The Renaissance faire was always a fun place to visit, I especially loved the old one in Novato before it moved. I loved the costumes and the ‘reduced shakespeare company’. Jon loved the beer. I remember one particularly clever vendor claimed that his “Oysters were guaranteed to work“. And one equally clever dissatisfied customer came back angrily saying “He had purchased two, and only one of them worked.” HA! ” The renaissance faire for visitors was the sometimes joyful sometimes awkward playdate of summer.
But for my acquaintances that worked it – it was more of a way of life. I remember one classmate who would work on stitching her bodice in Algebra class. For a month or two out of each year ‘Rennies’ would literally live in character, speak in character, dress in character, do some drugs in character, and have sex in character. Sometimes they had more deeply vivid lives in character than they had without them. Lets call it the seedy underbelly of faire life.
And lets just be thankful they weren’t working the Rendezvous circuit.
Event teaches crafts, history
Once again, the Maxwell Wildlife Refuge is a window to the past with the 23rd annual Mountain Man Rendezvous.
History enthusiasts set up camp at the refuge like 19th-century trappers and traders and gave presentations Friday to students about various historical topics, from blacksmithing to trapping. The rendezvous will continue today and Sunday, so visitors can learn more about the past.
Gordon “Talking Bear” Welch from Wichita has attended the rendezvous off and on for 15 years. On Friday, he spoke to schoolchildren about the life of a trapper.
“I give trap demonstrations, show them how beavers were skinned and turned into hats,” he said. “A lot of people ask if the traps would cut off a beaver’s foot. I say that’s the last thing a mountain man wants, because then the beaver can just swim away.”
Well isn’t that precious. Teaching children how hundreds of millions of beavers were slaughtered. I can’t think of anything more inspiring. Of course if the trap cut off both their feet they couldn’t ‘swim away’ could they? I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that there are many survivalists in the mix who expect the wild west to come back any day now.
“I think it’s best to know how to do things the old-fashioned way, just in case,” he said.
Minix said there’s value in learning old crafts, especially in troubled times. If a situation arises where people are cut off from modern technology and amenities, these old skills could be very useful.
Anyone wanna guess the number of firearms these men own? Me either. I’m pretty sure the actual rendezvous were no place to ever bring a decent human being let alone a child. There must have been shooting, stealing, boasting, swearing and all kinds of whoring.
Kind of like a Trump Rally really.
My ecosystem poster got a fair amount of attention yesterday. Fur-bearer Defenders wants to re-release it with legit images and co credit Worth A Dam. Environmental writer Mary Ellen Hannibel reposted it yesterday on facebook and I’m hopeful an artist friend of hers will take it under their creative wing soon.
It’s nice when crime pays, isn’t it? 🙂
