Tuesday, October 19, 2004 - What a Wonderful Festival Season!
Posted by QueenCate
Wow! After the Iowa Renaissance Festival over Labor Day weekend, the days swiftly passed to the end of September and then the beginning of October, taking us through our next two festivals, the Nebraska Renaissance Faire and the Des Moines Renaissance Faire. Both of these festivals were special in their own ways.
We "reigned" without our King Philip in Ashland, Nebraska but were wonderfully escorted by the Queen's near cousin, Lord William Sydney, the Duke of Somerset. Princess Margaret was her own irrascible self and was attended by a lovely new Lady in Waiting, Lady Rosalind Throckmorton, younger sister of Lady Alice Randolph. The rest of our riding court romped and played to their heart's content. The weather was a bit warm, but we greatly enjoyed ourselves. We found the merchants to be extremely friendly and were much amused by the wenches guild.
For the second Des Moines Renaissance faire of 2004, we were rejoined by the King. The weather was the most perfect of the entire season, a fitting way to finish our year.
In Des Moines, due to popular demand, we offered our "Royal Guards Weaponry" demonstration and allowed the public to "Meet the Royal Hounds" two times each day. Our thanks to the Queen's Equestrians, for allowing us to do Sunday's Opening Gate show mounted elegantly on horseback. We were happily reunited with our friends, Renaissance Sword Theater and enjoyed ourselves at Colan's Archery Range. Robin and Marion played with us as did the multitude of Pirates from the Pirate's Cove. Our thanks to everyone for their kindness!
Photos from Amana, Ashland and the October Des Moines faire will be posted in the next week or so. We will also shortly be offering souvenir buttons for sale on this website, "Hounded by the Royal Hounds" with the proceeds supporting our beautiful Irish Wolfhounds. So check back often!
