Current mood:	chipper
Current music:	Vivre en France 2

Operation Surprise! KY Renfest Invasion
So we, insane individuals that we are, drove the 16 hours to Eminence KY to



This is the second year of the Kentucky Highland Renaissance Festival and just because I'm anal that way I'm going to do a mini-review THEN tell you about our time there.


Cons:
The cast is all volunteer, I say this not because they were bad but because there is no recourse if actors bail. Our pal Flavid was supposed to be part of a *collection* of visiting nobles but he was the only one who made it.
Historical accuracy:well there was the title "renaissance" but it was set in the 1300's and…Look, I'm just not going there. Let me just say, it was fun and ultimately, that is what matters.

Pros:
Permanent, wooded site with buildings, trails, excellent setup, multiple stages and copious parking.
See some pictures
Very friendly performers, merchants and cast.
Seating and shade -I can't say enough nice things about this. Although the faire took up some real estate, your elderly Aunt could have been seated comfortably at one of the woodland areas near some merchants and see would have shows, people stopping to chat, wandering entertainment and cast and someone probably would have offered her some cool water or a fan. ALL the stages had screening above on poles and a place to sit (usually hay bales) if not shaded by trees.
Food and drink: There was only one "meal" provider but many snack, treat and sweet purveyors. It was a wet faire and had a decent beer selection. In addition-the Pub has a a stage and food and drink. If you decided to sit and drink all day, not unlike the elderly Aunt, there was entertainment all day. The veranda had screen shading and standing tables.
Flavor: This faire has elements that make it interesting: You have to "discover" certain areas along trails, the main gate is a big wooded and iron critter. There are little sculptures and a sun dial. There is an "adults only" area with bawdy entertainment and you have to show an ID to get in. I didn't make it over but others said it was a lot of fun and wish we had something similar in our area.
Entertainers: What I heard over and over
"This is how I make my living, if you can't tip, please some over and tell me what you thought of the show."
They had excellent schtick and adapted to the audiences. I didn't see all the acts but the ones I did get to were really good. The "worst" was actually our friends and they didn't try to even *pretend* that it was all going to go smoothly but they did promise to entertain-and they did.

Patron Review:
http://aribabybug.wordpress.com/2008/06/30/photoblog-kentucky-renaissance-faire-pt-2/

Okay, critique over on to my weekend.

In March, capt_amos and mythfish said
"You should come to our (home) faire."
After hugs and goodbyes we said "we'll try." What they didn't know is that we priced it out, made hotel arrangements, rented a car and had to keep zippers on our mouths while we organized it! We even made a discussion group so folks could go back and forth on it!

Friday at 5:00 OMG am we hit the road in a rented Suzuki XL (see pics here) it was NOT the Impala we'd arranged to have but we decided comfort was better than going with the camry. All of us were hyper and it was hard for me not to be in "performance" mode (stress, worry, planning, stomach upset) and more than once over the weekend I reprimanded myself for not calming down and being mellow. Sixteen hours in a car with people who are accustomed to long travel is actually a fun thing. The night before we'd hit Trader Joes and picked up
* Puffed cheese snacks
* Smart food
* Dark chocolate expresso beans
* Pistachio and cocolate-covered toffee
* Fresh pears
* Water, pepsi, mountain dew
* Wasabi and soy almonds
* Bing Cherries

fbhjr jokes about traveling with three women but we ate well, things stayed clean and we rarely ran out of things to talk about. (This was a little different on the way home but it was a long trip) We had been discussing doing spiral fire sculpture and how to do it. We figured out an imperfect solution and moved on (this is important later) We made good time despite some spectacular storms and were *very glad* we'd opted for a hotel rather than camping. We stayed in a Ramada in Simpsonville that had nearby; a steakhouse, a liquor store, a movie theater and was just off the highway.

The next morning ALL of us were awake before the alarm and most of us stopped for the continental breakfast. We didn't get as much of a WTF response as I expected in costume and was happy to pop into the vehicle.
We were WAY too early so we stopped and got gas and explored the roads of Eminence. morgan_lafaye was happy to do horse spotting,

We arrived in the misty morning at 9:45 and no one was directing parking so we just picked a spot-which by coincidence was at the front gate (the sign is well-hidden) I observed cast members still getting dressed in the parking lot and rolled my eyes a little. In their defense, we were only part of about ten people coming in at that time. We were disappointed that capt_amos and mythfish were right at the front gate and they spotted us immediately but it didn't *quite* click. (We were out of context, LOL)
But they had no problem running up and hugging us. We watched the opening gate scene and then the King had the gates opened and we all went inside. Later we caught up with Flavid and he told us how the two found out that *he* knew we were coming and called him a "bastard" for keeping the secret.

The grounds are gorgeous and I think because 1) we were in costume 2) carry ourselves a certain way were mistaken for cast (which I felt a little bad about but was quick to correct as it is one of my *things*) The nice thing about that is that we got little dribbles and drabbles of the faire people were *genuinely* nice. I also teased Mythfish about the fact that I tell people about running Phoenix Swords, what we do and get a 'that's nice' and HE tells people that he's part of Phoenix Swords and they are like "Wow!" and he said
"That's because of who I tell it to." As opposed to my husband's response of "it's your delivery"
We shopped and found a seller of hand-grip catapaults (will add link later) I spent most of my money on tips, food and CDs. The prices were amazing, think I will do a post of nothing but places I spent money ;-)

We got to see mythfish, capt_amos, bossybucket ( I bought her CD) and met medievaloracle officially at dinner Saturday.

morgan_lafaye and blue_micha spent most of the day shopping and fbhjr wasn't far behind. I actually sat, relaxed and hung out with Angie. We traded stories about what it's like to be married to charismatic men, what her life is like in New Orleans as a nurse (and I thank her for her honesty) I even *drumroll* drank a beer. Dieter hoped to introduce us to the faire organizer but that (not unsurprisingly) didn't happen. And we really were there to have fun, so as much I bugged him, I'm just as glad to send a demo tape. But Morgan and Blue received many, many compliments on their costuming, sword and bearing. It seems that put-together women to know how to wear a sword, use a sword and have intelligent historic discussion on same sword are a rarity of note. I have no doubt that the flag was on high for our gender and performance profession :)

I lost "the notebook" at the faire and it actually got turned in-Dieter told me he recognized the contents and was disappointed it wasn't "spicy." Sorry kids, it's keywords for my journal entries, things to look up on the web and performance ideas. It probably reads like the writings on the walls of an asylum. :) I was a little shy and hope people weren't put off but it was so fun to see those guys and not be ON THE JOB. It was funny, I was sitting in the Pub drinking my Sam Adams and someone asked me how the act was and I replied
"Not bad, but it will better after this beer."
I was totally prepped for firing on all sarcasm cannons but it was completely unnecessary! What a different vibe at the faire!

Fenix and I both remarked that it felt like King Dick's in the OLD days (early 80's) and it has room to grow. We were amazed that you could run so many weekends but the organizer is cool about acts doing single weekends, owns the property and it IS close to Louisville which is a rapidly growing mecca. We saw signs starting twenty miles out! The cast was permitted to sit and chat and drink and they didn't try to be politically correct, just friendly and it was terrific. I also liked that they weren't really trying to BE like other faires, just themselves. The only bit I rolled my eyes at was some of the song choices - I told one person
"I hear wild mountain thyme and I will be leaving a smoke trail in my wake"
and to Mythfish
"Does 'Highland Laddie' haunt your dreams? It's going to haunt mine."
But what a fun time!


Points to note:
* Ohio-"I spy with my little eye, things that start with 'C'. *cough* Corn, corn, corn, cop, cow, clouds, corn, corn, corn.
*I f you were in Kentucky, you'd get to have rum
* Waking up to hearing in the next bed "And I found that sheep stuffed somewhere inappropriate."
* Downeast Pirate Days- I was already invited! (that's Flavid for you, networking like a mofo)
* Does somebody need a hug? (After a prince came over and wondered why three women were fawning over Dieter- so he hugged him. :-P)
* I'm sorry could you repeat that price? (I think the merchants were equipped with a money-sucking ray because we lightened our wallets, loaded the car and STILL want to buy more. I'm having a custom mask made for under 60.00. You'll see these at SCRF at the fire show)

I'll do a separate entry on acts and merchants :)