Not So Renaissance Fare

We spent today at the Arizona Renaissance Festival, which has been happening each spring for the last 22 years. (Actually, our first trip to this festival was 16 years ago about a week before we eloped. Thus we always find it amusing, nostalgic, and a little romantic.)

Today's trip included several shows, activities, and (of course) shopping. What it did not include was eating at the festival. We resolved (after a couple of days of falling off the wagon) not to spend our money on the food. After all, it isn't really Renaissance fare at all. O.K., one stand sells the obligatory turkey leg we often associate with Henry VIII; however, not many average Janes and Joe's of the 1500's had ready access to chocolate covered strawberries, multiple flavors of frozen libations, gourmet sandwiches, stuffed baked potatoes, grilled Portobello mushrooms, cinnamon and sugar almonds, Hawaiian ices, pizza, French fries, chocolate covered frozen bananas rolled in crushed peanuts, or hot dogs on a stick. (Mind you, this is only a list of the food I readily remember. There were dozens of edibles for sale every 20 paces.) I'm guessing that normal people of the Renaissance era felt grateful for a crusty roll and a bowl of root vegetable soup with a pint of warm ale. (This reminds me of the Jimmy Buffet song "Cheeseburger in Paradise.")

To keep from blowing our budget on lunch, we packed a cooler of sandwich fixings, sodas, and chips. After watching a guy dressed in Three Musketeers clothing use a whip to put out a candle, attending The Ded Bob Show (a long-time favorite comedy act featuring a skeleton puppet that probably predates Achmed the Dead Terrorist by a decade), watching a family of musician/juggles, spending 20 minutes learning to play a bowed dulcimer, and some jewelry shopping, we had our hands stamped and headed to the car for lunch. The day had turned warm, but opening the doors and popping the top on the convertible relieved the heat. As we munched our various sandwiches (fruit pate and creamy vegetable filling left over from last week along with some deli roast beef and cheese), passed around black pepper potato chips, and sipped cold sodas, we planned the rest of the day's activities which ultimately included Zilch the Tory Steller doing a hilarious rendition of Jomeo and Ruliet, trying our hands at archery, visiting a palm reader, and attending a hypnotist's show where Jeff became one of the star attractions.

All in all, we had a great time (6.5 hours to be exact) at the festival and weren't even tempted to eat at the various booths because we had doled out spending money in advance and no one wanted to part with his or her cash for something so fleeting as a bite of frozen cheesecake. This is the second month in a row we have planned a lengthy family outing that included eating from a cooler. Not only are we no worse for the wear, but perhaps we're happier knowing we could have a snack from some vendor, yet choosing not to. In addition, this little project continues to unite us against the common enemy of wasting money and in unforeseen moments of laughter over shared picnics and canned sodas.