Ironwood Renaissance Faire

[Nick]

This weekend was the Ironwood Renaissance Faire in Ironwood, MI (right on the MI/WI border). The Scottish dance group I'm with, which includes me as the blacksmith, Dan as the bladesmith, and is part of a Scottish encampment went. We did several dances three times a day, and I was at the forge the rest of the time. We're a small group, but we keep improving our encampment, we're not at living history level yet but we keep working on our presentation.

Here's a shot of our group.


The canopy for our group and Deb. We cook all our own food on site.


Dan, the bladesmith, at his booth, next to the group tent.


Me and my booth, to the other side of the group tent.


Me and my Lady


Country dancing. We do a few dances as a group, then we go out and get people out of the audience and teach them dances.


Stilts and kilts. The jester off to the side is none other than our very own Sorcererdale!


Me and Dale (sans stilts!)


It was a pretty good weekend, rained hard during the nights and was nice during the day. Got rather sunburned! Did some good business, as well. It was a three hour drive one way, and Cassie and I didn't leave until late on Sunday because I wanted to stay and help Deb and Dan break down their stuff (my setup was quicker to come down, and the others in the group had headed out a bit before). They were staying at the campground an extra night, but we needed to get home.

One of the things we stress is keeping your character. Dan and I have the best accents, and we make our booths into little shows, with bits we do, jokes, stories, and generally engage the crowd. Before the faire even started I had three of the vendors convinced I was a Scot, and by the end of the faire most of the players and lots of the fairegoers were convinced. There was one lady from London who I'm not sure if she believed me or not, but if she didn't she didn't say anything. There was one older lady from Leicester who was convinced. Experiance on stage certainly helps with not dropping character!

Cheers,
Nick