Renaissance Faire

The Renaissance Faire at Thanksgiving Point was a great event for our whole family.  The full-contact jousting matches were our favorite.  The pictures aren't that great, but if you look carefully, you can see the jousts snapping into pieces after they hit each other.

There were also sword dueling shows, puppet shows, birds of prey shows, magic shows, equestrian vaulting, theater, and archery.  The artisan villages had booths for medieval and Renaissance ware shopping, plus booths with various artisans demonstrating their craft.  Here are just a few of the ones we stopped at:

Demonstrating how musical instruments are made

The Blacksmith

A bodger demonstrating his lathe

"Johannes Gutenberg" demonstrating how his printing press changed the world

Ciera liked the booth with the fairy houses.  She wants to make one now.  They also had tables for kids to color pictures of fairies.

There was an array of dancers, period musical groups, and street performers throughout the fair.

That's Camden in the gray sweatshirt

She's playing a hurdy-gurdy

Camden and Ciera both liked making the unicorn puppet dance to the performer's music.

Camden's loved riding the unicorn down the zip-line.  He chose not to use the joust for hitting the shield at the bottom, though.  He just wanted to ride it.

It seems that almost every event at Electric Park at Thanksgiving Point has a train ride.  I know the train wasn't a part of the revival of intellectual and artistic achievements during the Renaissance era, but the kids were delighted to ride it.

After her nap, Ciera was spinning in circles on the deck wearing her Renaissance floral crown.  She also loves her soccer ball and frequently doesn't want to relinquish it for anything.