The Renaissance Faire Junkie
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I visited my friend Katherine in Tucson and while I was there, we went to
the Arizona Renaissance Faire and Artisan Marketplace (whew! that's a
mouthful!).
Of course, I was in costume and I had my trusty camera
backpack with me, too.
To really see the Arizona Faire requires a minimum of 2 days.
There is simply that much to see and do.
So I didn't get to see everything.
But I saw some old friends, met some new friends, and took lots
of picures.
The Arizona Faire is in the middle of the desert.
That means it's
hot, dry and dusty
(except for the game booth
where you try to hit the fool with very over-ripe tomatoes).
When you visit the Faire, be sure to drink lots and lots of water.
You will dehydrate.
And don't wear anything that is hard to clean; the dust gets
into everything!
I've got dusty feathers in my cap now and you can't just pop the feathers in
the washing machine to clean them.
The only negative about my visit to the Faire was that there were no
programs handed out that listed all of the artists and performers.
I don't know if they simply ran out, or if such a thing didn't exist,
but it would have been nice.
I'm really bad at taking notes as I shoot photos, so I generally use
the program to identify the booths and shows.
Ok, enough preliminaries. Let me just state my usual disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with the Arizona Renaissance Faire and Artisan Marketplace except as someone who thoroughly enjoyed the experience. All comments on this page are my own opinions.
Now, on to the Faire! (Remember to click on the small images to see the full-sized versions.)
It seemed to me that there was an unusually
Celtic feel to the
Arizona Faire.
There was an exhibit of Celtic weaving crafts including this woman
who was spinning yarn.
I saw lots of kilts (I love men in kilts, almost as much
as I love men in tights) and lots of Celtic musicians and crafts.
And of course, there were pipers.
This pair of pipers were literally playing for their supper.
There were human-powered carts all about the Faire, including
this one powered by a rogue in a kilt.
These ladies looked like they were
having a good time in his cart (must be the kilt).
Here's a Scot with his tiny pet dragon.
And here's
Sir D'Artagnan, The Dragon,
with his pet Scot,
Lord Blackthorne MacGregor.
You can visit D'Artagnan and Blackthorne at
Blackthorne's Quest.
I visited my friend Cynthia at Starlight Skies.
Cynthia makes beaded jewelry.
I like her long and dangly earrings with multiple chains
connecting the different pieces.
She made me a pair with a spirit catcher, 5 chains and an earcuff for
double-pierced ears.
These earrings are so long they rest on my collarbone!
That's
Cynthia in the picture on the right.
Two of my most special friends,
Peter Andres and Chris Chapman
are also at the Arizona Fair.
As usual, it's standing room only when Peter does a glass blowing
demonstration.
Of course, I immediately walked into their booth and saw a
beautiful art deco piece, a tomato red platter with a yellow rim,
and told Chris "That's mine!"
Thanks to Chris and Peter I know a lot about hand blown glass
and have become a discriminating collector.
There was a
real Shakespeare
troup performing at the Faire.
One of the more dazzling creations I saw was this hand-carved
clock.
The Arizona Greyhound Adoption
organization had a booth
at the Faire.
Unless otherwise noted, all text and images on this site are
Copyright © 1994-2006
by
Liz Gensheimer
Last updated Saturday, 06-Apr-2002 14:24:51 CST
Debra of
Speaking of cats, I met these two girls at one of the
many shows I saw at the Faire.
I love their face paint!
I visted several potters' booths looking for bowls for my cats
(no luck; I ended up ordering new bowls from Louisville Stoneware).
One of the booths I visited was
Rivertown Potters.
They had these neat little fountains, just perfect for a table-top
or patio.
I thought about buying one, but I didn't think it would fit in my
backpack.
I found another fountain at a different booth.
This one is a really cute ceramic elephant,
and it would have been even more difficult
to get back to Texas!
Last year I couldn't find fountains anywhere.
This year I'm stumbling over them!
There was more than one
elephant at the Arizona faire.
This one is participating in the parade
(elephants always seem to appear in parades).
Here's some more pictures of the parade.
One of the shows that I saw was
Fowl Play.
I'd never seen a show with performing birds before.
And these were gorgeous birds (I don't know a lot about
parrots and the like, but I think these were macaws).
Morgan Reed
creates wonderful hair ornaments using
exotic woods.
I bought a couple for myself.
She also makes wooden knitting needles and crochet hooks.
I don't knit, but I do crochet.
I picked up one of her crochet hooks and it felt so right
in my hand that I simply had to buy it!
There were some beautiful costumes, like this lady
in her deep rose-colored dress carrying her goblet.
I found the man at one of the clothing booths.
I was so shocked when he turned around!
I really enjoyed the Tragidiots.
I saw their last show of the day, and like most last shows,
it was wierd!
The show was nominally
Romeo and Juliet, but
I doubt that Shakespeare would have recognized it.
The second picture doesn't really have anything to do
with the storyline of the show,
but it's such a great image that I have to share it
with you.
The troup, Shakespeare's Shorts,
condensed several
of Shakespeare's better known plays into 20 minute performances.
This is a scene from Hamlet (that's the King on the right
and the Queen on the left).
Of coure, there were many musicians and singers at the Faire.
There were lute players, harpists, acapela singers, fiddlers and
minstrals. But no singing pirates.
At least none that I heard.
What would a Renaissance Faire be without barbarians?
I'm not sure where this one is from, but it
looks like it gets mighty cold wherever it is!
I wonder how he managed in the Arizona desert?
(I mean the big clock, not the little one.)
I asked the price.
Yeah, that was a silly thing to do since it cost more than
the most expensive peice of glass that I've ever bought from
Chris and Peter!
Maybe next time I'll take home of the smaller clocks.
If you like jewelry or goblets, visit
K. Dopita Studio.
They have some of the most elegant goblets.
Actually, they are really more like chalices.
You can image one of these being used as a special
guesting cup.
The lady of the manor would had it to the guest for
a ceremonial drink.
I always enjoy visiting the local herbalist.
It always smells so nice when I walk in.
Across from the herbalist was the
village broommaker.
Treecorn brooms remind me of whan I was a child;
my mother would pull a twig from her broom to test
cakes.
Those brooms seemed to last forever, at least I
don't ever remember her replacing them.
Broommakers and blacksmiths
go together, at least
to my way of thinking.
So, of course, I had to visit the blacksmith, too.
Keeping with the domestic theme, I also visited
Greentree Weaving.
They make wonderful and very durable all-cotton clothing.
All hand-woven, too.
I've been thinking about getting a cloak, and one
from Greentree would be so nice, and easy to take care
of, too.
Another show I saw was the
Tortuga Twins.
(I don't know why they called themselves the Tortuga Twins
when there are 3 of them; I guess the Tortuga Triplets
just doesn't sound as good.)
What I really want to know, is why is it that the little guy
is almost always the one who talks the most?
I haven't quite figured out why there were there, but
the kids all loved the dogs.
And the dogs looked rather elegant pacing alongside some
of the better dressed Faire-goers.
Greyhounds were originally bred as hunting dogs (they ran
down the game), so there were some at the court
of King Henry.
Lastly, I'd like you to meet Terry Foy.
Terry is also known as
Zilch the Tory Steller.
He used to draw huge crowds at his shows.
I could listen to Terry's version of
Cinderella every day and not get tired of it
(although he would probably get tired of telling it).
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