A Day at the Faire

Tuesday, 02 February 2010 15:16

The weather was not promising. The day's sky was gray, dreary and heavy, but here on the ground, where men and women were dressed in costumes of times long past, there was crackly excitement all around the Alachua County Fairgrounds. This was the Hoggetowne Medieval Faire, or “Ren Faire,” as the workers affectionately called it, and these men and women had a job to do.

By Jon Silman; Photos by Sarah Hsu

Meet Rick D., 27. He runs the "Carraselo," a sort of medieval swing set that orbits children into medieval bliss. In his bright blue pants, he explained to me that he worked at large chain stores before deciding to purchase a camper and follow Renaissance fairs around the country. "Florida has at least 50 fairs and during the off-time, I get to do whatever I want," he says.

"What do you do for fun besides this?"

"I like playing video games. I like role-playing games, you know, "Dungeons and Dragons" and "Magic: The Gathering." If you don't enjoy being on the road, this life is not for you. All kinds of people do this—gutter punks, hippies—you name it."

I then went to see the human chess match. There was a royal procession—a parade of the past. Or, since there were no cameras back then, what we would imagine the past to be. I followed the calls of "be goodly, kind sirs" and "hear Ye's" and became absorbed in a sort of live-action narrative of times past.

The giant chess match wasn't so much a real chess game, but more of a WWE-style battle royale with a loose Robin Hood storyline that only a true thespian could completely follow.

This was just the beginning; the main course was the jousting. I don't care who you are or where you come from, two dudes in full armor on horses with huge sticks trying to knock each others’ heads off is sweet. Yes, it was choreographed and no, there were no injuries (but the threat was real). I was cheering and yelling and amazed as these guys would stand on horses or do flips or hit each others’ helmets with swords or huge wooden rods that (sometimes) snapped in half. This, too, had a storyline, but it was just amazing to watch.

At the end of the match, the knights came out into the crowd and allowed the audience to drop dollar bills into each one's shiny metal helmets—a clear dose of reality for these escapist warriors forsaken by modern times.

The Hoggetowne Medieval Faire will run again Friday Feb. 5 through Sunday Feb. 7. Hours are from 9:30am-3pm Friday and 10:30am-6pm on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $14 for adults and $7 for children. Kids under 5 get in free.

For more information check out the Web site