For years, our friends Debra and Eric have planted the seeds that Renaissance Festivals might be a great place for the bells to ring and prosper more resonantly.
Those seeds sprouted more than a year ago & Monica Street (Momo) and I focused on preparing for what we'd been told would be a huge success -- and to our surprise we got accepted for one of the only two guest booths for one of the nine weekends of one of the country's largest Ren Faires, in Maryland. We were preparing for a big adventure, as Stephen stepped actively into this project, helping to sponsor some of the costs, as well as his attentions & labor.
We've formed a cohesive family as the three of us pursue preparations for my immanent retirement. We've also engaged a longtime friend, Bill Monson, to help facilitate our process. This has become a well conceived, if rather more complicated, process to responsibly & legally move along my creative life's history & valuable potential.
It's a rare possibility for an artist to be able to leave behind a legacy into appreciative hands. I am truly blessed & truly grateful!
We recently traveled to Maryland and its magical Renaissance Festival... meeting Bill's long mentioned goal that the three of us would board the plane together, with a smiling sense of joy & love... So we did... ready in that Momo had made us ready! We'd already shipped three boxes with the less valuable bronze bells inventory, ahead for Debra & Eric to hold.
Days earlier Stephen & I gave her our empty carry-on bags in which to pack the more valuable silver stock, which would stay in our constant attention. Our other luggage was checked. We became a rolling caravan to the next bit of adventure... at security screening...
All that metal showing up dark on their x-ray screens had, as expected, flagged us to be inspected.
Fortunately, we got a very personable woman who clicked with Momo as they chatted though the process, so that things might not be messed up... so as to be easily repacked tightly to zip the lid closed... before going on to the next bag of our three. Momo was also carrying the Lithium battery for our point-of-sale, which TSA requires to be hand carried.
Fortunately we made it to our gate in time, grabbing three salads for lunch on the flight. Again, somehow we became acquainted with the crew, who knew us by the time we landed, when they bid goodbye to the bell makers as we lumbered off the plane.
Meeting Eric Heath as he picked us up, stashed our voluminous luggage & drove us to the home we would all share for the week, as their guests... an invaluable gift! One of the many more yet to come. Debra had dinner in the oven!
Next day, Momo woke in high gear. We'd gotten only a cursory introduction to their work spaces -- a clean one for Debra's feathers... a heavier-duty work space for Eric & his tools, an essential duo to keep holding all of this nearly-a-circus together.
As I woke to muffled human sounds Stephen appeared with a huge cup of foamy latte from Debra. I find myself surrounded in love. Which I need to trust as I learn to navigate the steep turn at the top of the staircase. Which I eventually do learn, even as I remained careful to hold artfully tightly to the railing. I became an acrobat in that act of our circus.
We gathered in their rec room to chat our plans & query logistics... we were in a totally new environment.
We do clean-up well... especially when we wear Dragon Wings hats!
We were weaving two families into a new troupe... a Renaissance gaggle getting ready to make a trek... over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to the fair. We made that trip many times - at around an hour each time, it comprises a lot of time for the five of us to get interestingly acquainted. We all are crafts-folk, with business at the Festival. We are recreating Chaucer in the real.
We three go shopping at Goodwill for furnishings needed for the blank canopy we've only seen in photos. We find two basic stools for sitting -- plus some fabric which will cover their complexion of a 1950's era kitchen. We bought a short folding table to become the point-of-sale tucked under a center display as we set-up our shop the next day.
Momo made a solo trip at dawn the next day, the car packed with tables, displays & many smaller details, leaving no space for anyone or other thing else! Across that high narrow bridge with a dizzy bend in the middle delivers one into rural land, rolling through occasionally wooded farm land... then, suddenly a tall sign identifying the Festival site. Which was only beginning to come alive in the playful juxtaposition of several centuries -- an archetype of fairs since culture's beginnings.
I can only begin to imagine how she might have felt upon arriving at the destination of the dream which has been driving her during this past year of intense preparation. Crossing a threshold of fantasy. I know it energized her, because she had not slept much at all for recent days. It took more days to convince her to stop & take care of herself. I remember my own younger times having periods of such driven intensity, & I appreciate their value. Now I am happy enough to sit quietly & celebrate her.
Eric drove us on a second trip to set the place up with tables holding the displays. We experimented with leaving three sides open to the hoped-for air circulation. Momo set-up the electronic point-of-sale (POS) to test the system, which happily worked. It was great to have such useful time to inform & test ourselves so we had added confidence.
We enjoyed a blue crab dinner which is traditional to the bay... a big bushel of them piled on the oil-cloth-covered dining table, around which we shelled-out nibbles from the shells, occasionally using wooden mallets to crack open the heavier claws. There were ears of corn alongside... We feasted locally!
On the morning of first festival day we hustled our familiar coffee & the car was piled high with more hats teetering securely describing the pervasive feeling of excited anticipation.
Handed our digital passes, an attendant opened the gate so we drove into the backside of the village to first deliver the hats into their shop. Then Eric continued driving us, to our very prominent location: in an active hub of several streets intersecting. Basically front & center!
The other guest pavilion, red to our blue, was within sight. We were a tiny neighborhood of new vendors additions... fresh assets for this faire's loyal community, which has evolved in a very palpable manner of true friendships over years of their playful fun, re-enlivening together an ancient time & culture.
As soon as we as a team began to pull back the flaps of the pavilion & were still sorting the bells onto the displays, suddenly the shop was full of other Festival workers clammering to choose their favorite bells. Many were already informed & educated by Eric's social media introductions. He proved to have been a very adept silent herald! Thank you!
Momo held sway during these active moments of confusion, still trying to get the point-of-sale up & running like yesterday's successful test. She began writing paper sales receipts, just to keep records until it became operational... these bell sales were about to deliver our best buzz by ringing live & lively... out into the public village!
I enjoyed being out in the bustling activity of the passing costumes & characters... while chatting about my work with the conceptual ideas of the bells' designs.
I relished being treated so well, so I presented Momo with one of the roses from a wandering vendor as a token gift of my appreciation.
Thus the Festival has that spine of the 15th century English history as a built-in storyline with annually evolving segments becoming the subtle ribs of an eventually repeating larger piece of historical theater. That kind of attention seems to be the basis of the long-time success of this faire. Its elaborate fantasies entice devotees from a large territory near our Nation's Capital... curating a loyally repeating cast of festival goers and makers.
A curious meeting was with a shirt identifying the guy as a "Bell Witch", whatever that might be... I didn't ask.
I enjoyed chatting with this comely young man who had made himself a finely riveted chain-mail vest... I've long nursed the dream of my own sterling chain-mail tee shirt, just to savor its heft & temperature. His torque, also of his creation, was yet another of his attractions.
Momo also appreciated his skill & elan...
Gabriel also became a friend; he is a performer, with amazing puppetry & spontaneous fun..
Momo was frequently taking advantage of the innumerable photo opportunities inside the parade of fine costumes & characters who passed along in full festive mode. We're all contributing to offer a gallery of some of the bits of colorful play in which we were saturated.
Here she is with the queen!
And I met so many beauties my head is still spinning...
