Carolina Renaissance Faire
November 7, 2021
A year and a half into the COVID-19 pandemic, and just after the delta wave passed, things started slowly opening up. After we got our boosters, we felt fairly secure in going out again, and we got a group together to brave the Renaissance Faire!
We saw the London Broil show again, as hilarious and impressive as it was the first time. I got a beautiful reclaimed copper wire necklace from Aeris Dea, and Brendan searched high and low for a warm cloak but came up empty. We ate bread bowls filled with soup and giant turkey legs, tasted a variety of meads, and did some shopping for Christmas before deciding the festival was getting too crowded for comfort and started to head home.
October 12, 2019
Approximately 10 hours after we successfully removed all the makeup from the Zombie Apocalypse, Brendan and I set off for Huntersville, NC (slightly north of Charlotte) for the Carolina Renaissance Festival! Our friends Kaitlyn and Ethan, and Kaitlyn’s sister Chrissy, joined us for the 2.5 hour drive, arriving just in time for the 10am opening ceremony.
Our first stop was Ye Olde Waffles & Crepes for breakfast, where I enjoyed a chocolate syrup and whipped cream waffle (very renaissance, I know) and Brendan had a cinnamon sugar crepe. A washing-well wench even hit on Brendan while we waited for our food!
The buildings and costumes we saw were adorable and all unique, from mermaids to knights to fairies. We caught the first show of the day from comedic juggling team, London Broil, amazed at their tricks and especially in awe of their finale — juggling fire!
Next we wandered to the very end of the mini-village, stopping to catch a mermaid show (with mermaids that were actually swimming in a tank) before we walked back to the Queen’s Court with enough time to grab a drink before the first jousting match of the day. Brendan opted for a Medieval Margarita while I warmed up with a cup of hot Chaucer’s mead.
We got great seats for the jousting match, right in the middle where the action would happen and in the Burning Sun’s territory as they challenged the Knights of the Silver Moon. First, one knight from each side dueled in a skills competition, spearing small targets and using lances to skewer ever-smaller rings. Our side won handily, but lost at the actual jousting by a single point.
Next up was the main event of the day, Brewfest! For $10 each, we got six tasting-sized glasses of beer with selections from Foothills Brewery and Redstone Meadery. The mead was definitely our favorite (even though I managed to knock one of Brendan’s samples all over his shirt while attempting to give Kaitlyn a high-five).
With most of us tipsy or verging on drunk, we watched one last show — a glassblowing demonstration that went over how to make a fish sculpture before finding breadbowls and giant turkey legs for lunch. We did some souvenir shopping (Ethan found a cool wooden/stainless steel tankard and Kaitlyn bought a beautiful dragon figurine) until we were safe to drive, and headed home, exhausted from a long weekend of awesome activities.