Tennessee Renaissance Festival 2012

Fun at the Renn Faire, May 19, 2012

When we arrived at the "Tenn-Renn" grounds, we were surprised at the number of people lined up and waiting to enter the festival. We had to climb uphill from our parking place to reach the back of the line. But the line moved quickly, and we reached the ticket booth in about ten minutes.

Looking downhill to the ticket stand

Looking uphill at the line behind us

Inside the gates, we joined other faire-goers in the market place. Merchants were selling all sorts of Renaissance-themed goods, services, and foods from tents and stands.

Tennessee Renaissance Festival 2011

Photos of Tenn-Ren, May 21, 2011

We left home at about 8:00 a.m. and arrived at the Tennessee Renaissance Festival grounds at about 10:30 a.m.-- early enough that we parked fairly close to the gates. Inside, members of the court were visiting near the entrance.

Tennessee Renaissance Festival, 2010

Photos of Tenn-Renn

Despite a rainy weather forecast, the kids and I went to the Tennessee Renaissance Festival ("Tenn-Renn") on Saturday. We arrived about 10:00 AM, and it didn't start raining until about 3:00 PM, so we had a good bit of time to enjoy the sights, shows, and shopping.

Keely, Taurus, and I wore garb that was more or less historically correct for the medieval period. Isaac wore shorts and a T-shirt -- smart move! When the sun finally burst through a lingering fog, the day became very hot and humid. I began to overheat inside my long skirt. I even thought about hitching it up and tucking it into my belt! I like to dress up, but I don't like to swelter.

A Visit to the Adsmore Museum

Living history in Princeton, KY

Last Friday afternoon, I captured Isaac and took him on an excursion to Princeton, KY. Princeton is the county seat of Caldwell County, about 30 miles northwest of Hopkinsville. Our destination was the Adsmore Museum, a few blocks east of the Caldwell Courthouse square in Princeton.

It was our first visit to the Adsmore, and we didn't research the museum beforehand. On the drive over, we speculated that we might see an exhibit about the Night Riders and the Black Patch tobacco wars. We were wrong.

The Adsmore house, we soon learned, is a living history museum. It recreates a specific time and place in history. Currently, Adsmore is celebrating Easter and little Katharine Garrett's 6th birthday. Inside the house, the year is 1907, and everything is ready for the holiday and for a birthday party. The museum staff is dressed in costumes of the period.

Bobbin Lace Making

Heartland Lace Guild exhibit at the Encampment, Fort Massac, Illinois, October, 2009

At the Fort Massac Encampment last fall, Keely and I enjoyed visiting the Heartland Lace Guild's demonstration of bobbin lace-making.

In bobbin lace, a number of threads are used. To keep the threads from tangling, each thread is wound around its own small wooden bobbin. A wide lace requires many threads and many bobbins, and a narrow lace requires just a few. The thread may be linen, silk, or cotton, and the lace will be stout or delicate, depending on the thickness of the thread.

In the photo above, the bobbins are arranged at the far end of the padded cushion. A paper pattern called a "pricking" is placed under the thread as a guide. The lace is held in place with pins as it is made. The pattern is created by crossing and twisting the threads. The bobbins act as handles for crossing and twisting the threads, as well as storage for the long threads that are needed.

The Encampment at Fort Massac, Illinois (2009)

Historic reenactment at Metropolis, Illinois

Saturday, Dennis and I traveled back in time a couple of centuries. We went with the kids to The Encampment, a historic reenactment at Fort Massac State Park, along the Ohio River in southern Illinois. This annual event draws thousands of people to enjoy costumes, music, demonstrations,  merchandise, and food from the period of 1757-1815.

The weather was blustery. Sometimes, rainclouds covered the sky. Occasionally, the clouds parted and bright rays of sunshine broke through. A cold, damp wind blew all day. Over lighter layers, I wore a long cloak that I made several years ago for medieval reenactments. It has a warm "wooly" lining and a hood, so I was comfortable and only a century or two out of style.

Tennessee Renaissance Festival 2009

Another memorable Tenn-Renn

It rained Friday night but the clouds seemed to be dissipating on Saturday morning. We rendezvoused at the Clarksville Books-A-Million and took two cars to the Tennessee Renaissance Festival. Isaac drove the guys, and the girls rode with me.  (At left: Taurus at Books-A-Million, wearing his kilt and his Indiana Jones hat.)

One glance at the Tenn-Renn grounds told us that an excess of rain had fallen recently. The grassy field that serves as parking lot was a maze of muddy tire tracks. "Park at your own risk," signs along the edge of the field warned. (The real meaning of the signs: Tenn-Renn will not get your car out of the mud for you.)

We drove into the field and parked as directed in a long double-row of cars, half-a-dozen rows from the bottom. Then we walked down the long hill to the ticket booths and fair gates, avoiding the mud as much as possible.

The fairgoers were enjoying the shows, food, shopping, and other attractions. It was Pirate Weekend and many people were wearing pirate garb (ranging from slightly to seriously piratical.) I didn't see as many people costumed as fantasy and mythical characters as I've seen previously.

All of the streets at Tenn Renn are graveled. Many of them were a little wet, and some of them were muddy. The heavy foot traffic around the tents in the market brought lots of saturated soil to the surface. The maintenance people had tossed wood chips and straw on the muddiest spots. Still, our shoes were soon splashed and speckled with mud, and we lifted our long skirts to try to keep them dry.

Some of the sights and wonders at this year's Renn Faire:

• Renaissance band near the entrance
• Matrons listen to the band and watch the crowd.
• A little boy cranes to see a performance.
• A fairy with a hairy tail 
• The Bag Lady says she added a few trinkets to her dress this year.
• Craig of Farrington serenaded Keely, Annie, and me. (See how the sun is shining.)
• An herbal soap merchant performs a soap opera. (Note to the soap merchant: The web address you gave me doesn't work. Please send the correct one.)
• A lady dragon, I presume.
• These fairies disagreed about who would be in the photo.
• A ringtail is a zing-tail.
• Queen Elizabeth I greets a festival guest.
• The queen is gracious to even the smallest faire-goers. (Notice the mud. When she stood up, she quipped that she seemed to be listing to one side!)
• A troll lumbers by and glowers.
• A damsel with her market basket
• Loony Lucy poses with her pink parasol.
• A man and wife with nice, color-coordinated costumes (It is hard to know which people in the crowd are members of the troupe and which are playtrons, showing off their best garb.)
• Keely says this one-stocking look is very "Amy Brown".
• Master Falconer Kitty Tolson-Carroll (photo at right) represents Birds of the Gauntlet
• Belly-dancing jewelry in the market
• This merchant had beautiful wooden staffs and handmade brooms.
• A dazzle of crystals (One of my favorite photos from this year's festival.)
• An armored knight with his war hammer and his Gothic lady
• This knight clanked as he walked.
• Just before the rain

Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of either my garb or Keely's. I made and wore a silvery linen dress that is long and medievalish. Keely made and wore a black skirt with a beautiful copper-colored bodice.

The weather goes bad

After wandering through the market for a while, we decided to go to a couple of the shows. Afterward, we walked to the area beside the jousting field, and as we left the cover of the trees, I noticed a very large, dark cloud that was nearly overhead. I decided to head for the car and Annie decided to go with me.

As we headed for the front gate, it began to sprinkle. We heard a policeman urging people to leave immediately. A little boy, clutching his umbrella, started to cry. His dad called him back to the shelter of the trees. His grandma said the trees weren't safe and they should head for the car. I don't know what they decided to do.

By the time we got to the car, it was raining steadily. Within a few minutes, it was raining much harder. Very soon, the rest of our group, except Castille, joined us at the cars.

Annie fished in the trunk from the back seat and hauled out our bags. Behind sheets of rain on the car windows, we girls squirmed out of our wet garb and put on our dry street clothes. This was not easy, but it was worth the effort.

Gusts of rain blew against the car. We saw lightning and heard crashes of thunder. We worried about Castille. We hoped he had found shelter and that he wasn't out in the storm, looking for the car.

We also worried about how we would ever drive out of the field. Every now and then, someone decided to leave and drove his car out of its parking place. Most of them paused in the mud. (Why?! We couldn't understand it!) In a futile effort to start moving again, the drivers stepped on the gas and spun the tires wildly. This made the loblolly in the exit route larger, deeper, and juicier. Finally, the people in the back seat would get out and push the car to firmer ground, getting terribly mud-splattered in the process.

Our exit

The rainfall finally dwindled to a steady sprinkle, and we spotted Castille coming up the hill. Taurus got out of the car to reconnoiter. He decided that we should drive diagonally across the mudpit to a grassy spot; from there, cut across to another grassy spot; and from there, stay on the grass directly behind a line of parked cars until we reached the gravel road. We followed his directions and drove out with no trouble at all.

And Castille? He had waited out the storm inside a pavilion and watched a couple of performances. The performers, poor souls, worked in the rain. The stage was not covered by the roof. It seems that this made the belly dancing quite interesting. (Oh, my.)

Gentle reader, if you are following these events with bated breath, please relax. The story becomes less exciting now. We stopped at a gas station so the guys could change their clothes. They were too tall to change inside Isaac's little car. Then we went to Opry Mills Mall in Nashville and spent several hours shopping.

When we got back to Clarksville, we went to IHOP to eat. The food wasn't very good, but we were too tired to fuss much about it. From there, everyone went home in the car he or she had driven there. Isaac and I got home about 11 PM. When I went to bed at midnight, Dennis asked, "How was the Renn Faire?" I was too exhausted to go into detail. "We made it," I said.

Related articles in the Prairie Bluestem archives:
Tennessee Renaissance Festival 2008
Tennessee Renaissance Festival 2007
Tennessee Renaissance Festival 2006

Tennessee Renaissance Festival, 2008

A day at Tenn-Ren

The kids and I went to the Tennessee Renaissance Festival on Sunday (Mother's Day.) It was a damp, dark day with temperatures in the high 50s and a very strong wind.

I spent most of my free time last week sewing costumes for this event. I made a new dress for myself and a monk's robe for Dennis (who later decided not to go.) Keely did a lot of sewing over the last month, too. She made her outfit and the kilt that Taurus wore, as well as several outfits for friends who are going to the Ren Fest on another weekend.

It was so chilly on Sunday that I was glad for my double layer of long skirts, and I wished I had brought my cloak as well! Due to the weather, the festival was not at all crowded. The merchants probably weren't happy about it, but it was nice to have no line at the lunch counter.

I recently learned that someone who dresses for Renaissance fairs is called a "playtron" (rhymes with "patron.") Here's the definition from the Double-Tongued Dictionary

playtron
n. an observer or vistor at a Renaissance fair or festival who wears a costume suited for the time period.

At Tenn-Ren, many of the playtrons dress in fantasy costumes or add fantasy elements to their Renaissance costumes. I always enjoy seeing what everyone is wearing. Here are some of the photos I took.

Taurus, helping Keely straighten out her laces
The front gate of the Fair
The wood pixies (I'll bet they were cold!)

Renaissance garb for sale
This lady was an older, but avid playtron.
Some wear their "mundane" clothing. (In SCA speak, "mundane" means "modern.")

A lady merchant who surely was shivering!
Looney Lucy, one of the Tenn-Ren professionals
Coats of arms and foam swords

Glass-working with a hot torch
A belt I admired
More garb for sale

Isaac bought a "man-in-the-moon" necklace here.
More whimsies inside -- magical mushrooms
The rag lady --another Tenn-Ren pro

Fantasy costumes are common at Tenn-Ren.
Isaac enjoyed the monk robe that I sewed for Dennis
Members of the court

The Queen of the Faire visiting the market
A troubadour serenades a lady and her husband.
A beautiful little yellow fairy

Watching this dancer spin in circles nearly made me dizzy.
The apprentice belly dancer cracked everyone up.
The final impassioned sashay of the apprentice

A falconer poses with fairgoers (as Keely and Taurus approach)
The court bows as the queen enters.
A game of human chess
The big, bad wolf
and his tail

Related Prairie Bluestem posts:
Tennessee Renaissance Festival 2007
Tennessee Renaissance Festival

Tennessee Renaissance Festival, 2007

Life in The Upper South...

Recently, Keely, her boyfriend Taurus, Isaac, and I went to the Tennessee Renaissance Festival. Tenn-Ren is held on weekends throughout the month of May, in a shady faire-ground just south of Nashville, Tennessee.

Many of the Tenn-Ren faire-goers wear costumes. Some costumes are medieval, some are Renaissance, some are fantasy, and some are just amusing. For people who enjoy dressing up, it's a garb fest!

Of course, you don't have to wear a costume. It's fun just to walk around and look at the merchant's wares and watch the various shows. Isaac didn't dress up but Keely, Taurus, and I did.

Here are some images from Tennessee Renaissance Festival, 2007:

Troubadours near the front gate

Knight in chain mail

Isaac tries finger-armor

Winged women on parade

Renaissance costumes for sale

A faire-goer in his own skin

Little Red Riding Hood, a drow, and their friend in "mundane " clothing

Elf ears for all

Keely at the Pirate's Cove

Renaissance Festival puns

The Scots were looking spiffy

Dressed in a style all their own


The lovely Queen and her court

Another look at the Queen

Many styles of garb in the crowd

Keely and Taurus

Kilted gentleman and his lady

The rag lady poses


Isaac experiences feathers

Crusader and his lady

Three well-dressed picnickers

He leads, she follows

Zenobia's Specialty Readings


Lady Keely with fan

Related post: Tennessee Renaissance Festival 2006

Technorati tags: Tennessee Renaissance Festival, Renaissance Faire, Renaissance Fair, costumes, garb, medieval, renaissance, fantasy, Tenn Ren, Tenn-Ren

400 Mile Sale Is Underway

Yard-sales galore

400 Mile Sale along Highway 68/80
Near Hopkinsville, KY

Kentucky's 400 Mile Sale began Thursday and continues through Sunday along Highway 68/80. Tomorrow (Saturday) will probably be the biggest day, both in the number of sales and the number of shoppers.

Coming home from town this afternoon, I stopped along Highway 68/80 east of Hopkinsville where half a dozen vendors have set up in a pasture. They have lots of room there for their tables of merchandise and for customer parking, and also for their vehicles and trailers.

One vendor said he is from Nashville. He travels to flea markets all over the South, selling antiques and collectibles. He said he has sold quite a lot of furniture in the last two days. He closes up shop at 7 p.m., throws tarps over everything, and drives to town to a friend's house where he is staying.

Another vendor has his self-contained travel trailer pulled up behind his tables of merchandise. He said he has a generator and enough water for the duration. A Winnebago-type camper vehicle was parked behind some other tables, and I suppose someone is camping in it tonight.

Another of the vendors in the pasture runs an antique store in Hopkinsville. He's probably sleeping in his own bed at home.

Many of the people who are having sales along Highway 68/80 are just ordinary folks, not professional flea market vendors and antique merchants like this bunch was.

Tomorrow, I'm going to drive 68/80 from Elkton to Hopkinsville (around 20 miles) and go to some of the smaller sales at people's homes along the highway.

You never know what you'll find. Today, at the tables in the pasture, I bought a nice pewter decanter and set of goblets. I am hoping to get a 300% return on it when I take it to an SCA event next fall and sell it.

Tomorrow, I'll be looking for more things that SCA re-enactors like -- wooden bowls and plates, wooden handled silverware, pewter and brass items, certain types of ceramics, mugs, goblets, linen and wool fabric, fancy braids and trims, etc.

Also, Dennis has given me the titles of a couple of books he's wanting.

I'll look for those things, but what I'll actually bring home is anyone's guess.

400 Mile Sale along Highway 68/80
Near Hopkinsville, KY

Tennessee Renaissance Festival 2006

Life in The Upper South...

Note: Most of the links below lead to photos.

Yesterday, I went with Keely and her boyfriend, Taurus (T.J.), to the Tennessee Renaissance Festival (commonly known as "Tenn-Ren".)



We arrived at the festival at about 11:00 a.m. Several hundred carloads of people arrived before us, so we parked about 1/8 mile from the front entrance. A large crowd of people was waiting in front of the admission booth, and it took about 20 minutes to move along in line, pay, and finally enter the festival.

While we were waiting, it was interesting to observe what others were wearing for the day. This little girl was a cutie.

The shade of the faire grounds was a pleasant relief after standing in the sun to buy our tickets. (I am giving "faire" the spelling used by the Tenn-Ren website.)



We spent at least three hours just browsing through the market. Around 60 shops (tents and carts) were open for business and hundreds of faire-goers were milling about. Merchants and artisans were busily hawking their wares to anyone interested. These young folks put on a nearly non-stop stick-juggling show to entice people to buy their Crystal Stix.

Some of the goods for sale were particularly related to the Renaissance, such as gowns, cloaks, vests, coats, and pants for the period. Goods of interest to faire-goers from the medieval era included drinking horns and leather armor. Other arts and crafts for sale included ceramics, hats, small musical instruments, walking sticks, art prints, handmade boots and moccasins, nice wooden boxes, and even psychic readings.



Some of the faire-goers were dressed in authentic Renaissance garb. Others were wearing historic garb from other periods of time (like Keely's friend, Camille who is wearing an medieval-style apron dress that I sewed a couple of years ago). Keely, Taurus, and I wore medieval garb too. Some people wore their fantasy costumes (such as this lovely faun) and some were dressed in the theme of the day (pirates.)

Many other people were dressed in their everyday casuals. A close look at those in street clothes revealed that some with mundane clothing were sporting pointed elf ears, small faun horns, and other myth-y bits. I suspect that many of the horns came from this vendor (who was also selling tails from a nearby rack.)



Keely (who loves to wear her garb) noted that the folks in garb and costume and the folks in street clothes often observe each other with equal curiosity about why they dress the way they do.



The Queen made regular rounds of the Faire grounds with her company and graciously posed for dozens of photos. (The Queen with her lady-in-waiting.)



The Rag Lady also circulated through the crowds, posing for photos and engaging and charming those around her. (The Rag Lady with curious onlookers.)

We also watched parts of several shows that were in progress, including the bellydancing, and even one complete show from start to end. Keely and Taurus went to see the birds (a golden eagle and others) that a falconer was exhibiting. (I needed to eat something so I could take a pill so I missed seeing the birds, to my regret.)

As we sat on a wonderfully cool rock wall in the main hall, a knight in chain mail was posing for pictures with some children. A little girl was convulsed with delighted horror at the thought of her brother getting conked in the head with the knight's battle hammer.

We could have seen glass blowing, jousting, various shows, and much more. The schedule included several events every half-hour. We also could have taken a bus to visit a nearby castle, but the lines were long so we didn't try. The tour would have been free with our admission to the faire, but there comes a time when enough is enough.

It was a fun excursion. The faire still runs through Memorial Day weekend, so if you live in the area, you might consider a visit.


A few of the many, many interesting sights of the day:

A performer with a great talent for getting the audience to participate in his songs and humorous nonsense. I don't know what group he was with.

Maze for the kids

The Giant Stryker where men can prove their brawn. (Or women can prove their brawn too,if they want.)

Lady Genevieve in medieval garb

Feather adornments for sale

Renaissance merchant humor

Keely and Taurus visiting the flower vendor

Staffs and walking sticks for sale

Merchant's sign with neat cut-outs

Incontrovertible evidence that "We were There"-- fantasy flowers, sun medallion, snood for the hair, feather, Tenn-Ren program, and market basket.

Technorati tags: renaissance faire, , renaissance festival, renaissance fair, costumes, garb, Tennessee Renaissance Festival, Tenn-Ren, Tenn Ren, Tennessee

SCA Weekend

All In The Family... Life in The Upper South... My Various Hobbies...

Keely's medieval re-enactment group had their second annual event over the past weekend. The event was called "Shadow of the Wolf II" and it was held at the Cumberland Centre near Columbia, TN.

Keely's group is named the "Shire of Redewolf's Den", and it is part of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). Redewolf is from Murray, KY, and many of its members are students at Murray State University. Its name honors the native American red wolf, once common to this area and recently reintroduced to the Land Between the Lakes, a few miles east of Murray.

The whole idea of an SCA event is to dress in medieval garb, get together with a lot of other people in medieval garb, and learn about medieval life by recreating it. A typical SCA event might include
∙ classes in various Middle Ages arts and crafts
∙ sword, rapier, and other types of combat
∙ dance classes or exhibitions
∙ a "market" where medieval garb and gear are sold
∙ court, if the King and Queen are present
∙ medieval food, including a multi-course evening feast

This weekend, I tried my hand as a merchant, selling various medieval-like items and cloth that I have gathered over the last year. Amazingly enough, I took in about $110 which wasn't bad considering that my selling prices on most items were very cheap.

As a business venture, we did not break even because there were the costs of the merchandise, buying a table and a sun shelter, the trip down and back, and the event's admission fee. On the positive side, we have an extra $110, we still have the table and sunshelter and some leftover merchandise, and we were going to have the expenses of the travel and admission fee whether we were merchants or not.

So, I consider it a positive experience. We visited with many different people who wandered by, and during the slow times, I finished the handwork on a couple of pieces of garb for Keely that I've been working on for a while. I have caught myself several times saying, "Next time..." as I talk about the weekend. I guess I'll try it again.

One nice thing that happened at this event was that the King and Queen gave Keely and four other members of her shire awards for their hard work and leadership in building their shire and getting these annual events started. Keely is now Lady Catherine the Wierd, and she has a circlet to wear on her head.

In the photo below, Isaac and I are sitting in our little market booth. I have some sewing on my lap. We are both wearing garb that I've sewed (as were several other people!) Our tent is in the background. If we were hard-core re-enactors, we'd have medieval camping gear as well as medieval clothing to wear.



Related:
In May of 2006, we attended the Tennessee Renaissance Festival This blog entry about the festival contains many photos of the different garb and costumes that people were wearing.


Technorati tags: SCA Cumberland Centre medieval reenactment

Fit to be Dyed

Cloth for cloaks

Today I bought two 4'x15' canvas dropcloths, and I'm in the process of dying them royal blue in my washing machine. I have a large capacity machine, and it does handle 10 yards of 48" fabric. I've put in five packets of Rit Dye (dissolved in hot water), a whole container of salt and a couple tablespoons of laundry detergent. This is a modification of the recipe given inside the box -- I hope it turns out all right.

The cloth has to stay in the dye bath for 30 minutes. Then after the final rinse, it must be washed again with laundry detergent. Then, I have to run the machine through a complete wash and rinse with laundry detergent and chlorine bleach. And even after all that, I think I'll make sure the next wash load is dark colored clothing.

I bought these dropcloths to sew into medieval cloaks. Keely's SCA group is hosting an event ("Shadow of the Wolf") in April, and I'm hoping to make a modest debut as a merchant there. I've been collecting things at the thrift shops that I hope look medieval enough that people will buy them -- brass candlesticks, metal plates, woven market baskets, non-plastic costume jewelry and so on. I also have some wool and linen fabric (important fabrics of the Middle Ages) that I've picked up here and there. Some of it is reclaimed wool that I got by ripping apart large, pleated wool skirts. Pleated skirts can contain an amazing amount of fabric.

A French cloak from about 1580-1600, Wikipedia image.

I hope also to sew a few garments so I can try to sell them. I want to make a few simple generic men's shirts (tunics), a couple of underdresses (chemises), and a couple of cloaks. The cloaks will be made from the canvas that I'm dying. Cotton canvas is not really medieval, but it is a stout natural fabric, and it can be waterproofed.If the clothes don't sell, I'll keep them for the family garb collection. I really should have started this sewing a long time ago, but I've been busy doing lots of other stuff!

I think the SCA and their historic reenactments are something Dennis might get interested in after he retires. After all, it involves a couple of things he enjoys -- history and camping. When you go to these SCA events, you dress in your garb, do, watch or study medieval things, eat medieval food and camp in your tent. If I could make a small amount of money being a merchant, it might be fun to start going to some of the SCA events in this part of the country.