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one to go!
Oct. 1st, 2007 12:19 pmLast weekend was the Four Kingdoms Faire in Rock Island IL. A small faire with a lot of fun. Not sure how well they did - crowds were smallish but it IS Rock Island IL after all.
A major fubar with the cabin keys led to us not getting to sleep till nearly midnight on Friday. (I don't care WHOSE fault it is - just gimme the keys and lemme go to beds) The musicians (us, TJ and Melanie) had one cabin and the royals and pixies had the other. There was a nice hospitality tent with coffee, lemonade and breakfasty things. We had 4 shows on the main stage, which was a very effectively dressed up picnic pavilion, and I think our audiences were good for the size of the show.
I really like smaller faires for a few reasons - the shopping is good and reasonable for basic ren-stuff like wooden bowls, eating knives, mugs, wooden boxes, etc. You also usually have time to see the other shows - I saw all the samurai demos (I got to see a 700-year-old sword!) and got an up-close look at their authentically made armor. (I say "authentically made" because these are corn-fed midwestern boys we are talking about. Not too many samurai were 6'7"!) There was a guy making rope for donations and explaining how it was done, and I got a nice length of pretty cord that he made for me. There was also a viking longboat giving rides on the little lake, which was fun (except for the whiny teenager sitting behind me who spent the entire ride texting on her cellphone).
We got to hear some of the other musicians, and it was nice to see some of our old friends from the IA area like the Shattock Schoole of Defense and William O'Wyckham. Animal X was there with her Dragon Scales & Faerie Tales show, and William Trotter's wife did a neat little "alchemy" demo for the kids (she's a chemistry teacher) with turning liquids colors and setting things on fire.
Plus, it's just kind of cool to be the Rock Stars of a show for the weekend! Large faires are fun, but sometimes it's fun to be the biggest frogs in the puddle for a while.
The faire was a little too spread out for my tastes - squishing in the end a bit might make it look a little less sparse. And the food, while yummy and cheap, was from the kinds of trucks you see at street fairs. It was a trip to see a couple of the courtiers walking down the street with their plastic smoothie glasses and polyester leis! Still, it is what is is, and it's certainly not the worst small show I've ever done.
Nest week - Stronghold Olde English Faire, the last one of the season for us.
A major fubar with the cabin keys led to us not getting to sleep till nearly midnight on Friday. (I don't care WHOSE fault it is - just gimme the keys and lemme go to beds) The musicians (us, TJ and Melanie) had one cabin and the royals and pixies had the other. There was a nice hospitality tent with coffee, lemonade and breakfasty things. We had 4 shows on the main stage, which was a very effectively dressed up picnic pavilion, and I think our audiences were good for the size of the show.
I really like smaller faires for a few reasons - the shopping is good and reasonable for basic ren-stuff like wooden bowls, eating knives, mugs, wooden boxes, etc. You also usually have time to see the other shows - I saw all the samurai demos (I got to see a 700-year-old sword!) and got an up-close look at their authentically made armor. (I say "authentically made" because these are corn-fed midwestern boys we are talking about. Not too many samurai were 6'7"!) There was a guy making rope for donations and explaining how it was done, and I got a nice length of pretty cord that he made for me. There was also a viking longboat giving rides on the little lake, which was fun (except for the whiny teenager sitting behind me who spent the entire ride texting on her cellphone).
We got to hear some of the other musicians, and it was nice to see some of our old friends from the IA area like the Shattock Schoole of Defense and William O'Wyckham. Animal X was there with her Dragon Scales & Faerie Tales show, and William Trotter's wife did a neat little "alchemy" demo for the kids (she's a chemistry teacher) with turning liquids colors and setting things on fire.
Plus, it's just kind of cool to be the Rock Stars of a show for the weekend! Large faires are fun, but sometimes it's fun to be the biggest frogs in the puddle for a while.
The faire was a little too spread out for my tastes - squishing in the end a bit might make it look a little less sparse. And the food, while yummy and cheap, was from the kinds of trucks you see at street fairs. It was a trip to see a couple of the courtiers walking down the street with their plastic smoothie glasses and polyester leis! Still, it is what is is, and it's certainly not the worst small show I've ever done.
Nest week - Stronghold Olde English Faire, the last one of the season for us.
