At the Faire, there were a ton of new sights to behold. It was held in a nice wooded area, with a lake on one side of the enclosure. There were a ton of shops, selling a large variety of things. There were selections of pewter objects and cups; quite a few clothing stores with dresses, corsets, tunics, pants and a ton of variety for what one might wear to a renaissance faire; jewelry, knifes, children’s toys, and so much more.

While there were a ton of things to do there (especially shopping), we focused on the shows that were being put on while we were there. We arrived just in time for the jousting tournament they put on. The stands around the ring were split into two teams to cheer for the teams of knights. These actors rode in the ring showing an impressive amount of precision in being able to hit each other’s shields while cantering and galloping on horseback. The excitement while watching two heavily armored knights with giant wooden lances, twice as tall as a regular person, galloping straight at each other is hard to describe.

Another cool show that we watched was put on by the Bankside School of Defense. They showed to the audience an Italian Renaissance style of fighting – with many different varieties. While the actors fought, they explained the difference between rapiers, broadswords and greatswords. We also got to see a larger variety of fights, as the actors fought not only with swords, but with sword and dagger, sword and buckler, sword and shield – even a little bit of unarmed. The fights were definitely very impressive, as most were unchoreographed; the actors actually showed the sort of practice they would do themselves.

In all, I really enjoyed my trip to the faire. It was a great first experience, and I would definitely want to go back in the future.