Renaissance Festival War Stories September 23/24, 2023

Continued from weekend 5

It was a rainy, wet weekend. And that's okay. You cant have flowers without the rain. Here are some beautiful blooms I got to experience.

***

While this story should be for 'The Lost Tales of Nestor & Tinka," it was too good not to wait. A couple weeks ago, Nestor and I came up with the idea to trade costumes for an afternoon. We determined that the afternoon of the sixth Saturday was the day to do it. Nestor would become Tinka and Tinka would become Nestor. First of all, It took me all of 5-10 minutes for me to become Nestor. It took about 30 minutes for Nestor to become Tinka. This was the end result...

Tinka (As Nestor): You look hot.

Nestor (as Tinka): You look adequate.

We walked around the festival for about an hour together in our 'bad drag' impersonating each other and showing people we wanted to show. Clover did a double-take, "Ah...AH!" King Henry let out a confused sound for about 45 continuous seconds, "Uuuuuhhhhhh," while his guards laughed, and Little John burst into tears laughing. Wort the Squire and Gort the Other Squire, who I thought saw us post-switch, also laughed pretty hard because we caught them by surprise. Other Squire laughed to tears. It was a successful bit. The most successful part came when Nestor and I were back in the booth. Nestor had given a quest to some young men as himself, by the time they returned, Nestor was dressed as me, and it took them a full two minutes for them to realize the switch.

***

A year ago, a patron 'S.L.' messaged Tinka on Facebook. She was shy and nervous about attending fest and in costume; she was worried about feeling alone and the opposite- worried about feeling commented on and in a negative way. I messaged her some words of encouragement. She came to fest, she had a great time, and was glad to have come.

Cut to Sunday. I hadn't heard from her in a while. She was in a more elaborate, beautiful costume than the previous year. She stopped by Sidequests and was saying how she was so grateful how she felt so embraced in this community and next year, she may even be working for a vendor. She said now as a member of the community she's grateful for what we are doing and gives me something: a bag of custom favors for each of The Sidequest Players inspired by the Character Cards we released over the last two months along with, another additional favor, and a handwritten letter. She asked that we not read it until after she leaves, because she would cry. There were tears, from those of us who were there. I opened the door for this woman, and the whole community let her feel welcomed.

***

At the end of the evening on Sunday, working Queen's gate, the rain was light. Nestor and I were working. He wasn't feeling 100% , so he was attempting to get a little coverage under the tree, and by this point, he had my cape trying to keep warm and dry. Somehow, after two days of non-stop fest work, while my feet work yet still sore, I still have energy left. There's something about the beauty of Vagabond's music that has me dancing in the rain. I'm moving along the hillside and checking with patrons that their cups are empty of alcohol, and if not, they either finish them or dump them. It gets dimmer and darker by seven o'clock on sixth weekend and while war weariness is setting in, there is something about the beauty and wonder of this place that lets me keep moving.

We're coming up to the final weekend. I love doing this so much. The team is getting better every day. In two weeks, show will be put to rest for the season. There are still three show days left. And we will leave it all in the lanes between now and then. Let's do this...

See you in Weekend 7...