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Renaissance Festival War Stories September 24/25, 2022

Some of the feels

By Tinka Boudit She/HerPublished about a year ago Updated about a year ago 5 min read
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Continued from week 5

September 24/25, 2022

Fall

This is the first weekend it's been a little cool out. I get to wear my cloak and gloves out of comfort and not necessity. There's a level of pacing and rhythm that is found by sixth weekend. Our team has found its comfort in each other. We are a harmonized group. Are things perfect? No. They never will be, and that's okay.

One such imperfect moment happened when Nestor started a riddle. Since the start of the season, one of the clues for it is one by one, we each take over the riddle from each other. That's the fun part; that's the found harmony. But sometimes a bad note is hit. Nestor starts the riddle and I get ready to take it over. My takeover was a little too hostile and we are both thrown off balance and we fall to the ground. There is a thud and Nestor is not moving. I hit my shoulder and upper arm. It hurts, but nothing serious. I check with Nestor and he says he's fine, truly, he's just playing up the bit of the riddle now and is acting. What was supposed to be a prat-fall turned into a real fall. Thankfully, my pride was hurt more than either of us.

...

Where friends meet for the first time...again

This is going to be a long three-in-one section, so bear with me. Over the summer and even as recently as this week, I've met people at other events or have contacted us through the Riddle Masters page or through my Tinka Boudit page for various reasons. Some to share photos, riddles, stories, or other things. Now my father, Papa Worthit, is a brilliant man. He worked in the public sector in media for over 30 years; people would come up to him and treat him like an old friend and he would do the same right back. He has touched countless lives. However, his memory of who these people were, was not always perfect. He always treated them as if his memory was flawless. I learned a lot of these social cues from him, the only difference, I am willing to admit that I need reminding of a name and/or previous meeting. I do have a bizarrely good memory for certain things like an oddly-specific part of a conversation we once had, but you have to remind me we had it first...These are three such meetings.

The first was Anthony. I was walking back to the Riddle Booth and this dapper gentleman stops me. He was there with a group of friends as part of a bachelor party. He greets me like an old friend. We met at a different party about six months, if not a year earlier through another friend, briefly. We chat for a bit, take a couple pictures and go our ways. I wouldn't have placed him if he hadn't stopped me, but I was grateful he did.

I was taking a break for lunch on Saturday and it was BUSY. There is a couple that waves at me. I have that moment where I do that 'looks past myself, and try to confirm they mean me, because I do not recognize them' thing. They wave me over and I do not recognize them. They reintroduce themselves: Jim & Samm. They reminded me how I met them shortly after the Twin Cities Pride Parade three months earlier. We chatted then, talked about the renaissance festival, and I gave them my four leafed clovers. We chatted briefly about the day and how they were able to go to a garb sale before the season and pick up some new festival pieces. We part ways and I thought in that moment that would be it...Until they found me again later at the Riddle Booth. Jim asks me an odd question, how he phased it threw me off in that moment, then he rephrased it - he was asking about joining the cast for next year, and specifically in a position that our Entertainment Director actually wants. My jaw drops. Jim tells me about a bit he was naturally doing as a patron earlier that day, making people laugh and such. I told him all he has to do is apply in spring time with this idea and audition. What our Entertainment Director wants, he might get out of Jim.

The last person I met this weekend was Stephanie. Stephanie messaged me on my Tinka page and asked me some general questions. I told her she was welcome to find me and say hello to me at the booth. When she came up and said hello that day, I did not immediately clock her as the person from the previous messages. We were able to chat for a few minutes about the festival, costumes, the day, and more. In the moment, I did not remember our messages from the previous week, it wasn't until I got home and read them again Sunday night how much our talk meant to me, and probably meant to her. Thank you Stephanie. I may not always remember in a moment, but give me a detail or two, and I will make an effort to try.

...

Showstopper

Saturday night brought about a show I had never seen before. Bertram and Jacqueline along with many others for 15 years had been known for doing the Queens Pub Sing at 6PM. This year, they didn't get to do their nightly show. I had attended fest for that entire time and had never seen their show. That night they put on a reprise show with one of their long-time members of the "Ampersand Band," David, for one last show for the Queen's Pub staff, and anyone else who was lucky enough to be in the know for it. I've had the pleasure of working with Bertram and Jacqueline as Riddle Masters for the last three years now. We've gotten to know each other on and off stage. But something happened during that show I hadn't seen on stage - Jacqueline without her mask, Bertram without his horns and teeth; they became two people I had never seen before.

There's something that these musicians have, something that I have only begun to understand in the last few years, the performing dynamic of a team. These three have known each other for decades. I've seen this in other performing troops and bands. It's magic. I truly cannot tell where the realness of them ends and the script of the show begins. And that's the magic of it, it probably doesn't end, because they are one and the same. One of the songs they do towards the end of the set, the name I don't remember, brings me to tears. I hear the song lyrics, Bertram's soulful voice, and there is this moment in me that knows that this is what festival is all about. It's been a perfect day. I haven't experienced anything like it before, and there won't be anything exactly like it ever again.

See you in weekend seven!

friendshiphumanityhumorpop culture
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About the Creator

Tinka Boudit She/Her

contact on FB & IG

linktr.ee/tinkaboudit

The Soundtrack BOI: WA

FP

Bette On It: Puddle, Desks, Door, Gym, Condoms, Couch, Dancers, Graduate.

Purveyor of Metaphorical Hyperbole, Boundless, Ridiculous, Amazing...and Humble.

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