The Renaissance Faire in Bristol is a fair set in England in the 1500s. It gives you the illusion you stepped back into Medieval Times. There is a fully armored joust, the Queen and her glittering Court, amazing arts and crafts, delicious food, fine spirits, music, dance, parades, rides and games, and entertainers in the streets all day long according the website.
Since Stacy has been there numerous times, she printed out a schedule and highlighted the shows that were must sees. Because we had to walk from stage to stage, we couldn’t hit back to back shows. My requests were jousting, swords, and fire. We were able to hit all these and a few more. Between the shows Stacy shopped (I watched the fairies and took pictures) and ate.
First we stopped and got an amazing crepe and watched the end of Tortuga Twins, I believe.
Then it was time for the joust. This was my favorite event of the day. We sat almost directly in the middle of the arena. 4 competitors faced off in 2 rounds of 6 jousts each… basically facing each competitor twice. The object was to try to knock the other person’s shield to the ground or break their lance. The jousters got points for breaking the opponent’s shield, knocking the opponent’s shield to the ground, or breaking their opponent’s lance. The joust is an ongoing story told through the various jousts throughout the day.
After the joust we headed over to the sword fighting show while I contemplated some more if I really wanted to spend $20 for us to fence (which I didn’t… $10 I would have jumped at but not $20 for both of us). When we got to stage, the acrobats were still performing. We watched most of the acrobat show and this definitely was my second favorite show. The things they could do.
Then came the sword fighting duo. Just let’s say I was disappointed. I expected a lot more sword fighting than 2 and then a comedy routine on how to treat your lady. I think I saw more sword fighting at Pirate Fest in the rain than I did in the 20 minute show. Don’t get me wrong, what sword fighting there was, was very good. I just wished there was more.
After the show, we had some time before the next show and decided to get some real lunch. Stacy had mushrooms and I had a foot long sausage on stick. Initially I thought about getting kabobs but the sausage on a stick sounded good. Of course, I dipped it in ketchup so that took some talent to eat. I washed it down with some more sarsaparilla. Since they don’t let you bring in outside food and beverage, we had to buy all of our drinks inside the gates. Sarsaparilla was only a $1. Luckily it wasn’t too hot out or I’d been drinking a lot of that stuff.
With stopping to get lunch, we were almost late for the fire whip show. Again I was disappointed. I thought this guy would use fire whips the entire show but he only used it right at the end otherwise he cracked various other whips. I really liked the fire whip but I could live without seeing another whip crack show. It is just not my thing.
Once we hit all the shows we wanted to see, we wandered around for a little bit before we left. We managed to catch the end of the mud show. Trust me, that’s all I really ever needed to see. Besides all the free shows, there was lot of other things to do that required a separate fee like fencing, skill games, or the pirate ship.
Overall I was impressed with RenFaire. It really wasn’t what I expected but it was more than I thought it would be. What I didn’t care for was all the adult humor thrown into the shows. I’m all for adult humor but it didn’t seem to fit with the Medieval Times theme but who knows maybe there were crude and rude back then. The other thing that surprised me was all the performers hawking their DVDs and trying to collect tips after each show. I get tips since that’s how performers make their living but I don’t see the need for a DVD of acrobats or whip cracking. Maybe it’s just me.
I probably won’t make this a yearly thing but I will definitely go back. It’s the only place I know where I can learn to fence. It’s fun, entertaining, and if shows aren’t your thing the people watching is just as fun… between the regular cast of characters and fair goers in costumes there is plenty to see.
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