Scarborough Faire 1998

Scarborough has undergone some radical changes this season! The layout of the site has changed. The area where the chess board used to be is closed, and the merchants relocated througout the site. There are a lot of new buildings in Crown Meadow including the new SaferSwords booth, The Leather Rose and Dragon Fire Forge. In my humble opinion this has made the traffic flow much more patron-friendly.

The cottage across from the Falconry stage is now a period homestead complete with goats, chickens, ducks, dogs (this is where the sheepdogs hang out when they are not herding sheep), a horse and cattle. Very Nice!

There are quite a few new merchants, such as Lucia (fine jewelry), a climbing wall and a Bakery. All of our old favorite performers are back, plus there are some new faces: The Nature of Mercy, The Spoonfed Tribe, Renaissance Vaudeville, and guest performers Whipflash!

Remember, clicking on the small picture or icon will get you the full-sized image.

Do you see this man? This is Lord Edward Seymour (played by Daniel Penz). He is one of the most eligible bachelors in the kingdom. Will he marry Princess Mary, the King's sister? Not if she has anything to say about it! Why is there a man in a dress, er, kilt, always tagging along at Seymour's heels? Why Queen Margaret of Scotland annoyed about the entire affair? Is Seymour as wicked as he looks? According to Cromwell, the answer to that question is a derisive laugh.

The Living Chess Match is in a new location this year, near the Sa'ida Stage on the way to the mud pit. The show is new, too. The lively combat is performed by pirates, gypsies and other assorted characters. And there is a definate Texas twang to the show, as you can see in the picture on the left.

This Scottish Laird has found a partner to dance with to the sounds of The Rogues of Scotland. But it's not just the crowd who loves to dance. The Tartan Terrors came all the way down from the wilds of Canada (oh, all right ... one of them is from the Canada's deep south) to dance for us. See Ian show everyone his Prickly Thistle. But watch out for those law enforcement officers (?) in kilts (although you might get into more trouble with the ones in white dresses ).

Speaking of music (well, pipes and drums are music ... at least to us renfaire affecionados), my favorite vocal group at Scarborough is The Cosairs. These singing pirates (who represent several different pirate ships: The Six-of-One, The Seahawk, The Iron Maiden and The Brass Bollocks) put out their first CD this year. The Cosairs are Captain Abelard Roach, the late James Peregrin, Boats Blackmoor (on the left), Will Teach, Captain Alexander Morgan and Joshua Jenkins, the Shantyman (on the right).

Scarborough Faire is much more kid friendly this year than in years past. ("kid friendly" is a term that I use to describe a faire that has shows and activities that appeal to the youngest generation of patrons. These are the rennies, patrons and participants of the future, and if we don't attract them now, we might lose them entirely.)

One of the new acts this year is The Nature of Mercy. This show is a favorite with the kids. They love getting up on stage and taking part in the show. But this is not entirely a kids show. The swordplay and humor will appeal to big kids, too.

Every afternoon there is a knighting ceremony where King Henry and Queen Anne bestow honors upon the boys and girls attending the Faire. This is a good time for parents to grab a drink or snack from the nearby food booths and relax a bit while the kiddos queue up to get their chance to talk with the King or Queen. And look, there is Lord Seymour again!

While we're on the topic of knights, The Free Lancers of the Cimmerian Combatives are back for another round of knightly games, jousting and the Gath of Baal Memorial Jousting Tournament on Memorial Day Weekend. That's Roy Cox on Silver Dancer and Shark on Peter the Great in the picture.

Pyro, Gyro and Walter are back again on the Crown Meadow stage (conveniently located near Faire Pair Tights ... gotta get those free advertisements in for my special friends). The Flaming Idiots just may be the longest running act at Scarborough Faire (Marcom has been with Scarborough since year 1, but he is only here the last 2 weekends this year). In fact, check out the pictures on the left. These are from at least 10 years ago. That is the Crown Meadow stage ... looks a lot different today! And checkout Pyro! Look at that hair!
The Idiots will juggle anything ... knives, fire, small animals (well, maybe not small animals. I've never actually seen them juggle small animals. So maybe it's only a rumor started by some dastardly person like Cromwell). But wait until you see what they do with those bean bags!

Everyone's favorite singing nuns are back again! Hey, Nunnie, Nunnie perform on the Taylor Lane Stage next to Meryln Custom Costuming and Lucia Inspired Handcrafted Jewelry. Can you name the 5 constipated men in the bible? And what about the Mary Story?

I've got some more old pictures of Scarborough past. How about a then and now for The Mud Show. The picture on the right is from the same faire as the Idiot pictures. The picture on the left is from the 1998 faire. The stage sure has changed, but the Mud Show is just as dirty (literally) as it ever was!

One of the new faces at Scarborough this year belongs to Christophe the Insulter. Christophe will insult anyone ... for a price. Two wenches who need no insulting (they can handle it just fine themselves, thank you very much) are Iris and Rose. Their show is a bit on the bawdy side, definately not for small children. Iris and Rose are a must-see with a cold ale in a frosty mug on a hot afternoon.

Over at Starfire Swords you can find Teek and John. John works at the Starfire booth while Teek is sometimes a wench, sometimes a court lady. Some more of my particular friends at Scarborough are Marshall, Debra and Larry. Debra didn't know I was going to take the picture. She thought she was only going to stand in for me while I focused the camera. Silly Debra.

One of the most popular men at the faire is Joe, the Rose Guy. Check out those tights. He got them from Ginger at Faire Pair, of course.

He doesn't deal in roses, but Terry Foy, who portrays Zilch the Tory Steller, also draws quite a crowd. My favorite story is his rendition of Cinderella but I like Goldilocks, too.

The court, particularly the male members of the court, were very excited over some of the visitors to the faire. The Warrier Princess made a long trek (through time as well as space) in order to visit Scarborough and Lord Seymour was properly appreciative of that fact. Another visitor who thoroughly enjoyed her day at the faire was Sharon. This was the first time Sharon had ever gone to a renaissance faire in costume, and she had a wonderful time, starting with the gatekeeper who demanded a kiss as she entered the faire. Here she is with Rabbit.

Of course, there were some other interesting couples to be seen at the faire. Like this gentleman and his ... llama. She (he?) looks so sweet and innocent.

You know, I've mentioned Cromwell several times so far. Well, here is the sneering, supercilious one himself. He's almost as much fun to play with as the Puritans at Bristol!

Disclaimer:
Although I do photography and web sites for several of the merchants and entertainers at Scarborough Faire, I am not affiliated with the Faire itself. The opinions expressed on this page are my own.