The Greater St. Louis Renaissance Faire is in its 14th year and is looking forward to turning 15. Photographer Tom Nagel tried to capture the feeling of the Faire in an abstract way — more than costumes but as an experience. People there are proud to be in costume and character — whether they are kings, knights, gypsies, or elves. It's more than a costume party. The word “family” comes up often in conversation.
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Villagers meet in the woods of the temporary village of Petit Lyon in Rotary Park in Wentzville at the 14th Annual St. Louis Renaissance Faire. The Faire has nearly 300 volunteers who dress in period costumes and rarely break character as well as more than 80 activities, vendors, food sellers, pubs, animal rides and exhibits.
“Did you come to see the weird thing?” asks magician Richard Nakata, of Denver, as he welcomes visitors to his and friend Mike’s the Wizard’s Museum of Unnatural History. A tour of the Museum of Unnatural History cost $1.
A real Egyptian mummy’s hand is one “weird thing” in the Museum of Unnatural History. Another is a “real shrunken head from the Peru”. Nakata educated visitors on Victorian mummy unwrapping parties where hosts hoped to find jewels and gold wrapped in with corpses. The parties were more about showing off purchasing power, rather than buyers expecting to find treasure.
Sir Duncan (right), played by Preston Murchison, nearly misses Sir Malcolm (left), played by Danny Foss, in a jousting contest on the Field of Honour. Jousting contests as well as sword fighting were spectacles held throughout the day. In the jousts Sir Duncan represented Petit Lyon while Sir Malcolm represented a visiting knight.
Sir Malcolm makes contact with Sir Duncan’s shield. Sir Duncan described the process of preparing for the joust, “You got to learn to ride horse – well. Then, learn the combat. Then, you really have to learn to trust your fellow knight.”
After the “Joust to the Death” ended as a draw, two squires watch as the arms marshal asks the king whether the knights may settle their quarrel with hand to hand combat. The squires were not actors but trained horse handlers.
Sir Duncan takes a victory lap after a winning round of jousting. However, after Sir Malcolm insulted Sir Duncan, Sir Duncan accused Sir Malcolm of violating the code of chivalry. To boos from the crowd, Malcolm replied, “I apologize my king, but in my country there can be no victory without bloodshed!” The king, thus, allowed the feud to be settled with a “joust to the death.”
Sir Duncan blocks the axe of Sir Malcolm. “Can this dispute be solved without bloodshed?” the king asked earlier.
Sir Malcolm falls after being stabbed through the chest by Sir Duncan. Foss became a jouster seven years ago. He started as a horse trainer at a Noble Cause Productions, which puts on the show. When he had to fill in one day, the jousting came naturally, Murchison said.
Sir Duncan rests after slaying Sir Malcolm. Murchison joined Nobel Cause Productions with a background in theater. “But I wanted to prove to myself that I could. It’s not all the horse, there’s a lot of physical work for the rider,” he said of training for jousting shows.
Sir Malcolm, slain, is carried off the Field of Honor.
The audience reacts to Sir Malcolm’s bloody demise. “Your Majesty, Sir Malcolm lies dead upon your field,” the arms marshal called, declaring Sir Duncan the victor of the match and chivalry restored.
“All weapons must be peace tied,” means that swords, spears and daggers must be tied so that they cannot be unsheathed. Though action on the Field of Honour is intense, the Faire itself is also a shopping bazaar, costume party, and history lesson for all ages. The Faire is on weekends and Memorial Day through June 10.
Jerad Wolk of St. Genevieve, Mo., contemplates a move against Paul Boyer of Petit Lyon, played by Dennis Hourcade of St. Louis, in a Scottish versus French oversized chess match. The chess pieces and other decorated boards were on loan from the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis where Hourcade is a member.
Charles Dufrey of Petit Lyon, played by Justin Panner of St. Louis, a master carpenter, passes a hammer to his apprentice Javier, an orphan. Panner has been working on his demonstration wood workshop for six years at the St. Louis Renaissance Faire to, “teach history and, most of all, to have fun. Where else can we do this?”
Alexander Eisner, played by Dakota Potter of Overland, stands guard with a 12 foot pike while the king addresses the crowd. Potter played a German blacksmith who enlisted as a soldier for the king. On a scale of one to ten with ten being the most deadly Potter described himself as “solo, not too dangerous but in a group – I’m a seven out of ten.” This is Potter’s first year volunteering at the Faire.
After the bloody jousting match, Brothery Skippy of the Church of Holy Moe Lee, the name of the puppet right, provides comic relief at the Jacques Carlier Stage and Pub. Here, Holy Moe Lee performs an “Act of Collision”. “What’s an act of collision?” he asked. “Did you hear how my last joke just crashed?”
Jonas L. Nightingale, a pirate ship’s chaplain, enjoys a pint at the Jacques Carlier Stage and Pub. “A pirate chaplain is always clocked in,” Nightingale said. “They would give a blessing before a battle … and fight as hard as anyone else.” Cider, mead, beer, wine and mixed drinks can be purchased at the Renaissance Faire’s several pubs for $4 each. This pub benefitted the Knights of Columbus of Wentzville.
In the afternoon heat, Cardinal DeGuisse, or Thomas Gambino of Chesterfield, fans himself while watching the “Joust to the Death” in the royal court’s box at the Field of Honour. Unlike most renaissance fairs, which are English themed, the St. Louis Renaissance Faire is French. “We have Scotts, Germans, gypsies and fairies,” Gambino said. “But we are French and it is more regal.” Gambino has played the Cardinal for 12 years.
Theonya, played by Synthya Michles of Columbia, Mo., gives the King, Ted Jander, lessons in ax throwing at a game booth at Petit Lyon. “It is something the pirate captain taught me,” Michles said about her trade. Though, the King won the ax-throwing contest, even he must bow to the Holy Roman Emperor, who will make a special appearance on June 10, the last day of the Faire.
If you go
Where: Rotary Park, 2577 W. Meyer Road, near Wentzville.
When: May 25-27, June 2-3 and June 9-10 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. — rain or shine.
How much: $14.95 for adults, $7.95 for children 6-13, free for children 5 and under.
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