Hundreds of lords, ladies, courtiers, commoners and other folk coifed in styles circa 1500 created a time warp over the weekend at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds.
It was the second year the 99 Renaissance Festival has come to the site. The festival raises money for local charities.
A royal court, a belly dancing troupe, tournaments where men dressed in armor whacked at each other with swords, a blacksmith shop, a theater troupe and many other scenes centered around various late-medieval style tents meant there was something for everyone.
Gordon A. Wincott of Stockton, leader of the Portcullis Players drama troupe, dressed as a commoner Sunday. Usually, Wincott admitted, he dresses as a noble. Different roles result in different Renaissance experiences, he said.
“As a noble, I can go up to a family that has children and say, ‘Are they for sale?’ ” Mike Foley, 50, of Manteca played the role of a lowly military engineer, and he even brought his own trebuchet, a medieval siege engine that uses a falling weight to spin an arm that can throw heavy objects over castle walls.
Foley did try to accommodate Halloween. “I can only throw half a pumpkin,” he said. “I don’t have a big enough sling.”
Organizers estimated that attendance might equal the 2,000 who who turned out for the two-day festival’s inaugural run last year.
David Jarred, manager of Drago Productions and founder of the 99 Renaissance Festival, said he might schedule the next festival at a different time of year to avoid conflicts with Halloween.
Source: Recordnet.com
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