More Tales from the Faire

[fbhjr]

Friday we got to the site and realized we did not have the fire swords with us. Other than safety, that’s the only part of the fire show I do, so I was very sad about this.
The Sunday before at practice I told the troupe to bring me all the props from the garage where they were stored and I’d pack them in the car.
I packed everything they brought, but apparently the swords weren’t there.
And, me and Tom doing the fire sword fight was one of the images of us they used on the faire website showing what was going to happen at the show.
Friday night didn’t have a lot of paying customers. Most folks watching worked there one way or another.
So, when we finished without that I went up to the front.
“If you come back tomorrow we’ll have some fire tricks for you we didn’t do tonight and then Sunday we’ll add some more!” I said, so if anyone asked why we didn’t do it, I’d say we were holding it for the busier days.
The next morning we swung by storage and got the backup ones as I wasn’t making a 90 minute round trip to our practice site to get the others.

Saturday after the performer meeting in the restaurant, I saw the leader of the knight’s group that does this show who is also named Frank.
“I heard you have something special for your fire show tonight!” He said.
“I do?”
“That’s the rumor.”
“I don’t think so…”
“At your show last night you said you’d have something special today!”
“Oh, the fire swords! We didn’t do them last night and we will tonight.”
“See, something special.”
“Well, we didn’t do them last night because we forgot them, but sure, let’s go with something special.”
He had not been at that fire show Friday night.
So, folks had talked about our show.
Good thing I had a cover story. Even if I ruined it later by explaining the reason.

Saturday we used the “fake” fire swords that are just a metal tube with Kevlar over them like a sock.
Sunday we used the real fire swords that are swords with holes down the middle with Kevlar.
I do like the real ones better. They make a better sound. They swing better. It’s a better fight when we use them.
But, they’re fragile. We’ve broken 4 of the 6 we’ve had and these are the last ones. One of them is the original from 2002 that all the others were based on.
The two folks we know that have made them for us in the past have quit.
We’ve tried to find a new source, but without luck.
So, there is trepidation in using them as they could just break in two as the other 4 have done.
But, they didn’t and it was a good show.

Saturday as we finished our first show a man with his son stood at our safety rope.
“Can I do that?” the kid asked.
“Yes,” I said. “But, not right now.”
“When?”
“Federal law says you need to be 21 years old to do it,” I replied, holding my hand up at the level of his head. “I’d say that means about 11 or 12 years.”
“I’m 9!”
“Then, 12 more years it is.”
“Then why did you say I could do it?”
“This is our 25th year of doing shows. That’s more than double the time you need. It could well be we’re still here when you’re ready. You just have to be patient.”

Sunday as we were about to start our second show a man came up to the rope.
“Hi Frank, do you remember me?” He asked.
It was the safety guy from the battery company. The one who arranged the class I just got the card from after finding the pen.
He now works for the furniture company I used to work at 20 years ago.
Strange how things come around.

Also at that show Sunday were two folks I went to college with. The husband walked up to my wife and started talking with her. I had no idea who he was. She referred to him as Mark, and when he came and talked with me, he said his wife Sue was in the gift shop.
I sorted through decades of matching Marks and Sues before I got to them, but I did eventually remember them and was able to add appropriate questions to our talk.
The fact they live a 10 minute drive from us and I see them every few decades will tell you enough about our relationship.
Strange to see them at the show.

One of the issues at this faire is parking. From our stage to where we park is about 400 meters or 1/4 a mile. Each way. And, it’s over a hill. Not a big hill, but when you’re carrying equipment it doesn’t have to be big to be annoying.
You can go around the hill, but it’s longer and means walking along a narrow road, at night, without sidewalks or any place to go if there are cars. And, the cars on that road are not slow.
So, up hill both ways in the snow is very true in this case.

And, that’s better than the show they do on site in May. In that case the parking is in the next town and you have to take a shuttle bus over. We were allowed to drop off equipment and then move the car, but still.

A lot of folks had their dogs there. Some didn’t seem to mind the cold, but a few seemed to have a “why is my human doing this?” attitude about it. One dog looked at me when their humans stopped by the fire near our stage, then looked up at the human, back and me and sighed. I nodded and gave a shrug. It rolled its eyes and went and sat as close to the fire as its leash allowed. The human holding said leash missed all of this as they were chatting with another person.

I’m told another dog attacked someone in the heated restaurant part of the site. Someone else told me it was a fight between two dogs that someone got between. I did not hear anything official about it and hope all parties are OK.

The show timing issue Saturday happened when I went to use one of the three real bathrooms. I chose them because I tried to use one of the portajohns earlier in the day and there was so much ice on the floor I had trouble standing up to do what I needed to do. While this was not as disgusting as the hidden one, I still didn’t want to sit on that seat. So, balancing on ice was needed. I opted not to do that on the later trip as I was already tired.

Comments

[chris_warrior]

“Federal law says you need to be 21 years old to do it,” I replied, holding my hand up at the level of his head. “I’d say that means about 11 or 12 years.”
“I’m 9!”
“Then, 12 more years it is.”
“Then why did you say I could do it?”
“This is our 25th year of doing shows. That’s more than double the time you need. It could well be we’re still here when you’re ready. You just have to be patient.”

this is the coolest, sweetest, most hopeful thing i've read in a long time. thanks.

[threemeninaboat]

It looks much too cold for any dog that isn't a northern breed. Suzerainty has a double natural coat and a dog coat from Finland and I wouldn't bring her.