Carolina Renaissance Festival, Huntersville North Carolina: 2 & 3 November 2013 5 comments
I'd heard the radio ads for the Carolina Renaissance Festival for years, but somehow never got around to going until the start of November. For one thing, I wasn't quite sure where Huntersville was (answer: just north of Charlotte), for another I didn't know if there would be enough there to be worth a weekend.
In the event, I was quite pleasantly surprised. The place is a couple of miles east of I-77 and has an interesting air of semi-permanence about it. The parking lot is obviously a pasture or some such non-graded space, and the buildings are all open to the air with porta-johns providing the facilities, but yet they are permanent structures, and the festival is now in its 20th year.
The crowd is an interesting mix. There are the standard parents-with-kids families out for a day of face painting and low-tech carnival rides, then there are the Society For Creative Anachronism types, the "healing crystals" and New Age crowd and the Celts and fairies crowd. One comic storyteller commented that there was a lot of crossover with engineering and science-fiction fandom types (and indeed SCA is strongly correlated with SF fandom..) such that he could tell Rene Descartes jokes ("Rene Descartes walks into a bar. The bartender asks him if he wants a beer. 'I think not', says Descartes and vanishes..")
The show people were great. Everyone had a line of patter to draw in a crowd (the fire eater: "I'm not that good. Come watch me, I might hurt myself!"), and kept up rapid fire comedy bits while swallowing swords ("You can only swallow a sharp sword once!"), walking the tightrope, abusing the peasants or juggling.
It was also a "something for all ages" event. As I mentioned there were plenty of kid friendly activities, but there was also a bit of a bawdy side for the grownups at events labeled LC ("loose cannon").
Here's a few videos.
From the sublime:
To the freaky:
To the dangerous:
To the NSFW:
And the even less SFW:
The Fair runs weekends through the rest of November.
Lots more after the jump.
She turned me into a newt!
And finally, Renaissance Fests have a certain reputation, and *yes*, it must be admitted, that if you've got 'em, this is the place to put 'em on a shelf and open the skylight:
5 Responses to 'Carolina Renaissance Festival, Huntersville North Carolina: 2 & 3 November 2013'
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tonkatoy
13 Nov 13 at 7:46 am
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I LOVE the Renaissance Festival! If you've never been, it's an experience. A perfect day trip. A couple of my encounters - A guy carrying around a tray of pecans, almonds, peanuts, etc. He asked me if i'd like to "sample the kings nuts?" LOL! Another time, a guy dressed up holding a treasure chest asked me "would you like to see my big chest?". Ok, so I have a quirky sense of humor.
Beth
13 Nov 13 at 4:40 pm
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The Renaissance fair in NC is always great fun! A bawdy or at least a not easily offended sense of humor is a must, though! Missed it for the last 2 years unfortunately. I believe this weekend is the last weekend this year. :o(
Becky
15 Nov 13 at 10:06 am
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Actually - there is one more weekend, thanks to Thanksgiving being so late this year. The last weekend for the Carolina Renaissance Festival is 11/23 and 11/24! Come join us!!
Joy
18 Nov 13 at 1:40 pm
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We went for the first time about three years ago. We now make it an annual trek, but take plenty of money as the food vendors only take cash. Also, the catapult, do not think it is for the faint of heart. That thing scared the bejeezus out of me. You can even dress in character to go which is really a hoot. The fairy secrets candles are wonderful and last a long time.
Miz T
19 Nov 13 at 9:18 am
LOL at the kid's reaction to the pirate chick holding up the blackboard.
The boneshaker/scooter mashup was kinda cool, and who doesn't like vixens with heaving bosoms and bodices ripped asunder?