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On Labor Day weekend I ventured to the 22nd annual Kansas City Renaissance Festival in Bonner Springs. I was part of a large group of Scarborough Faire Company members who converged on the site. A hearty thanks to the faire for being such gracious hosts.
This report will be a little different than previous ones owing to the fact this faire outing was more of a holiday than work for me. I had foregone the use of my camcorder as per usual in favor of a greater number of rolls of film. Videotaping eats up a lot of my energy and ability to fully enjoy a faire, especially if I want do it right!
Traveling from Dallas, I had high hopes for some moderate weather. Sadly this was the hottest recorded Labor Day weekend in 10 years. On Saturday, the temperature was close to 100 with over 80% humidity and no air currents! Sunday was cooler, fortunately, with a consistent breeze. In spite of the Texas weather following us, a good weekend was still experienced.
Like many faires, KC has theme weekends. This opening weekend was entitiled Magic and Mirth with the site being littered with jugglers, magicians, etc; and they even had a special separate parade of fools. It took me the rest of the day to get all the confetti out of my hair (Photo, below).
The village is the shire of Canterbury which is expecting the arrival of Queen Elizabeth. The main story arc of the faire is the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet only with a couple of surprises I shan't mention.
At the front gate there is a beautiful and very detailed statue depicting George and the Dragon. It is one of the many touches KC has to provide a more pleasurable experience.
Kansas City has over 160 artisans selling their wares. These include the standard leather works, jewelry, arms and artwork. However what struck me as most noticeable were the numerous shops that dealt in ceramics/pottery and in drinking vessels. What is equally amazing is that each shop's product were distinctive. An example of this is this urn with viking runes I got from Castles, Critters & Kaleidoscopes being held by the proprietress. The runes roughly translate "...with half a loaf and a half drained jug, I have often won me a friend". I also bought an archaic-looking goblet from Captain Goldtooth's Vessels and a beautiful blue mug with a comical dragon for a handle from Clay Images. I even bought for a friend a wooden tankard that was twisted, literally! Normally I don't shop at faires, but these were hard to resist, especially since they were more than reasonably priced.
I find good faires always have charcters with flavor. KC is no exception. One example are these men with wolves in sheeps clothing. There is a shop on site with the same name, but I'm not sure if they are linked to it.
A unique and considerate aspect of this faire is the use of sign language interpreters. These persons can be found during the story arc, a number of stage acts and even the pub sing.
But perhaps the most distinctive character KC has to offer is "The Toy" as played by Kevin Hughes. "The Toy" is supposed to be a life-sized mechanical man who roams the grounds at a gentle pace, entertaining all who come near him. Every so often you can catch him even winding up the key attached to his chest! In the photo he is expressing his appreciation to Mother Goose for just having provided him with a cool breeze.
Standard Disclaimer: These webpages are strictly an *Unofficial* look at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival held near Bonner Springs, Kansas, in 1998. The author of these pages is in no way, shape, manner or form connected with the Kansas City Renaissance Festival, Mid-America Festivals, Inc. 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 Frank Hui.
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