while it was well done, it wasn't that amusing (to us) and it didn't really grab us (or at least didn't grab us enough to want to listen to the begging pitch).
One thing we saw was the "Lowland Games" (not to be confused with the games that Sally Sly came up with several years ago). The key game (ok, the only one we saw) was the distance slide competition. Someone drew a line in the mud and marked it (with those paper umbrellas from a drink). Then each contestant backed away from the line, ran forward, jumped onto their belly and slid in the mud. The goal was distance. The first guy had a bit of a handicap in that just as he was taking off the King walked by and he was doing everything he could to avoid muddying the King. They decided to give each person two attempts. (Marking each attempt with another paper umbrella). This seemed to be quite amusing to the few patrons I saw and the participants. Chris had been worried that we were in the splash zone and he did have his camera but we managed to not get muddy in spite of our front row seats (well, until someone went by and inadvertently whapped Chris with a muddy cloak). It may have been some "actorbation" but it did amuse me and some of the by-standers were explaining it to us so it wasn't complete actorbation.
Back at the hotel, we finally managed to get a hole in the blister (from Friday) so it could drain (followed by a shower to get it as clean as possible). The next morning we bought some antibiotic infused band-aids to keep it under control and it really hasn't caused any major problems since though it may when the chunk is ready to fall off.