What methinks about Renaissance Faires

Until a few weeks ago, if you asked any of my friends and family what one festival or event each year I can't miss, they'd say, "King Richard's Faire." It was a constant on my family's calendar growing up, filled with beer and turkey legs and bellydancers (woot!) and raucous jousting. Around each corner were faeries and witches, acrobats and pirates, royal courts and mud beggars, verily! I loved the Faire's imagination, sharp wit and sense of magic and wonder.  And plenty of innuendo... most of which went over my head until late middle school... and then I rediscovered the Faire all over again through a more mature, smirking lens.  Wit is indeed the colorful thread that ties it all together, and I loved every naughty minute... even watching my father enjoy his annual awkward dance with the sultry gypsy dancers, while his "girls" laughed and laughed.

A few weeks ago, I got a referral to the good founders of New England's largest and oldest Renaissance Faire, and my heart skipped a beat.  Huzzah!  After some endorsements from wonderful colleagues and a nice introductory conversation, I now am enjoying the role of chief hawker/publicist and "bell ringer" for this amazing family-run festival working with Bonnie Shapiro and her daughter, Aimee Shapiro Sedley. 

In 1981, veteran show producers and performers Bonnie and her late husband Richard (long live the King) brought this magical festival to Carver, Mass. - hence, Carvershire - and has served as the show's producer ever since.  She's a great example of carving a career out of her love for the arts, and takes great pride and care in every detail of the Faire experience. I love her energy - and sure beats promoting widgets.


King Richard's Faire highlights:
-- 80 acres of sunlight-filled forest off Rt. 58 in Carver, Mass., crafted into a 16th century medieval kingdom
-- Over 200 performers, artists, craftsmen, acrobats, knights and of course, the Royal Court
-- A liger. Yep. A real liger.
-- Maidens, pirates, mud beggars and scoundrels... a bit like the folks I'd see in my decade working in Boston, but better-natured and much more entertaining.

The Faire runs Labor Day through October 21st.  Come hither to the Faire, or thou art a dankish boar-pig. :)

Me at King Richard's Faire as a young maiden.