Adventures at the Ohio Renaissance Festival!

11:52 PM

 


Greetings from the cave!

Today's tale is one of adventure, fun, and camaraderie. 

For today, I shall relate the adventures of Lia, Megan Chappie, and myself as we experienced the Ohio Rennaisance Festival. 

(Granted, this post is quite late, as we went on our adventures quite close to Hobbit Day. Oh well, such is the life of a grad student.)

Now, like all good adventures, it required some planning. We had set this idea into motion about two months before it actually happened. Because...how else were two people in the food industry going to get days off?!

For my costume, I chose the blue medieval dress that I had made for my Collegium Musicum days. But as we were going during Highland Weekend, I decided to ramp it up a notch. I made a narrow cloth belt and a lined cloak. I even bought a set of Celtic rose clasps and my Scottish clan badge (Mackinnon) on Etsy to complete the look. This was quite an undertaking with months of preparations. 


My Etsy Purchases


My dress, with matching belt (and detail of the clan crest on left)

But this is not a post about the preparations! This is a post is about adventure! 



Lia and I took gate portraits as we waited for Megan to come :) 


And like any good adventure, it started at the front gates...and the map station. Because maps are absolutely important on an adventure (their usefulness is a debate for another time). 

And thus, our wanderings began. We caught the joust first because we arrived just a few minutes before the first one. And I totally was going to go to all three. 

Until we made the horrible discovery that the group of knights jousting were a bunch of old guys. And I mean stodgy old and SLOW gray-haired guys. 

RUDE. The whole reason we women watch jousts is FOR THE HANDSOME KNIGHTS. It's like football guys. We women want strength and vigor in our men! 


The joust (we were way in the back, oh well)

(sorry. Rant over now, I promise)

Anyway, we next went in search of a pub, for it was after noon and...well, the body was quite adamant that food was needed ASAP. 

And we betook ourselves to the Rose and Crown, for it had the most authentic Ren Faire food. I had a very nice Steak on a Stake with fries, and Lia had some sort of tater tot with crab dish. 

While there, we were gloriously entertained by Robert the Bard, who sang everything from sea shanties to the theme to Muppet Treasure Island. Does he not look like an epic Pirate captain? 


While in between songs, the three of us caught each other up on our various life dealings and our literary children's shenanigans. 

Here poor Megan is reacting to my news that my editor had cut out half of Karsten's lines and rewrote them! My thoughts exactly, my dear. Never fear, my betas, Karsten's lines will NOT be touched!

Once we finished there, we browsed about the shops. We were stopped by one trader with a lotion that smelled quite sweet, even he hinted it might be poisonous, LOL. And then we found a vendor selling...swords!! 

Now, if any of you recall the really long Q&A vlog that Lia and I did, you may remember that the two of us commented that we should get swords. Well, I figured right then was as good of a time as any! I did have birthday money to spend, you see. And a shieldmaiden needs a good sword. 

I ended buying one with a really nice hilt that came with its own scabbard. And it was only $89, which is pretty good for a sword. It had literally everything in my aesthetic - cross, crown, Celtic knots, a rearing lion, eeep!! 



Now, I just attached the sword to my fabric belt for easier carrying. Ahem. Or so I thought. What I discovered that was while the sword was not that *heavy*, it was too heavy for the belt. So I had to hold it to take some of the weight off so that it wouldn't pop off my Clan Crest. Which didn't do my shoulder any good. 

Anyway, we continued on, visiting a Scottish shop among other things. We even caught the tail end of a performance with an escape artist. But the sword was getting *heavy*. So we were soon on the hunt for a shop with leather belts. 

We found one...by accident. You see, we found a shop with a bunch of daggers in them. We were all over those daggers, let me tell you. All of us purchased one. And that's when we discovered that the merchant also had belts and frogs for swords and daggers. So Lia and I purchased a belt and frog to carry our respective weapons (you can see it in the last picture of the sword). The belt ring was like a saddle ring, which allowed the clan crest to peek through, it was like I planned it! 

And so, we went along and shopped some more. Megan got a large horn, much like Boromir's. And then Lia wanted alcohol. So we made our way back towards the Rose and Crown and found a gazebo to rest our weary limbs as she went to procure herself a draft. 

At this gazebo, there was a dulcimer player named The Lady Victoria! She had a wonderful performance, quite fun! 

There was one last adventure before we bade the Ren Faire farewell. But, that is too long of a tale for this post. Therefore, you shall have to tune in to Femininity from Scratch on Wednesday the 13th to hear that story! 

All in all, the Ohio Ren Faire was very fun, very enjoyable, and lots of good memories with friends :) 



And now, it is your turn! Have you been to a Ren Faire? If so, where was it and what was it like? Tell me in the comments below! 

Scribbingly yours, 

Catherine

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5 comments

  1. Ohmygoodness this sounds like so much fun! I've never been to a Ren Fair, but I kind of want to now...especially with the swords! That sword is so perfect! (And now I want one. And a dagger.)
    Your dress & cloak are so cute, and I love Lia's, too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have indeed been to a Ren Fair. In Ohio too! I wonder if we went to the same one O.o

    I have also been to a more local Medieval Faire on multiple occasions. I love your sword, I must admit the sword, leather, and dagger shops get me every time. Glad you had fun

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ack this post. ^.^ Such fun we had!

    *scurries off to read the post because she knows what it's about and she's excited*

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your dress is beautiful!
    Your swordlooks nice! (I am not sure my fanatical sword collecting brother would approve thoughXD)
    Anyway it sounds like you hada great time!
    (It's funny, even though Britain was actuslly part of the Renaissance there aren't a lot of stuff likethat here.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Looks like you guys has a blast! I've always wanted to go to a Renaissance Fair.
    The pictures are great! Love your outfits!

    ReplyDelete

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