A Celtic Christmas

I’d never been to a Renaissance festival before. Why not try the one here in Texas?

There’s a saying that people are more likely to stop at the last-chance gas station. In other words, if there are plenty of gas stations, they’ll run until they’re on fumes… but if there’s a sign saying, “Last gas for X miles!” they’ll pull over to top up, even if they have half a tank left. No one wants to miss their last chance. When I was looking at Houston’s holiday event calendar and saw that Sunday was my last chance to attend the Texas Renaissance Festival, I felt that same effect – who wants to miss out on something like the Texas state ren faire?

This was my first festival, which is strange for someone like me – someone with a bent toward the fantastical and whimsical, who read all the wrong sorts of books as a kid and never really has both feet on the ground, who wears strange costumes in public for fun even when no one else is doing it. This visit to the faire was long, long overdue.

Traveling light like I do, I wasn’t able to get up a costume, and I’m honestly too cheap to buy one ready-made. But someday I want to go to another Renaissance festival with a full costume and a few tricks up my sleeve, like the forest fairy I found blowing giant soap bubbles to amuse the kids. Not for money, just for fun. That’ll be me.

I did, however, purchase and wear a beautiful green leather eye-patch from this store. It was a beautiful art concept but a little too serious for my cheerful mood, as the pictures show.

Here we have the ideal…

…and here we have the real.

Props to this patient big equine, whose nose must have been patted ten million times today.

Large crowds gathered to cheer on the acts!

Smoke, dust, and incense mixed to create a fog that hung over the entire festival.

A Renaissance festival is the last place you want to go if you’re offended by people’s clothing choices. This gigantic man was guarding the entrance to the mens’ room like it was Eden. I’d be a little worried about entering, myself.