Ren Faire 2019

During the football game at Ridley last night, Grace texted me to say that some of her friends were going to the Renaissance Faire out toward Harrisburg the next day (today), and did I want to go? Being the needed mode of transportation, I said sure. Julia was interested in going as well, but Amp was busy with costumes for the play, so the three of us decided to drive out and meet up with her friends (and the parents that were taking the other group).

We had been to the Ren Faire once, quite a long time ago, but when I went through old blog entries to find exactly when that was, I was surprised. Turns out it was mid-September 2010. Grace would have been 6 and Julia would have been 12. Wow. We enjoyed it and had discussed going back at some point, but for whatever reason it never bubbled up to the "let's go" stage. But now it had.

It was much as I remembered it. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure if much of anything changed at all in 9 years. Ridiculous traffic getting off the Turnpike exit and to the venue, but efficient people keeping cars moving and into the fields that you park on. Lots of people in costume. "Period" merchandise to buy at generally steep prices. A wide variety of food options, none of them healthy. All sorts of venues of all different sizes for performers of all kinds.

We found the other group quickly, and spent some time as a larger group of a dozen or so before Grace and her friends wandered off, leaving me and Julia with the other parents. Which was fine. We watched several street performers before settling in to watch Circus Stella, a husband and wife team doing a circus acrobatics show. They were entertaining, and ended their show with some trained dogs doing tricks, which is always fun.

Circus Stella

We did some more wandering and some eating, and then settled in to watch Aaron Bonk do whip tricks and juggle swords and other sharp objects, adding fire for more fun. This was probably the most enjoyable part of the day, as he was extremely talented (holding several Guiness Book of World Records titles) and very funny. It drizzled a bit during this show, but that was the only tiny blemish on  an otherwise fun 4 or 5 hours.

Aaron Bonk - Whips, Fire and Swords

Grace had an interesting lunch: a Meat Sundae. This looked like an ice cream cone, but was made up of some sort of pastry/bread/roll cone, filled with a few tater tots on the bottom, then some sliced beef with gravy, then a scoop of mashed potatoes on the top. She pronounced it good.

Grace with a Meat Sundae

For comparison to the 15 year old Grace shown above, I found a picture of the 6 year old Grace from our last Ren Faire trip. It seems like just yesterday and at the same time a million years ago. Weird...

Grace at Ren Faire 2010 - Age 6

Julia had a good time with me and Grace had a good teenager time mostly without me. Hanging out with the other parents was fun, and we all agreed we should try to remember to go back again next year. With Mom next time...