Hearken to the sounds, attend the smells that mingle with the blossom-scented breeze! A peddler's cries, a wench's calls, a clash of swords and shields, the laughter of the fairies in the trees, and succulent roasts, and strange perfumes -- what magic brings these wonders to our woods?
For one weekend, May 5-6, modern time-travelers can transport themselves from soulless strip malls and cynical video games to the mythic realm of Camelot and Sherwood Forest, as Asheville's first Mountain Renaissance Adventure Faire materializes on the misty sward of the Asheville School.
Nearly three dozen nonprofit organizations have worked for two years to bring this culturally diverse re-creation of an English Renaissance village into being and to fill it brimful with period craft shops, food vendors, assorted games of skill, and continuous live entertainment, both on the stage and in the street. Actors, jugglers, jesters, magicians, dancers, musicians and a variety of hilarious street characters will be spread across seven enchanted realms.
The family-oriented festivities will include a live human chessboard, an authentic Viking raid, and a climactic Tournament of Champions pitting Robin Hood, Joan of Arc, King Arthur and other heroes and heroines of legend and history -- magically summoned to modern times by Merlin to restore chivalry, wisdom and folklore to a disenchanted age -- against the Black Knight, the Sheriff of Nottingham, Mordred and other villains summoned against them by Merlin's arch-enemy, Niniane.
Ever since the first Renaissance Faire was held in (where else?) 1960s California, such events have mushroomed across the U.S., fertilized both by the revival of folk art and handcrafts and by Americans' quest for fantasy in an overrationalistic world. (I should know; I spent my high-school summers escaping from my sterile Silicon Valley suburb to the dusty, lusty pageantry of Elizabethan England, as brought back to life at the local Harvest Faire.)
Given the lively renaissance of arts and crafts we are experiencing here in 21st-century Western North Carolina, it's little wonder that when Executive Director Jan Love (founder of the nonprofit North Carolina Renaissance Faire in Raleigh) proposed an Asheville RenFaire shortly after she moved here two years ago, local artists, crafters and actors enthusiastically embraced the idea.
"All the entertainment is volunteer -- people want this to happen so badly," says Publicity Director Linda Winslow of the Costume Shoppe, which is outfitting many characters for free. Among the Faire's thespians are members of the Montford Park Players, Asheville Community Theatre and the Asheville Puppetry Alliance.
But the need to find creative ways to battle the mundane reality of budget cutbacks is a major reason so many Buncombe County nonprofit organizations -- such as the Eliada Home for Children, Manna Food Bank, Project STEAM and others -- have joined Merlin's quest. In contrast to the all-too-commercial orientation of many RenFaires, Love's mission from the start has been to give "a nonprofit venue to nonprofit groups in WNC to raise money." A recent $25,000 grant from the Janirve Foundation "couldn't have come at a better time, with the recent news of ... budget cuts to many charities," Love says. Every ducat, crown and florin spent at the fair's game booths will help fund participating charities.
"We're hoping [the event] gets bigger and bigger each year," puts in Winslow. Already, more than 50 vendors of medieval and Renaissance arts and crafts have offered their wares this year.
Fairgoers will be able to explore seven different Entertainment Realms, spread across the leafy terrain of the Asheville School campus.
In Camelot, where King Arthur and the beautiful Guinevere hold court, visitors can try their skill at game booths like Vegetable Vengeance, Jack and the Giant, Dunk the Monk, and other such tomfoolery.
Sherwood Forest re-creates a medieval village, complete with crafters demonstrating their skills. You can lend your ear to a roving minstrel, test your marksmanship with the bow, take part in an ax-throwing competition -- or learn the secrets of the trees. Robin Hood, Maid Marian and their band of merry outlaws will provide live entertainment (they'll also appear in the play Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood, to be shown at Diana Wortham Theatre May 10, 11 and 13 and to Asheville City Schools' sixth graders May 1 and 2).
In The Viking Village, Viking raiders will storm a hapless Saxon's livestock-filled barn. Members of the local Canton of Hawkwood, part of the Society for Creative Anachronism, will perform this re-enactment, titled "Golden Moon," sporting period armor and weaponry. The village will also feature educational booths on Norse lore and medieval crafts, with a leather-working demonstration, hair braiding, a weaponry display and more.
Mary Queen of Scots reigns supreme in the Scottish Highlands with her steadfast champion and ancestor, William Wallace. Here you can listen to the haunting skirl of bagpipes, join in Highland games and dances (don't forget your kilt!), or play that new game everyone is talking about -- golf.
The many cultures of our region celebrate their unity and diversity in the Olde World Bazaar. Take in an intoxicating fusion of Middle Eastern belly dancing, Egyptian sword fighting, African-American art and a sumptuous hoard of international merchandise.
In the Storyteller's Grove, a delightful band of bards from the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tenn., will spin tales of adventure and bring to life characters from long ago and far away.
Linking the other six Realms of the Faire is the enchanted Fantasy Fairway, a corridor of merriment and jesting in the spirit of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Expect to encounter mischievous elves and other fanciful creatures as you walk through this magical pathway. One such sprite, Holly Winslow, warns: "Good fairies and bad fairies will be hiding behind trees."
The Mountain Renaissance Adventure Faire runs Saturday, May 5 and Sunday, May 6 at the Asheville School, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. both days. Admission is $6/adults, $4/children. The Asheville School is on Smokey Park Highway/Patton Ave. in West Asheville (just past the DMV office). For more information, call 251-9171 or visit www.rennfaire.org.
Wouldst thou speak in a manner befitting the Renaissance Faire? Then hearken well to these Elizabethan phrases: