washingtonrenfaire2006

Our new guildyard set was ready and set up in plenty of time, thanks to the last-minute efforts of our joyner, Chris Dellert and the sufferance of his wife and children who gave up his presence so our beautiful peasant pergola would be finished in time! By the end of the faire, it was decorated with hanging bundles of dried herbs, colorful bits of cloth and a wrought-iron chandelier!

Of course, that wasn't all that was new! For the 06 season Saint Brigid's boasted an all-new set (including an oven no one got pictures of), new costuming rules, new faces, old faces, and a brand-new guildmaster with pneumonia! Um... I mean consumption. (Yeah, it's going to be one of those years.) Despite this wheezy harbinger, the show must go on! And the guild came through with a stellar performance despite the fact that their semi-illustrious leader spent the first weekend snoozing under a tree!

The Washer- Women's War! One day our wenches were hiding from the sun down in the glen, when they looked up and took note of the great number of buckets lying about. One of the saucy wenches piped up and said something to the effect of: 'Prithee good fellow, wherefore do'st one find a source of Posiedon's pleasure?' (Roughly translated, "Dude, where can we fill these with water?") And thus the brawl was (re)borne... With buckets and bowls, mugs and hats, water was dragged out onto the village green (re-dubbed "the brown" for obvious reason) where it was traded with great gusto, borne aloft in handfulls of soaked rags and bits of cloth! Much fun was had, many patrons were entertained, and much overheating was averted.

A beautiful new gate was built for the faire this year by the Draeger family and they kindly allowed us to go up and accost patrons from atop the parapet. Our guildmistress Kristin (aka "Daf") found some stuffed sheep in one of Mistress Melantha's baskets and string and before you could say "shepherd" all the wenches of the guild were high atop the gatehouse fishing for Scotsmen! (Well what would you use for bait, I ask you?)

By second weekend, things were running a bit more smoothly. Scott's wheezing & coughing stopped waking the entire faire up at night (as often) and the new folks felt more at ease in thier roles. Great fun was had by all despite the temperatures soaring into the nineties. The faire's Lord Protector assured me that it wasn't my imagination, there really were close to a bazillion patrons packed into the faire! This is the second season in a row where we' ve been blessed (?) with three sunny weekends in a row! Unheard of in Washington in August (knock wood).

With the sun and heat, we began to take it by turns venturing out onto 'the brown', thus keeping our guildmembers alive and hydrated by taking spells in the coolth of the Glen where the ailing guildmaster held court from his favorite tree, regaling his troops with bawdy songs and stories from his days as a dancing bear in a travelling circus (not really, but it sounds so much better than 'napping').

The Rom entertained us in grand style, as ever, and we were blessed by a daily performance by the bard, Heather Alexander! What a way to take the edge of the heat of the day! And ne'er was there a lullaby sung so fair for a Pleasant Peasant Pile!