Sunday, May 11th- Mother’s Day at Scarbrough Faire
We slept in some Sunday morning altho’ we had decided to leave for Scarbrough Faire about 9ish. We had breakfast left overs (fruit, sausage, coffee cake, etc) and generally celebrated Mother’s Day w/ fun gifts and musical cards.
We all dressed for the day to turn HOT about 10 or 11 am - sunblock, hats etc. We got to the Faire about 10:30 and the parking was really easy--not crowded and we were able to park fairly close to the entrance. For those who don’t know---Scarbrough Faire is near Waxahatchie, Tx and is open 6 or 7 weekends in the Spring. It has a Medieval theme and all the shops, shows, food and rides are supposedly what a person might have bought, done, seen, eaten, etc in Medieval Europe---altho there were belly dancers and I think they originated much farther east. Anyway King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn were there with their retinue.
All the workers were in costume, but it was difficult to tell who worked there and who was a customer because lots and lots and lots of other folks were in costume. Some were very elegant and authentic down to the belts from which hung the wearer’s tankard, dish, and eating knife.
Others were obviously homemade - put together from this and that which was found in the closet at home. Then there were the others who wore a part of an authentic costume, but not all. For example, I remember one woman (not thin) who was wearing a stomacher (corset like thing- of the period) and shorts. Many of the women wearing the stomacher (pulled so tight I wondered how they could breathe) were over-flowing the top of their garment. The whole point of this garment back then was to flatten the female form, not to have it oozing out the top.
I suppose my favorite costume (other than the royals) was the pirate lady wearing high heeled boots which came to the top of her legs, black tights, w/ black shorts , a very lacy full white “pirate style” shirtl, lots of jewelry and a black “pirate” style hat w/ a red feather--I’m trying to think--I believe she had a sword as well.. I stopped at more than one shop asking about some of the costimes that were for sale. One I particularly liked was a “royal” type outfit for $495--and the clerk ,in costume, told me that price did not include the under chemise and hoop skirt. N and I admired a lovely cape trimmed in velvet w/ gold embroidery around the edge--actually it was a 2 piece outfit w/ a velvet dress under the cape--the price was $875.
A dress of chain mail, anyone? Didn't check out these prices, but felt it and it was HEAVY!
You will be disappointed to know that I did not buy a costume. I’ll bet over half the visitors were in some sort of costume.
We watched an interesting show w/ a person dressed all in black, but with a gold birdlike mask who played a musical instrument. He sat at the instrument and pressed (not keys, but) levers. Each lever was connected to a large bell (think bell choir here, but much much larger). A sort of medieval carillon. There was taped accompaniment to the performance but the musician’s demeanor and posturing made it really unusual.
We looked in leather shops, pottery shops, wooden tankard shops. They sold candles, incense, wooden weapons, clothing, hand made books, whiskey making kits, and hats of all kinds. We saw a glass melting artist,
a stone carver, belly dancers, commedians, bag pipe players and sword fighting.
The “rides” at this place were very low tech. Put folks in a round boat-like vessel connected to ropes, two very strong men push it around and around a kind of “Maypole” until the ropes are twined around the pole and then they let go (and needless to say- pushers must get out of the way FAST). Another “ride” was to get on a wooden “charger” with a lance attached at the top of a tall “slide”, the workers would push you -the horse swooshed down the slide and then your ride was over. Another activity which was obviously not authentic was a person jumping on a trampoline with the jumper tethered between two bungee cords. We watched a boy about 10-12 years old having a ball. But still very low tech--no electronics here.
By the way, the weather was delightfully cool--almost cold. At times I wished for a swater.
We finally decided we needed to try food “on a stick”. Really too many options to choose from, but our group ate crab cakes (not on a stick) and “steak on a stake”. Nki had fried macaroni and cheese, YEP, ON A STICK. Other options were “Fryed cheese” Royal Spud, Fryed Pickle, and the obvious turkey leg. We discussed fried ice cream, but didn’tindulge There were many, many, many more kinds of available food, but that s all I remember right now.- and I didn’t take notes. Before leaving, I decided to buy two hand made pottery mugs to replace two of ours that are cracked. I had looked and had found everything from $50 each to $16 each. There was a really clever set of 4 w/ a stand for $48. Got my purchases, and just as we were leaving that shop, we heard a parade coming. There were people carrying banners for each shop in the park, and many of the entertainers were in the parade. There was a group of Musketeers with the appropriate swords, capes and hats. (I have a thing for capes) We saw belly dancers, royals, clerics (one lady in a wheelchair in a medieval nun’s costume continued to call out
“ Have a blessed Pentecost” As the parade wound down --they actually had a person, in costume at the end of the parade saying “The parade is now over”---we headed for the “privies” before going to the car and ending a really special Mother’s day celebration.
We arrived in Arlington about 2:30 and loaded our stuff into Sara and headed out for Bwd. Very uneventful trip, didn’t even need Sara’s help to find our way home.
A WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL WEEKEND!
