TheBanyanTree: Two Down, Two to Go

[Russ Doden]

Here commences the second of the continuing story of my 
merryment at The Oklahoma Renaissance Festival, otherwise known 
as The Castle.  

The second of four weekends is now part of history.  I wasn't sure 
what to expect when I got there Friday eve.  It has been horribly dry 
in NE Oklahoma for months on end.  Lakes were so far below normal 
that many boat docks have ended up on dry land.  Lake reports have 
been reporting water levels many feel below normal.  Then the rains 
started a few weeks ago - and it just kept raining.  The lakes are 
filling up.  The first weekend was quite damp but not wet, but on 
Monday storms hit the area where the festival is held with a 
vengeance.  Over the last 3 weeks over 12 inches of rain has fallen!  
Flood watches were the norm for a few days.  Watching the weather 
radar during Monday through Wednesday made me expect a real 
mud bog.  

When I pulled into the camp ground that is available for the 
artisans/cast/performers/crew on Friday night, things were really 
quite dry!  I found out almost all the bad weather went either north or 
south of the festival site.  Well, that means the grounds will be good.  
Let the merriment begin.  

After unloading my stuff into the first trailer and getting a bit to eat,  I 
had to pull the old water pump for the kitchen sink.  Remember it had 
broken last weekend?  It turns out that removing it only took a few 
minutes.  I hope to get a new one this week.  Other than that, that 
was the only work I had to do on my rolling yurt which made me quite 
happy.  I was able to spend some time socializing with the other 
residents of the campground.  

Saturday dawned bright and clear.  A beautiful day for Faire.  They 
have a tradition at this event, that over the Mothers Day weekend, 
that the first 1,000 ladies through the gate each day get a flower - 
usually a carnation.  It is a nice little thing, and it is fun seeing ladies 
walking about carrying a flower.  Of course some of the 
cast/performers end up getting these flowers over the course of the 
day.  This weekend was no exception.  I ended up with several 
flowers in my drinking tankard at one point.  Alas though, by days 
end, I was "deflowered" having given them to other ladies, mostly 
grand-mother types that and come in later in the day and looked like 
a flower would cheer them up.  We had a nice group of ladies from 
various chapters of the "Red Hat Society" to play with which are 
always fun.

One thing about a bright sunny day at faire - one must wear "majyk 
potion" - aka sunscreen.  Guess who forgot.  I now have a 
sunburned nose and right hand.  Why my right and and not both 
hands I don't really know unless it is that my left hand is more 
protected when playing the guitar outside and my right hand is 
exposed!    One feels sorry for many of the winsome lasses there 
though who receive a severe "bodice burn."  Yes, there are many 
ladies that are wearing garb that . . . shall we way pushes things up a 
bit?  Guess what gets a sunburn?  One chap makes a wonderful 
ointment that removes the pain of sunburn within minutes and keeps 
the burn from getting worse.  He has one of the best jobs at faire 
applying ointment to burned . . . cleavage.    

Oh the crowds this Saturday.  It was a seething mass of humanity.  I 
heard the next morning that there were something like 12,000 
through the gate on Saturday.  That may not be a lot for some 
events, but is a goodly number for this event.  People were 
everywhere which makes for a lot of people to play with of course!  
This was very noticeable at all of the entertainers stages.  Even 
stages that get smaller crowds were busy.  The stage inside The 
Castle, where the lads I perform with hold forth in the afternoon, was 
packed.  We had never had so many people there for a show!  It was 
great fun.  At the end of each of the two sets at that stage, it is my 
task to sell the lads CD's.  I couldn't make change fast enough!  
Between the two afternoon sets, we went through over 50 CD's 
which is doing something - especially when they had only planned on 
selling maybe 60 over the weekend.  It was a good thing they had 
brought extras along!  

Saturday night was the one saturday during the run of this faire 
where no special activities were planned.  It becomes a time for 
crafters and performers and musicians to rest in the evening.  For 
those of us in the campground it gave us the chance to visit and get 
caught up on happenings around the circuit.  Outside observers think 
that these evenings must be filled with parties and debauchery and 
are disappointed to learn that by 9:30 or 10:00 in the evening the 
campground is quiet.  Everyone goes to bed early to get ready for 
the next days work.  

Saturday night the temperature pummeted.  Upon awakening 
Sunday morning the temperature inside my tent trailer was about 52 
degrees fairy height.  That is cool - not cold but definitely cool.  With 
a beautiful clear morning it makes for a bright and brisk start of the 
day with the sun shining and a chill in the air.  

Sunday, is a lighter crowd day than Saturday, but Mothers Day is 
always up for grabs.  Some years the crowds are really light and 
other years pretty good.  This year, though not as hectic as 
Saturday, the crowd was still pretty good.  There was a definite chill 
in the air though.  The breeze was out of the north and kept things 
cooler.  This is good and bad.  Good because we can put more 
energy into performing without draining ourselves.  Bad because 
remember the thing about the sun?  It is still bright.  Because it is 
cool people tend to forget to apply majyk potion altogether.  This 
results in more burns.  I think that is when my honker really became 
a glowing beacon.  Maybe I'll remember the potion next week.  

As usual, the day went by in a blur of activity.  All too soon it was 
time for closing ceremonies and parting toasts.  As the crowds 
wandered homeward, we took stock of the weekend.  It had been 
good.  I was pleased to note that I was remembering new songs 
easier, and enjoying songs I "sort of" knew without worrying about 
hitting the right chords as much.  

This morning, getting ready for work I looked at my dress slacks and 
sport shirt and dress shoes.  They looked funny - not humorous 
funny, but . . . strange.  After wearing faire garb all weekend, modern 
clothes look somehow "odd" when first viewed.  Then again, that is 
why patrons find our apparel so amusing I guess.  To them we look 
strange as we wander about interacting with the crowd.  

Two more weekends to go.  Is it possible we are half way done 
already?  Time truly does fly when you are having fun.  

Till next report, 
Long Live the King, God Save the Queen 
Andrus the Bard