Renaissance Fair, Kenosha, WI

One of my goals has been to travel around locally, as in day trips during the weekend, so nothing too far away. Someplace I can pack a lunch, pack my camera, GPS, and start exploring the area around me.
I joked with some friends from CA that we pack about twelve months worth of activities into about five. And it's true; there are about three major events on any given weekend from May to end of October.

One of these activities one could do is to go back in time. And this past weekend I stepped into another world yet again. It's been about five years since my last visit to the Renaissance Fair in Kenosha, WI. Yet again, I'm so glad I live in today's world, not the world of the actual Renaissance. I'm very thankful for so many things, but sanitation, air conditioning, indoor plumbing, clean water, and having modern clothing, among many, many other things. There's no way I would have been able to deal with the current heat if I had to endure the clothing of that time period. How did people actually deal with it?
But it was a fun time, and great for practicing photography. Lots of interesting things to see and photograph.
Like these girls in the above picture. They look so bored! And they're playing checkers, not chess. They look bored but also a little perplexed. It's checkers, it's not difficult.

As you could have guessed, there is a Queen's Court. It's these costumes I'm referring to when I say I can't imagine the misfortune to wear such garb in such weather. These folks must be really dedicated to do what they do in such weather. Yes, it was hot, but not like some other years.

There were some pretty interesting costumes. I don't remember this from last time, but it's an interesting addition. These fairies played with children and not all of them were "good". There was a Pan-looking creature with horns and kids would run away and hide from him. There was a monkey-like (I think) creature that liked to swing a leg off a tree branch. The fairy in blue was blowing bubbles and the kids loved it. The woman in a black and white costume was supposed to be a spider. I think that's the only spider I haven't been afraid of since I was about four years old. You have no idea how I shriek when I see spiders. The bigger the spider, the bigger the shriek. Seriously, be very thankful you haven't experienced my arachnophobia-fueled shriek.



There were other things that don't really fit with the Renaissance, like a guy in skins and a guy in ostrich feathers. But then again, very little at Renaissance Fair has to do with the actual Renaissance. As a fried of mine suggested, there'd be only booths with books and science, to represent the rebirth of knowledge, art, literature, science, etc. Though, I have to admit, the kaleidoscopes completely fascinate me. And they had plenty of those. Those things are just a marvel.

One of the few things that was authentic was the food. Not the "food court" food where you find tempura and ice cream and chicken wings with fries. The authentic food was for the people who work at the fair. It was cooked in a huge cast iron pots with wood as the source of heat. Check out the recipe below. And there is vegetable soup in that pot.