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Arizona Renaissance Festival 2015
10:39 PM
Every year, my family makes an annual trip to the Arizona Renaissance Festival just outside of Apache Junction. This place, in my opinion and the opinion of many friends, is known as one of my favorite places in this world. I really love the Renaissance Festival and the activities that take place there. I think, though, what makes the Ren Faire is the actors out there. There's something about the AZRF actors that makes the entire experience something that needs to be included in a person's bucketlist. They really are the heart of the festival—and if you go out there and interact with them, you come back with the most from the festival.
My boyfriend Jeremy ended up joining us for this annual trip to the AZRF this year. Being from California, and just 1-2 hours away from Buena Park, Jeremy's favorite place to go growing up was to Medieval Times for his birthday. So I thought he'd love the Renaissance Festival, being similar. But the thing about the Renaissance Festival is that it's a lot of interaction. You're in the middle of everything, compared to a spectator just being included like at Medieval Times. Although when I went to Medieval Times over winter break it was still freaking awesome! But anyway, I was right—Jeremy did, in fact, love the Ren Faire. He had a ton of fun, thought the costumes were awesome, and got teased a lot by some of the actors for having a "tiny man beard."
We were also able to enjoy some of the shows going on. We actually sat down for the full Ancient Art of Falconry, Adam "Crack" Winrich, and Cast in Bronze—which is a cool musical show that features an instrument called a Carillon. The puns were real in all these shows, and Jeremy doesn't exactly love puns too much so h was dying inside. He still found many of the shows hilarious and fun, though. We were also able to see some of Knotty Nauticals, Clan Tynker, and Ghazaal Bledi. We also saw the royals at court for a while and saw this new street act called Fireflicker the Dragon and Lady Prudence. Fireflicker's costume was freaking awesome—unfortunately I didn't get to take a picture because I never saw Fireflicker a second time during the day. The first time I saw him, Jeremy and I were so entranced we never thought to take a picture. Silly me was positive we'd at least see the new street act two more times that day.
Jeremy also got a taste of Ren Faire food. He tried the good 'ole turkey leg that is so well known out at the AZRF. We also ate bread bowls—me a bread bowl with stew and him with chili. My mom and brother had their favorite chicken and chips (which are french fries) during lunch. We also snacked on chocolate, sorbet frozen on top of an orange, and Italian ice cream (pictured to the right). Jeremy got a cookies and cream flavor for that and I got mango. I love everything and anything mango flavored...so I was in heaven.
As I mentioned before, the actors are what really make the experience out at the Renaissance Festival the most enjoyable. They give you a taste of the time period not just through their costume, but their way of speech and jokes, too. So I was saddened to learn that some of my favorite actors who I always interact with just weren't around. Prince Gregory wasn't working this year, and I couldn't find Prince Nicholas or Prince Philip anywhere on the grounds no matter where I looked. So there was, sadly, no pictures with them this year. Which is extremely disheartening since I have never once gotten a picture with Prince Nicholas—I have trouble every year finding him on the grounds, and when I do find him, my mom is conveniently never around to take a picture. Princess Constance is pregnant, so she wasn't around, either....nor was Marek. So many of the actors who recognize me just weren't there this year. Some of them were, though, and did recognize me, but didn't really talk all that much. I think it helps when you see a person every year a few times a year to talk to you more. That part of the festival this year was a bummer, because Jeremy missed out on actor interaction. But a lot of the actors got new costumes, and the colors were beautiful! So that was a plus.
Jeremy was also dragged to every jouse and he now knows why my family and I love Sir Maxmillian so much. He also knows why you have to go to every joust of the day—strange, hilarious things did happen there that Jeremy was cracking up at. Especially the last joust...the jokes there got pretty dirty, and poor Petite Sarah our Joust Bunny was becoming overwhelmed! She also threatened to throw some children into the rink, which Jeremy got a kick out of. Also I got a picture with Maxx, as well as a candid photo my mom took that I absolutely adore.
Also, my mom is one of Maxx's biggest fans and absolutely loves him—so I asked him to sign her shirt because she really wanted something signed but didn't have anything, and all she could think of was to ask for her shirt to be signed. On top of it though, she was too shy to ask on her own. But he did it for her and it was amazing!
So, all in all, even if my favorite actors weren't around, it was still an amazing time out at the 2015 Arizona Renaissance Festival. And Jeremy, who is new to the entire scene, had an amazing time. If any of you ever have a chance to head out to the Arizona Renaissance Festival, I definitely suggest it. Unfortunately there's only two weekends left, so readers may have to consider going next year. It normally starts in February and runs until the end of March. My family, when I lived in Phoenix and not Flagstaff, normally made 2-3 trips out per year. This is the latest trip we've ever taken. The weather ended up being perfect—there was a slight breeze to even out the eighty-eight degrees.
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