At school days we found the grounds crowded as usual, but instead of mostly adults and some younger kids, this time it was crowds of middle and high school kids, sprinkled with family groups. Early elementary age kids were almost always parts of homeschooled families, often with toddlers and strollers along.
There were still people in costume, but far fewer than normal. We dressed Sparkle and Glitter in their RenFest princess dresses, and I braided their hair into "crowns." However, Wander and I wore "time traveler" clothes ourselves. The booth outside the festival for renting costumes was closed. The sparsity of people in costume was both a plus and a minus. On the minus side, there weren't as many neat costumes to see to put one in a festive mood. On the plus side, the eyes weren't affronted by things you'd really rather not see (or prefer your children to not see).
Most of the regular shows, especially the more bawdy ones, were missing. Some of them were still on, and we enjoyed seeing some magnificent birds in "Birds of Prey." The show was especially neat for Sparkle and Glitter as Wander is reading them "My Side of the Mountain," and the main character has a falcon. However, most of the stages were given over to school choirs, bands, and theatre troupes for a performing arts festival / competition. Some of these groups are really good.
In addition to shows, there were the usual demonstrations. Sparkle got to be an assistant at one booth. She donned a printer's smock and hat and got to run the printing press. It was really neat seeing the mechanics of how it worked. This was Sparkle's favorite part of the faire.
One of Wanders favorite parts of the faire is the shops. However, for obvious reasons, no knives or blades were sold during school days. Indeed, shops that specialize in those things were completely closed, and other shops set up tables of wares that blocked access deeper into the stores. Pretty smart, considering that kids have curious hands but not much money to spend.
The part of the faire that attracted kids' money the most was the games and rides. Glitter's favorite part of the fair was riding the carousel. She knew just the animal she wanted to ride - the green frog with a purple coat.
Surprisingly, the one aspect of the faire guaranteed to take your money was actually much cheaper on school days: the food. There were fewer choices (no beer!) but turkey legs and other such staples were brought down to $4 each so that all the "main dishes" were the same price. Plus, we were allowed to bring in our own food, which meant that we could snack the girls at will without tracking down a roaming pretzel or popcorn vendor.
All in all, we had a marvelous time, and are looking forward to returning next year.
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