Renaissance Festival War Stories Sept 11/12, 2021

Saturday: Unofficial PRIDE Day. I made a facebook event for it months ago and the whole thing started after MNRF had done a PRIDE day in the past, but none made this year. So many flags, shops, and people taking part in support of one another in the spirit of love and PRIDE. It warms me inside and out.

In 2019, there was a young lady, 13-14 or so, who had a beautiful home made shoulder-body puppet of a dragon. I mean a FULL puppet. This dragon was fully operated by her arm with blinking eyes, a fully opening and closing mouth, and went around her shoulder and down her back like a Sousaphone. The one she had then was an autumn themed one. She came back this year with a new one, a grey one, she named Stoney. This one emitted smoke! When I spotted her, I jumped up and down and ask that she come by the booth when she was done walking the Fairywing forest. She nodded and did. I was so enchanted by her and her dragon. For me, this level of craftsmanship and dedication is unbelievable. I don't make anything I wear - it's all thrift or commercially bought. This young lady crafted and puppeted Stoney all day. If that's not commitment and talent, I don't know what is. She let me coo, pet, and fan girl all over her puppet. Her mother said she got a picture of me in 2019 interacting with her daughter and her puppet. She and her whole family got four-leafed clovers.

I was going on my lunch break mid-afternoon Sunday. I see a couple looking at the map. I am hungry, but I can't help stopping. He is not in garb, she is garbed-to-the-nines in silks and lovely shades of orange, pinks, and purples in harmony. I ask if they were looking for something on the map on trying to get somewhere, they said no, they were just enjoying the day, this isn't their first time. We exchange some words about the day, some puns, and talk about jewelry and such. I am wearing my face mask and a pretty large brimmed hat - they can't see my smile, but they can see my body language, my eyes, hear my tone, etc. This woman is GLOWING. She was lovely before, but even behind tinted sunglasses, I see her joy. And she says, "Aren't you a beautiful soul." Now I'M glowing. Being a ginger, the joke is often that I have no soul. I have taken this to a dark place more often than not: I have one freckle for every soul I've stolen. I've got a nice corner office in Hell waiting for me. But there was a time a friend and I once drew out a sign that said "honk! I ❤️ your soul." We were 14 and just as weird as I am now. I hadn't thought about this in years, and this woman pulled that memory out of my archives and made me feel incredible. She found a glitch in me, because I go back and forth between shy-humility and keep-inflating-my-giant-ego. She calls me, "a beautiful soul," again. I'm moved and touched. She and her husband both receive four-leafed clovers. And then she hugged me.

...

Paxton, a street character who also frequents the riddle booth helped a patron complete a "secret side quest." Apparently, this young woman saw his preserved four-leafed clover and Paxton yells over to me in the riddle booth, "How many four-leafed clovers have you found so far?" I yell back "133 this year." I didn't see the look on her face, but he did. She, her father, and her mother (who couldn't be there) all got four-leafed clovers. Achievement unlocked. Secret side quest completed.

...

The last encounter I had Sunday. Three adults and one little girl, maybe 7ish. Riddle booth is starting to break down for the day. It's maybe 10-15 minutes to cannon. This family has beers in hand, trinkets from the day on them; Fairywing forest appeared to be their last stop. The adult man in the group is annoyed the forest closed 45 minutes earlier. "They should tell us that before we spent all this money to come in here!" (it's in the program) The little girl, doesn't look tired or disappointed, she looks rather indifferent to the whole thing. I decide to offer some consolation to the little girl. I say so in a pointed way to the adult man (if you want nice, go see a fairy, oops too late.) I ask her to step forth. I kneel down to get to her level. I let her know that it was bad luck that she missed the fairies, but she looked like she had a good day: face paint, a pocket watch necklace, a dragon pet on her wrist, etc. She is not sad. I show her that we are both wearing owls, that she must already be a wise little girl, just lacking a little luck. She gets a preserved four-leafed clover. She smiles and is very polite with her thank yous. Her mom had much better manners, standing by her side as this little girl and I share smiles and thank yous.

For more on Tinka Boudit click here

For more Renaissance Festival War Stories: 692 days. 2019.