I'm actually heading to the Minnesota Faire this Saturday. The last time I was there was 1997. I was one of the musicians that wandered the streets, plopping down in a spot, and singing for the folks from 1995 to 1997.

Actually, when you see the musicians at a spot, they've been assigned there for a half hour (at least it was that way in 97).

I agree - it's street theatre - mainly for the fun of the patrons. For myself, I tried to protray my character reasonably accurately - even to the point of learning several pieces appropriate to the time period and using them a lot. To be honest, the language of the love songs I learned was VERY romantic, and newly married/newly engaged couples liked them a lot. Most of my songs were simple Irish folk songs that I learned from other singers. I interspersed these with Spanish, Swedish, German, and songs from other countries since my character was a traveler.

I had fun - but I never had the viewpoint that I was re-enacting history. I always felt that I was there to 1)have fun, 2)entertain the folks, and 3) let them pretend they were in Renaissance times.

To get back on topic, it was also while working here that I wore a kilt for the first time (halfway through my second year). I continued to wear my great kilt for the rest of the run and all through my third year there as well.