Today (5/18), Joe and I went to the Ren Faire. The Ren Faire is always a good time. Everyone dresses up in costumes and talks in a medieval accent. People wear costumes of all varieties, from knights to wizards, faeries, steam punks, princesses, gypsies, etc. Specialty stores, food and arcade games line the walkway all along the fairgrounds. It can get expensive to go. It's about $25-$30 to enter (you can get discount tickets at Walgreens), $10 to park, $7 per item of food and about $5 per arcade game. The arcade games include archery, knife throwing, axe throwing, javelin throwing, rock climbing, fencing, dunk the fool, turtle racing, darts, ect. There are tons of shows going on at all times which include, comedy shows, belly dancing, irish and scottish dancing, acrobatics, juggling and a knight's joust. They also have demonstrations like glass blowing and sword fighting. They have parades throughout the day where you can see the queen and her procession. Most of the items for sale are very pricey like costumes, leather corsets and masks, handmade crowns, flasks and jewelry, leather-bound journals, weapons, etc. Nice to look at but not really stuff I would buy. Though I really want to get steam punk outfit even though I'd have no real occasion to wear it. They serve beer and Joe and I usually enjoy the fair food while there. I like the meat pies and Joe likes the pulled pork sandwich and fresh cut loaded potato chips. I've had a turkey leg there before but it was a little bland and too much meat for me to finish. You really just walk around and enjoy all the shows and costumes. It's a really fun experience and definitely worth checking out.
The first time I ever went to the Ren Faire was in 2012. I wanted to dress up but all the costumes online looked cheap and tacky. My friend suggested that I buy some fabric and a pattern and she would make me a dress. We went to Jo-Ann Fabric together. She showed me the pattern book for me to pick out a dress pattern. I picked McCall's Costumes, Misses' Victorian Costume-6-7-10-12 pattern. Item #13212774. It's actually two pieces, a top and skirt but put together they look like a dress. The pattern included a bustle in the back but we opted not make it. Then I toured the store looking for fabric. I found a green fabric with black print on it on the clearance rack which I thought would work perfect for the front panel. Then I got a cheaper fabric in purple for the main dress. I selected a gold trim and gold thread. The pattern, fabric and trim all ended up costing around $80 dollars. And then a couple weeks later I had a Ren Faire dress. I've actually worn this dress four times now. I go to the Ren Faire once a year (three times now) and I wore it for my friend's 2012 Halloween party. I thought it was cool that I could tell everyone at her party that she had made my costume herself.
The dress is getting pretty worn now. The first time I wore it, I ripped one of the sleeves doing archery and I had torn some of the trim on the collar. My friend patched it up for me no problem though. I'm going to wear this costume to the Ren Faire every year until it really just falls apart but I'm actually not sure how many more uses I can get out of it. Though every time I go I get a ton of compliments on my dress.
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