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Perhaps your first clue that Hawkwood is somewhat different from all other Renaissance Faires might be the big, bald, burly man in the pink tutu who greets you as you enter through the broad, yellow gates of the village. This is the Fairy Godfather, leader of the Hawkwood Fey (Photo, left: the Fairy Godfather displays his pyschedelic tights, pink tutu, cheek blush and pink chiffon halo as he chats a moment with visitors to the village. Not shown is his battery-operated "fairy wand" and his trademark oversized stogie which he carried with him all weekend long--but apparently never smoked!). And aye: the Fairy Godfather can do an awesome Marlon Brando impersonation!
Your second clue could very well be the main pub--called "The Green Man" Pub"--at the village commons near the main gate (Photo, right). The sign sports an excellent likeness of the ancient Green Man of the Wood, interestingly enough. Ryleh failed to capture a good picture of the pub's sign for himself, but Mike Bonk expertly caught "The Green Man" peering mischieviously over the flags and banners in front of the pub (Photo, below, courtesy of Mike Bonk). Here in the commons before the pub was held the hour-long drumjam on Saturday night and the Village Carouse on Sunday evening. Upon seeing that sign, Ryleh remarked to his companions in mock seriousness: "Methinks there might be... (significant pause)... ***PAGANS*** around here!!!"
All of which made Hawkwood feel like a true Homecoming for Ryleh!
Even better, Ryleh got to meet friends--both old and new alike!--at Hawkwood this year. His friends from Houston, Mike and Pam Harris, brought their neighbor, Linda Schneider, with them to faire; and Frank Hui of Dallas, who has contributed several excellent reports to these pages, also showed up (Photo, left: Linda Schneider, seated in foreground; (left-to-right in background) Ryleh the Wanderer AKA George Laking (looking much the worse for both the Texas sun and several Woodpecker ciders which mysteriously kept filling his mug, thanks to the largesse of his friends), Pam Harris, Mike Harris and Frank Hui).
Also joining the party was the Lady Regina Rohrer, who not only helped Ryleh with his TRF pages but also contributed an outstanding special article on Dobber, the Dark Faerie of TRF; to these pages. And her boyfriend, Chris Domingo (Photo, left: the Lady Regina, with Chris standing behind her, sits for a "formal" portrait in front of a hand-painted tapestry next to the Society for Creative Anachronisms (SCA) pavilion).
Here (in the photo, right), the Lady Regina shows off her jewelry while sitting for another portrait in the courtyard of (appropriately enough!) "Charon's Crossing". Her many rings, finger caps and "slave" bracelet (detailed in the photo, below) excited considerable comments--and compliments!--from both players and other patrons alike. After we closed down the faire Saturday night, these two invited Mike and I to their tent in the patron campground to enjoy a late meal of homemade pepper sausage, onions and bell peppers with Chris acting as chef. Our especial thanks to both of them not only for their friendship but also for a most excellent and hearty repast, with Hawkwood wrapped around it!
And who could forget (or fail to see???!?) the bright, "sadistic yellow" booth of the Dark Rose Armoury? 
Here, Ryleh got to meet Eric Young again, whom he'd first met face-to-face when Eric was still living in Arkansas and trying to start up the Eureka Springs Renaissance Festival (Photo, right (left-to-right): Eric Young, Greg Grindstaff and Guy Hoyle lift their mugs for this group portrait taken at the Dark Rose Armoury Saturday morning). Ryleh also got to meet Greg Grindstaff, Eric's partner in chainmail, who had graciously extended the hospitality of their booth to everyone in the alt.fairs.renaissance newsgroup for the entire run of Hawkwood. 
Guy Hoyle--the Web Wizard who created and maintains the Hawkwood online presence--was also there. So were Frederick and Ivy (Photo, right, used with the kind permission of Greg Grindstaff. The background is part of the Dark Rose booth--and gives you a fair idea what the "sadistic yellow" of the rest of it looks like), with their two youngsters (Ivy happily showed Ryleh her "otter in chainmail", which was both unique and considerably amusing to see!). There were many more AFR personalities drifting in and out of the Dark Rose all weekend long. Ryleh got to meet most of them, but their names and faces, alas!, have all run together in his mind. It's an aging thing. Short-term memory lo... What were we talking about???!?
Last but certainly far from least was Liz Gensheimer, the redoubtable "Renaissance Faire Junkie". Ryleh had hoped to talk renfaire photography awhile both with her and Frank Hui--but with so many people to meet and greet, performances to catch, costumes to admire and shops to browse at Hawkwood, there was just not enough time to do it all. It was sufficient for me just to join Liz and Frank in taking pictures of Commedia dell C'arte, Spoonfed Tribe and Akiwowo--and considerably amusing to realize we all three silently agreed on which views and what action to capture as we individually went about photographing their performances. A case of "great minds thinking alike", mayhap...?
Interestingly enough, all weekend long my friends, acquaintances, correspondents, performers and other patrons kept telling me how small Hawkwood is--almost as if apologizing that the faire was not some sprawling behemoth like Scarborough or the Texas Renaissance Festival. This was well-nigh amusing as, acre-for-acre, Ryleh found Hawkwood to have just as much "character" and "personality" as the huge faires, mayhap even MORE! Furthermore, he literally had to run just to catch half the shows/performers he originally planned to see: note half the shows planned, NOT half the performances/events offered that weekend. Ryleh truly believes it would take at least another two full weekends simply to see everything on their schedule...
And this is only Hawkwood's third season!!!
Methinks quite honestly that the Hawkwood Medieval Fantasy Faire is very well on its way to competing most successfully with "the big boys" in the Texas RenFaire circuit. For me, by way of example, it was well worth all the effort of a seven-hour, cross-country drive through the late Summer heat from Arkansas just to attend! Two years from now, Ryleh believes, it will be even better...
And that's when both Scarborough and TRF may wake to find that the Hawkwood Medieval Fantasy Faire has definitely become "the BIGGEST little RenFaire in Texas"!!!
Standard Disclaimer: These webpages are strictly an *Unofficial* look at the Hawkwood Medieval Fantasy Faire held near Fort Worth, Texas in 1998. The author of these pages is in no way, shape, manner or form connected with the Hawkwood Medieval Fantasy Faire, Past Times Productions and/or any of the sponsors associated with this event. All opinions expressed are strictly this author's own. Unless noted otherwise, all photographs are copyright ©1998 by George Laking.
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