I went to the The Great Lakes Medieval Faire with Jackson, Molly, Wally, Crystal, and Ben.
In the morning, I met up with Jackson and drove over together with Molly. It was steampunk weekend, so Jackson and I were in our steampunk outfits, while Molly was wearing a hand made fairy costume.
We arrived before the park opened, and so we got to watch the opening ceremony, where the King of the faire welcomed everyone.
Molly found a group of other fairies, so they took a picture together. From there we wandered the forest venue, seeing the sights while waiting for Ben and Wally.
When we parked, the person that parked next to us was also wearing an aviator costume, and we had a moment of mutual respect. It turns out she was the owner of one of the stores, and so we took a picture together. I also took some cool pictures in her store.
Continuing on, we found where they were selling the glass bottles that allowed for cheap refills, so of course we all got one. They make a very satisfying thonk when you open them.
We then wandered around a bit more.
We took a break by the training field until Ben and Wally arrived.
They were teaching sword fighting, and one of the trainers came over to address us as coliseum onlookers. I declared that we were there for blood and violence, for which the trainer heartily approved. We have fun here.
After Ben, Wally, and Crystal arrived, we got some breakfast and then sat to watch a costume competition that Molly participated in. I gave the camera to Jackson to take some pictures
(She won)
Continuing onward with aimless wandering.
While taking pictures near a stall, the shopkeeper shouted "Cannon!? Don't shoot!" which I thought was very clever. (My camera is a Canon, see?)
Anyway, anyone up for some hillbilly Nagashi Somen?
Later I went back and bought the horn. It sounds so dumb, I love it.
There is a place called the "Fairy forest", and we stopped there to do a photo-shoot for Jackson and Molly.
There is a parade that runs through the park, and anyone in costume was allowed to participate, so Jackson, Molly and I all walked in it. While waiting for it to start, I found someone to take a group picture of all of us.
After the parade, we went to the archery area to do some archery and axe throwing. While waiting to meet up with Wally's group again, we washed a guy smash a watermelon with a hammer.
After, we did axe throwing, ninja star throwing, and archery. We were all not very good at it this time around, but I did get a bullseye during archery.
Next up was pirate alley!
We met up with Wally's group one last time to say good bye, as they were heading home. Wally also bought one of the dumb horns, so we had a little annoying duet that Ben took a video of.
Jackson took some stuff back to the car, so we sat and watched The Jackdaws in concert. They were really good, and the main guy was really funny.
We then went to get some dinner and watched a sword eater / contortionist which was pretty gross tbh.
Afterward we headed back to the concert stage where they were going to have a grand finale concert, where all of the musical groups gathered and played songs together, while the crowd was singing and dancing along. They also did a dance where a long line of people joined hands and ran around like a snake, trying to shake people off, which Molly and Jackson joined. I will definitely join next time.
At the end, they played a drinking song, while everyone went around clinking whatever drinking glass they had together in a toast.
It was honestly a magical experience, and really made this whole event feel like a community of people.
Oh also, I bought a Katana.
We had a grand old time.