Since we are talking about other faires to go to later this season, I figured I would mention Santa Fe again. It's in its 2nd year, and will run September 19th and 20th just outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico, at a living history museum called "El Rancho De Las Golondrinas." I'll be there on "cast" and hopefully the rest of the CO crew that went down last year will be able to return. I know those who I have spoken to are planning on going. We had a lot of fun last year. It's about a 6-hour drive from Denver, so it's manageable even if you leave on a Friday afternoon.
It's a bit smaller than our faire (okay, a lot smaller) but it's interesting and has a lot to offer all the same. It takes place inside a living history museum and is kind of geared toward the Spanish influence of the area rather than the Elizabethan take we have. The SCA is there and they do full armored live steel combat and jousting. It's of course a smaller event than ours, but you can still make a grand day of it and have fun. Also, it's far cheaper than we are used to--imagine getting lunch for under $5...From a playtron point of view, I would suggest maybe going to the faire on Saturday and then touring around old town Santa Fe on Sunday, because that is a real treat. (The faire is about 20 minutes from old town.)
Anyway, here's the website for the faire itself, although it hasn't really been updated yet although the dates for this year are there. I expect that as we get closer it will get changed. http://www.pet-flash.com/sfrenfair/
And, here's a link to a few pictures of the event last year, including one of yours truly and our own Captain Spleen, in the act of making trouble (or getting in trouble, perhaps; we were "arrested" by the Queen shortly after this picture was taken...us naughty pirates had commandeered the costume contest): http://www.openhands.org/eventsauctionphotos.htm#renpics
AND, one last link, here's a review I wrote of the faire for FaireNews.com last year: http://www.fairenews.com/399/santa-fe-renaissance-festivals-succesful-first-year/
Anyway, just hoping to get some people interested in coming down. It's smaller but it's a lot of fun, and I think with a few more rennies attending we could really enjoy ourselves. The people are great.
If you have any questions let me know...
but..... will there be hamsters?
and...
is that THE Clan Tynker?
But but but the 19th is talk like a pirate day and not sure yet when they will do the pirate bash if i can i might try and drive down afterwards for a day.
Quote from: Hey- Arent You? on June 25, 2009, 01:14:33 PM
but..... will there be hamsters?
and...
is that THE Clan Tynker?
I will make certain that there are hamsters.
And yes, it is THE Clan Tynker! They're fabulous. :)
The Rancho de los Golondrinas is well worth a trip in and of itself. If you get a chance to buy some rolls out of the horno (adobe oven), do so and think of me. A bag of pinon nuts to nibble on is heaven on earth. My family comes from northern NM (among the original settlers in 1598). Another great place to visit is the colonial NM museum. And if you rent a car and make reservations, eat at the Rancho de Chimayo or stay the night at the B&B across the street, or both.
Quote from: Zoë on June 25, 2009, 03:03:05 PM
I will make certain that there are hamsters.
And yes, it is THE Clan Tynker! They're fabulous. :)
OK, you have my attention.
Quote from: Taffy Saltwater on June 25, 2009, 03:32:59 PM
The Rancho de los Golondrinas is well worth a trip in and of itself. If you get a chance to buy some rolls out of the horno (adobe oven), do so and think of me. A bag of pinon nuts to nibble on is heaven on earth. My family comes from northern NM (among the original settlers in 1598). Another great place to visit is the colonial NM museum. And if you rent a car and make reservations, eat at the Rancho de Chimayo or stay the night at the B&B across the street, or both.
There's also a place in Old Towne called The Ore House that has FABULOUS house salsa. We order some from them to be shipped to us over the year because it's so good. Their other food is good too.
And also, if anyone is interested in being a volunteer performer (i.e. "guest" cast) please let me know and I will get you in touch with the volunteer coordinator. She's a wonderful person and was very grateful for those of us who went down last year and I'm sure she would be ecstatic to have more people helping out.
I just spoke to the volunteer coordinator for Santa Fe, and she is not sure if the local pirates who attended the festival last year are going to be coming back this year. So it looks as though we are in need of a few swarthy pirates to fill in on guest cast. If anyone is interested please let me know, or shoot an email to Dara Fogel at dara.fogel@gmail.com. I really hope we can get some people from the CO faire to come down, as it's really a lot of fun and I think we'd all enjoy ourselves!
If and it's a HUGE IF Toki and I came, we'd be nobles and not pirates. Sorry but I'm a noble deep down with a bit O'Pyrate for my wild side
If I manage to go this year you will have to remember to un-strap me from the top of the car.
Quote from: Lady de Laney on July 16, 2009, 11:47:20 AM
If and it's a HUGE IF Toki and I came, we'd be nobles and not pirates. Sorry but I'm a noble deep down with a bit O'Pyrate for my wild side
That's fine too, there weren't that many nobles last year if I remember correctly, with the exception of the court and a few others. My parents are coming as nobles also, so you can be nobility with them. :)
The Baroness and I are planning to be there.
Let me also recommend drinks on the patio at the Shed and the flourless chocolate cake at La Choza.
Quote from: Baron on July 20, 2009, 10:04:57 PM
The Baroness and I are planning to be there.
Excellent!
I LIVE IN SANTA FE (hopefully) AND I WILL DEFINITELY BE THERE but I dont want to go by myself, IF SOMEONE IS GOING DONT GO WITHOUT ME.......gimie a call!!!!!!!!!!!!1
On no, just found this thread, and can't get there this year. Good luck and hope to see it next year.
My wife and I love Santa Fe, always stay at Las Palomas over on W San Francisco St, and we also liked Rancho de Chimayo. We would love to come out, bring the garb and play. After all, with my monastic habit, Brother Timothy would be right at home. Hope to see yo next year.
If you make it to Santa Fe this year, you will have the pleasure of meeting this curious little fae, her name is Fritzie and she was recently spotted on the Festival grounds. I think she's been scared off for the rest of the season though. I hear from a confident source that she will be migrating south for the faire there.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/dramatic_mizfit/1D.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/dramatic_mizfit/1H.jpg)
If it can be discovered what lout it was that scared off this lovely creature for the rest of the season, he or she should placed in the stocks until Santa Fe is over!
I swear i was no where near there with a huge butterfly net (hides said net behind his back)
A commercial for the Santa Fe renaissance festival I located, there's a few familiar faces in it...(If you can't locate us, stop it at 41 seconds in ;) )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xITeP6Dkg0k
Quote from: Zoë on August 04, 2009, 08:47:31 PM
A commercial for the Santa Fe renaissance festival I located, there's a few familiar faces in it...(If you can't locate us, stop it at 41 seconds in ;) )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xITeP6Dkg0k
nicely done, thanks for posting. It only increased the hope and desire to attend next year.
For those planning or contemplating a trip to the Santa Fe Festival: According the the weather guessers at weatherunderground.com, the average high for September 19 & 20 is 77 degrees, with a range of 60 to 88. Average rain chance is 20%.
Last year the weather was gorgeous. It was probably closer to 80+ though, and the first day it was a bit hot. It could have been 5 degrees cooler and be perfection. Nevertheless it's beautiful down there. Sun all day, not a cloud in the sky.
Zoe! Don't you know better than to tempt the weather gods this way, Lass??
Drat! That's right, what am I thinking....the weather was HORRIBLE down there, rained and thundered and hailed all day! Plus can't forget the tornado, golly that was a mess to clean up...
(Or does that make it worse? ;))
Hmm Pirate bash......Santa fe......Pirate bash......Santa fe.......Pirate bash a bunch of drunk pirates.....Santa fe a bunch of drunk nobles......damn this is to hard. ;D :o ::) ;)
We got pirates too ;)
If anyone is looking for a decent hotel in the Santa Fe area, I would suggest the La Quinta Inn; it's just off I-25 and is less than 10 minutes away from the faire site by car. You can book a room for less than $80 a night (cheaper if you have a military ID or an AARP membership); I was doing price comparisons and it's about the cheapest hotel in the vicinity. My family and I stayed there last year and it's really not too bad at all. Free breakfast. It is also *right* next door to an Applebees, where I was going to propose having a group dinner on Saturday night of the faire. It's not Chili's, but close enough!
But that is the night of the pirate bash at red and jerrys
Guess you will miss out on all the fun then ;)
Cost me less if i go to the pirate bash. Cost me even less if i skip everything.
"If anyone is looking for a decent hotel in the Santa Fe area, I would suggest the La Quinta Inn" quoth Zoe.
As a matter of fact, the Baroness and I have made reservations there. In addition, as of the last day of CRF, HRM Queen Anne, as well as Lord and Lady Montgomery, were planning to stay there as well.
We're looking very much forward to it, but probably aren't quite as excited as the fair Zoe since we have KC in the interim.
Looks like there will be one helluva Rennie party at that La Quinta!!
I have Maryland in the interim myself...but I am still looking forward to Santa Fe with great anticipation!
Quoth the fair Zoe: "Looks like there will be one helluva Rennie party at that La Quinta!!"
Yea, verily!
I expect full reports and many photos chronicling all the fun ... I shall be missing the festival once again this year. (Catching a dragon to Pittsburgh.)
I am hoping I will actually TAKE pictures this year. I didn't have my camera with me last year, and my mom failed to take photos herself, so I ended up combing google looking for pictures taken by other people. I will try my best to take what pictures I can while still in garb. Although, I will be a fairy after all...fairy with a fairy-box? Hmm...
Oh no a fairy with a fairy box that she has trapped megapixies in.
Quote from: Zoë on August 12, 2009, 11:21:39 AM
I am hoping I will actually TAKE pictures this year. I didn't have my camera with me last year, and my mom failed to take photos herself, so I ended up combing google looking for pictures taken by other people. I will try my best to take what pictures I can while still in garb. Although, I will be a fairy after all...fairy with a fairy-box? Hmm...
I would have taken pictures for you, but apparently repeated knocking on the roof of the car means nothing these days.
That was you making al that noise banging on the roof? Didn't you hear me I was strapped under the frame and screamed very loadly every time they hit a bump and squished me. Man, I'm never going to travel with Zoe again, leaving you strapped to the roof and me under the car. SHEESH Fairy Pirates I tell you.
Hey atleast she didn't strap you across the hood like a dead elk, think i ended up being medium well by the time we got there.
I got dibs on shotgun!!! ;D
I get the Blunderbuss and 12 pounder
Hmm i say we knock Demetrius off the the roof and mount a triple gun cannon
Sorry about the whole "falling asleep behind the wheel and hitting that tree" on the way there...hope it didn't jostle you guys around too much.
Quote from: Zoë on August 14, 2009, 02:24:38 PM
Sorry about the whole "falling asleep behind the wheel and hitting that tree" on the way there...hope it didn't jostle you guys around too much.
No problem- Sir Garath makes a nice bumper...
I'm fat enough to absorb the impact and not get a scratch on the car.
Prithee, would one of you lovely people who has attended the SFRF in the past be so kind as to describe it as best you can for us?
Ahem... ahem... the Baron didst ask thee a question. Anyone out there to answer him? ::)
I haven't been to the SFPF... but I have stayed at a beyond excellent condo/hotel place there. Fantastic Rates. I can get info for anyone who wants it.
Quote from: Baron on August 21, 2009, 03:45:43 PM
Prithee, would one of you lovely people who has attended the SFRF in the past be so kind as to describe it as best you can for us?
Good Baron,
Please go to the very first post in this thread by Zoe and click on her link to Fairenews. It will give you a good account of the faire.
It is small, but well run.
Young, and ambitious.
If you want to imbibe, you'll need do so in a Beer Garten. (enclosed area for alcohol purchased on the site)
Good energy.
Fun folk.
Good weekend adventure to a very cool city.
Ah, my foul. I definitely read that and decided to go back and answer...but never did...(convenient, as there's 2 people on this board who HAVE been to the faire!)
Anyhoo....
The faire is small and unlike our faire in many ways. First off, it takes place inside a living history museum -- El Rancho de Las Golondrinas, or House of the Swallows. It's made to look like an early 1800s Spanish-American villa, with costumed workers who give you a glimpse of what life would have been during that time. They have a working mill and blacksmith, and farmlands below the villa where they actually sow crops if I am not mistaken.
For the faire, there have been tents and areas set up by the ren faire vendors that intermingle with the shops and houses of the history museum. Right inside the gate is a lovely little garden area with a pond where I suspect Fritzie will be spending a lot of time. To your left is a stage, where last year was featured some madrigal/musician groups and a storyteller. To your right and in front of you is the shopping area full of vendor tents. If you continue on down the lane, you will come to the green where the bellydancers (the group was called Arabesque I think) perform in the morning shade, and beyond that is an open courtyard with a huge signpost that will direct you in every direction you may want to go. To your left is the kids' area, as well as the pirate bay (and this year, fairyland I believe) as well as a bit more shopping. Also down this direction is another stage where Clan Tynker performs as well as some more music and dancing. To your right is the food area and beer garden. If you keep going straight, you will first run into another stage with yellow and red banners overhead; that is where the bellydancers put on a show and it is also where the costume contest is held later on in the day. This is also where the Court sits during the morning. Continue down the lane past the stage, and you will be going downhill toward the fields, this is where the SCA village is kept. They do their jousting and live steel combat down there, and they also have their own displays of period housekeeping and the like. (My one complaint about last year was that the SCA was rather unwilling to mingle with the "lowly rennies" in the village above and kept mostly to themselves.)
Perhaps best of all, this faire is FLAT, with the exception of the short slope down to the SCA fields. There are lots of trees and great morning shade to be had. It got a little hot and dry in the later afternoon when the shade disappeared, but between the covered stages and the insides of a few shops as well as the eating area/beer garden, there is always a place to sit in the shade and have some water.
Food is also well priced, if not a little limited in selection. You could get a great chicken salad (the greens were grown on site) for under $5, although they did run out on the first day pretty early. (Remember that they had record numbers last year and were just not prepared for the rushes that they had.) There's not a lot of "rennie" food, although you can get turkey drumsticks if I recall correctly. All told you could spend around $6 for a whole meal, drink included. (I think bottles of water and cans of soda were only about $1.25.) Also a lot of the food was donated by the community and the Open Hands company that runs the faire, so there was home-baked bread and the like.
The jousting is pretty authentic. It's not choreographed or scripted like what Noble Cause does, but it does have that "real" authentic feel to it. (Also one of the jousters, a woman, rode an enormous, beautiful black horse that may or may not have been a Clydesdale. It was big enough.) They also do live steel combat in full armor which is also pretty cool. I have some videos up on YouTube if you'd like me to post them. I did miss a lot of the singular events and bands and whatnot that were going on because I was really busy running around doing the performer thing, but what I saw did make the entire day look pretty enjoyable. :)
Capt Spleen replied while I was writing! Fancy that. Yes, I did do a review of it last year. I can find the link for it if you need.
Thank you! You two are the bomb... or should I say cannonballs?
And also, I know I will probably get a chance to see everyone attending the faire the day of, but I want to plan for a Saturday night dinner at the Applebees on Los Cerillos Road with all of us if we can! I think that would be pretty fun.
I wish everyone on the boards could come. :( What an invasion we'd make!
Quote from: holierthanthou on August 28, 2009, 11:51:09 PM
Thank you! You two are the bomb... or should I say cannonballs?
Ye kin hold me cannon...... But don't touch me Brass Monkeyed bombin' bloomin' ballz!
Quote from: Capt Spleen on August 29, 2009, 12:30:01 AM
Quote from: holierthanthou on August 28, 2009, 11:51:09 PM
Thank you! You two are the bomb... or should I say cannonballs?
Ye kin hold me cannon...... But don't touch me Brass Monkeyed bombin' bloomin' ballz!
bluemen what?
Many, many thanks Fair Zoe for such a splendid description! With what you have posted here, we now have no need for a link to your prior review, which I apologize for not having found before making my request. SFRF sounds like great fun, and the Baroness and I are most anxious for the event.
Thank you again for your kindness in responding.
I shall be there.... look for me...
Any idea what you'll be wearing so it'll be easier to look out for you?
I'll be the fairy in purple...
So Zoe is my spot on the bumber still open?
Yes, but you have to bring your own bungee cords/rope/super glue!
Quote from: Zoë on August 31, 2009, 10:55:34 AM
Yes, but you have to bring your own bungee cords/rope/super glue!
Sir Garath has a Velcro suit with special bumper attachment...
That velcro suit was a secret.....
Well it beats the heck of being either Super Glued, or Gorilla glue to the vehicle like I was last year.
OH NAd Zoe you never told me you hade a 127HP motor... HP = Hamster Power. I saw them little buggers running so fast on their 6 cylinder wheels, it wore me out having to watch them.
Well aslong as Zoe dosn't put horns on me again this year. I looked like an elk on her bumper last year.
Let us refresh the count for next weekend in Saint Fe (as we anglos call it), shall we:
The Baroness and I will definitely be there, as will Lord and Lady Montgomery. The last I heard, our own Goode Queen Anne will also be in attendance. Assuming that Zoe recovers from her current bout of the plague, she will be there in her Fritzie guise. Finally, when last heard from, Francesca de la Calabreze planned to attend. By my count, that is, alas, only 7 CRF'ers.
Who else?
As we woud love, the cost is to much. Hotel, gas and food adds up.My fear is this years faire season is over for Toki and I :) Have fun
The Baroness and I will full well attempt to have enough fun for the four of us, LD. "Tis better you and Toki save your purse for now; 6/12/11 will be upon us in a thrice.
I'd be there no matter what!
But thankfully, I am feeling loads better. I was just doing some repair work on Fritzie's wings today as one of them had a hole ripped in it this summer. Getting all my other stuff packed up and ready to go, we leave on Friday.
Captain Spleen will also be there! In fact, if you go to the Santa Fe festival website and look up the entertainment schedule, you will find a slot at 3:00 for "Dungeon Spleen and Friends"...and that would be the two of us, we have a show for you all. :)
And although they are not on the boards, my parents and brother will also be there, and I think that our own Prince Edward will be there too.
Isn't PaigeOneAndBeyond also coming?
"... you will find a slot at 3:00 for "Dungeon Spleen and Friends."
Splendid! The Baroness and I will most certainly attend.
Excellent!
We need the Spleen & Zoe show at home too! ;)
Weather.com is calling for 69 degrees on Saturday and 74 degrees on Sunday with isolated thunderstorms both days. Without the rain, it sounds like those two days will be perfect!
Today's forecast is even better. 73 degrees and no rain on Sunday now! Woohoo! Still 69 and scattered storms on Saturday. Should be good!
Hmm what time do the gates open on sunday? I have monday and tuesday off wondering if its worth doing the buccaneer bash saturday night get up early drive down there for the faire than drive home that night hehehe.
10-6 both days.
Quote from: Zoë on August 30, 2009, 09:41:43 PM
Any idea what you'll be wearing so it'll be easier to look out for you?
I'll be the fairy in purple...
you probably won't see this... but I have no idea what I will be wearing... I will decide in the morning... I will definitely look for a purple fairy....
In short, this weekend was AWESOME. I will be writing up a review for FaireNews.com which will probably be up by the end of the weekend...in the meantime, here are a few pictures that I got off of my parents' camera. Once again I was unable to take any myself, but I know there's about a million of them floating around somewhere...
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/dramatic_mizfit/Renaissance%20Festival%202009/Steph_1.jpg)
Me and my folks. They had a grand time.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/dramatic_mizfit/Renaissance%20Festival%202009/Steph_Al_Michelle.jpg)
Glad to hear you had a good time! I hope to see the "Pirates of Parrot Tea" show someday with Spleen, Fritzie and that Spanish guy. ;)
I'm still coughing up green feathers...
More photos from Santa Fe. Enjoy.
http://www.pbase.com/annmurdy/renaissance_fair_2009&page=all