Renaissance Festival War Stories October 1/2/3, 2021

It's closing weekend of the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, seventh weekend. I am tired. I miss my husband. The show must go on. I'm gonna give the audience my best one more time...three more times.

...

Saturday, we had the absolute pleasure of Edwin the Druid join us out of retirement to riddle for the day. I only got to work with him a little bit when I auditioned in 2018. Seeing a Master Riddler at work was an absolute treat for myself as a riddler and as a fan. I tried to sit back and let him take the lead as much as he wanted. We are a team in the Riddle Booth, with him back, I am happy just to be an extra.

...

Friday morning was different. I volunteered to help with the Information Booth that morning. They had me help give directions, answer questions, and more in the street. Friday is often difficult due to lack of street performers, so Info Booth gets an extra volunteer for the morning, and I perform in character in the street for the first time for more than 20 minutes all season.

It's late enough in the season, that I am hearing and seeing from people about my performances. Nestor tells me someone came up to him and recognized him from one of the other articles (Only 74 people had read it by that point. Thank you whoever you are.) I had the pleasure of seeing my own surprise selfie on Facebook.

But one compliment stands out. A woman who is an occasional participant over the festival season and friend gets a chance to stop and chat with my Friday morning. I saw her for the first time all season the previous week when I was in front of the Riddle Booth performing, but I didn't get a chance to stop and say hello. I am near the front gate, and I take some pictures of patrons with her and her partner for them. I told her I was sorry I didn't get a chance to give her more than a wave last week. She tells me, "That was your audience. You had them and they ate you up. They loved you."

Keep in mind, this woman is highly charismatic. People look at her and her partner and see them with child-like adoration. They have a joy and a presence that draws people in from 50 feet away. She's done this longer than me and on a national level. A compliment like that from someone like her, is not something I take lightly. Thank you. You know who you are.

...

With My information sign and clipboard with the schedule (we had no programs that day) I start wandering. I call out to let people know I can help, "Information. Questions. Answers. Visual depiction of a liberal arts degree." It gets laughs and people flag me down if they need help.

More than one person says I look very official carrying a clipboard, like a census taker or someone conducting surveys. I click my pens and start asking questions to these people, "When was your last encounter with a mythical creature?...Are you seeing any mythical creatures now?...Did the dragon have spots?...Good, if they were red spots, that meant the dragon had chicken pox."

Never pass up the opportunity to do a bit.

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Saturday morning has some great crowds, including Mr. Boudit. Mr. Noah Boudit. He was dressed like a rogue, at least that's how I see my husband. I did not miss the opportunity to do the 'lip' riddle. Nestor, being 'The Cruel' made me wait a painfully long time before I got to kiss Noah as a clue. Worth the wait. Mr. Boudit is always worth it. *sigh*

...

Over the years in my life, I have been able to sense things before they happened. It usually freaks me out, this was not the case.

We do the 'zodiac' riddle. The two people who inspired these two riddles were together. They both leave then come back. I look at the pair and say, "Ah the Aries and the Gemini have returned." The man was wearing nothing that indicated he was a Gemini, officially. I was making a joke. He was wearing a Minnesota Twins t-shirt. The look on his face was stunned-horror. I had no way of knowing he was a Gemini, but somehow I guessed right. I played it off as statistical luck, 1 in 12, but I wish I had just continued to freak him out. That would have been more fun.

...

The quest for wisdom is not always sought by those you expect. We as riddles were unexpectedly surprised, and impressed.

I come back from the privy and am told by another riddler that among the audience, these four boys, maybe between the ages of 10-15 enjoy riddles, and one of them is particularly good at them. I lay on a little playful attitude and we get to riddling. Turns out, they all have some skills. They all answer different riddles of varieties and skill levels. More than that, they are WONDERFULLY behaved. They listen intently during the readings. They don't interrupt us or each other. They are respectful of the people around them. These are amazingly behaved teenage boys. They stick around for quite some time for riddles before Mom & Dad come up. At first, we weren't sure if these boys were brothers, cousins, or friends because they didn't look quite familial. Turns out, they were all brothers along with two younger sisters. When Mom and Dad approached, Mom got a riddle right. I took a moment to approach the family and confirm who Mom and Dad were. We told them how wise and well behaved their children were, that they should be proud. We were lucky to have them riddle with us. The whole family got four-leafed clovers from me.

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On the last day, it's bitter-sweet. Everything we do, we do for the last time. We sing 'Old King Cole' with The Dregs. We do our favorite riddles. We laugh at our favorite jokes. We see our favorite patrons. We see patrons we've never seen before, and some we will never see again.

After the final cannon is fired and the last official songs are sung, in the cover of darkness, the riddlers who are left sing one last song in the dark, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." I am so tired that I don't remember all the words to the verses, but Nestor does. I join when I can. And when I walk past the food booths and back stage, it's curtains on MNRF 2021.

Thank you and good night.

For more Renaissance Festival War Stories: The Lost Scrolls 2021, Opening weekend 2021, The Lost Scrolls of Nestor & Tinka 2021