Four Winds Renaissance Faire 1996

Four Winds is a small Renaissance Faire held in Whitehouse, Texas (Whitehouse is outside of Tyler). 1996 was the second year for the Faire.

I visited Four Winds the last weekend of the Faire. It was fun; I ran into people that I know from Scarborough (just goes to show you, Rennies, week-end Rennies and Rennie-wanna-be's can always find a Faire, no matter how small, or how remote) and met some new friends.

Ok, enough already. Let's get to the pictures! That's what you're here for, right? Just remember, I am in no way associated with the Four Winds Renaissance Faire except as a satisfied customer. All opinions on this page are my own. Remember to click on the smaller pictures to view the larger images.

Four Winds is set in France during the reign of Louis XIII and his Queen, Anne of Austria. You know what that means? Yea, verily, m'lord ... Cardinal Richelieu and the Muskateers! Here are a pair of Muskateers paying their respects to the Queen.

As everyone knows, there are two rival factions in the court of Louis XIII. These are represented by the Cardinal's Guard (in red) and the King's Muskateers (in blue). Scenes like this one, with Aramis confronting the Cardinal and his henchmen, were commonplace. Sometimes this resulted in duels, or just plain hair-pulling (that's Constance, D'Artagnan's lady love, in the pink, and Lady DeWinter in the blue).

Sometimes the machinations of the Cardinal result in challenges on the field of combat. The Champion won this encounter, but unfortunately it was too late for the Duke of Buckingham.

But this is the King's birthday celebration! The Rogues provide lively piping to get the feet dancing. All the ladies love to lust, er, look longingly, at Bryan, the front man for the Rogues. And then, of course, there is Virginia, who sells CDs of the Rogues' music and takes care of that most important member of the clan, the clan sheep.

What would a royale birthday celebration be without a serenade by lovely ladies? The Naughty Bawdies have a chest full of favorite songs with which to entertain. As you can see by their attire, these are pirate lasses. Yes, there are pirates at Four Winds. They seem a trifle out of place at the French Court, perhaps they are Privateers spying for England.

Face painting and hair braiding are just two of the pleasures that can be found at the Faire. Believe me, hair braiding is a pleasure indeed when it's hot in Texas!

Another one of the pleasures found at Four Winds is Lord Xavier. His daring feats of sword swallowing and fire-eating are beyond belief. If the wind is in the right quarter, he will add fire-breathing to his list of skills. There are also muscians, such as this fiddler, who will play for you. And wonderous exotic animals such as this monkey who will actually converse with you through his lovely friend.

If Shakespeare isn't to your taste, why not pit your skill against that of the Game Masters. Or visit the Elves of Mistwood. Maybe you'd like to shop for a birthday present for the king. I'm sure a leather mask would please his Majesty. (Or you could purchase the leather from The Village Tannery and make it yourself.) Maybe you'd like to purchase a chaine maile coif to wear to the birthday banquet.

After all of this exhausting activity, you can tour the Faire in a fine carriage before heading home. Ah, home! The sounds of drums on the night air! The crackle of the fire and the tapping of the dancers' feet at the gypsy campground! The stories told of the day's adventures! The . . . oh, yeah, the drive back to north Plano . . .

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Last updated Saturday, 06-Apr-2002 14:23:03 CST