I finally got around to visiting the Maryland Renaissance Festival yesterday. I go every year. It's been running since August, but I decided to wait with going this year until the weather cooled off. Apparently everyone in the mid-Atlantic region had the same idea-- the place was packed. Maybe because it was the penultimate weekend of the festival; maybe because we've had a rainy summer. I can't remember there ever being a police officer directing traffic at the exit.
Maybe it just seemed terribly crowded; we had good seats for everything we saw, and we never had to wait in a long line for either food (or beer) or purchases, although I would have had to wait in a very long line for an ice cream cone at about 4:30pm. We saw Johnny Fox, Swordswallower Extraordinaire, who got a cheer from the crowd by calling the Maryland festival the premiere Renaissance Festival in the country. We saw Hack and Slash again; same show as last year, exactly-- still funny. They're going over to Iraq next month to entertain the troops. We watched the chess game, and of course the jousting. Again this year we commented on how hot it must be inside a suit of armor. I would have liked to have seen Barto, the human pretzel, but my son was with me and he declared it would be too disturbing. Unfortunately we didn't make it to the Globe Theatre for "The Taming of the Shrew", and I'm even sorrier we missed seeing Shakespeare's Skum perform "MacBeth in 20 Minutes or Less". Of course we ate. And ate. And ate.
I could spend a fortune on stuff I don't need at the festival-- ceramics, sculpture, jewelry, costumes, musical instruments, candles and herbs and soaps, leather goods, even furniture. Every year I see dozens of things I love. I restrained myself this year, coming away with only a pair of liqueur (or sherry, perhaps) glasses from Willow Wood Art Studio. A couple of years ago I bought a pair of champagne flutes from the same fellow, so I guess I'm besotted with his work (inadvertent pun--sorry.) Some of my other favorite shops are Shore Fire Pottery, The Brass Dragon, and the Black Sword Armory (website under construction). I'd love to have a costume from Noblesse Oblige, but their stuff is definitely for the nobility; a few years ago I priced one of their dresses at $1600. I bought my own peasant costume from Purple Unicorn last year. Not terribly authentic, but I'm somewhere in the middle of the spectrum between wouldn't-be-caught-dead and stickler-for-authenticity. I just like to be in the spirit of the festival.
It seemed to me as though the prices of everything were much higher this year. A sculpture of a dragon with about a two-foot wingspan was priced at $5000 and was far from the most expensive item in the Brass Dragon. I picked up a mug I loved at Shore Fire Pottery but put it down again when I saw the tag: $62. A few years ago I bought a dagger for $75 that would have cost me $125 yesterday. My son and I both considered getting psychic readings, just for a lark, but at $60 they cost about six times what we were willing to spend on a lark. Is it just me, or do these prices seem out of line? $62 for a mug? It was a beautiful mug, one-of-a-kind, but $62?
Not that stuff was ever cheap at the festival. A few years ago I spotted a massive wooden bed-frame, middle-earth motif, with a SOLD sign on it next to the price tag: $30,000. Some people have way too much money.
Ya, thinking about it though I kinda wish I had bought one of those katanas from the Black Sword Armory. Would be a pretty cool addition to my room decor next year :)