A Day at the Fair of Olde

Today I went to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival with my friend, Phil, who came over yesterday for Tim's wedding, as he used to be one of Tim's roommates too (at different time than me, I met Phil through Tim). The Ren Fest here, as it is called, is said to be one of the best in the nation. This weekend was openning weekend, which neither of us had attended before. Lots of artisans, leathworkers, glass blowers, clothing makers, blacksmiths, and artists of all kinds, set up shop in the festival with all kinds of unique wares. You'd be hard-pressed to find anything else like it anywhere.

Phil and I have sort of a fascination with swords. He has quite a collection already. Last year I bought a really nice katana from Badger Blades, a maker of some very nice-quality blades. They can be rather expensive, however, and really just took a casual look this time. I still have to get my last sword up on the wall and I really didn't feel like spending a lot of money this year. I did, however, buy a really cool chainmail hackey sack.

Of course, the best thing to do there is just people-watching. Lots of people will come in costume and it's just fun to see what people come up with. A lot of them, especially the cast, really get into it and you can sit there and banter with them if you feel so inclined.

It can be a lot more fun if you come in costume yourself. It helps you get into character more. Unfortunately, we just didn't get it together in time to pull this off. I have a hobbit costume I wore last year at Halloween, but I didn't get my feet tough enough to be able to pull that off, nor do I have any real footwear that would fit very well with it (tennis shoes just won't do). Our ultimate plan is to get a bunch of our friends togther and all dress up as barabarians. I group of barbarians could "really clean the place up", as Phil said. Plus, it would just be a lot of fun. We have a plan for next year.