Montana Shakespeare In the Parks & Renaissance Faire

Montana Shakespeare in the Parks, a wonderful theatrical company that performs all over Montana mainly and some surrounding states will be in Great Falls this coming week. Unfortunately, my husband, Fred, will be out of town (in Kansas City) for 11 days and we will miss the performances this year.

This got me to thinking about the Shakespeare time period, costumes, and activities. One thought of mine leads to another which transported me to ask whether or not there is a Renaissance Faire in Montana also.



Nashville always has a wonderful one each weekend during May. Our family enjoyed it several times over the years with all the costumes, knights jousting, camel rides, food of the time period and so much more.



I luckily did find that Missoula, MT has one in early November for a weekend. I hope the snow is not flying too much and I can make arrangements to attend with the kids this year.



While exploring on flickr.com, I did a search for "renaissance" and found many pictures from festivals across the USA. I fell in love with some of the pictures of the Twigs, Fairies, and Sprites. The costuming and make-up are wonderful. I have put one of the pictures on our computer as a background screen picture.



Wikipedia provides this bit of history and description of my topic for today: "A Renaissance fair, Renaissance faire, or Renaissance festival is an outdoor weekend gathering, usually held in the United States, open to the public and generally commercial in nature, which emulates a historic period for the amusement of its guests. Some are permanent theme parks, others are short-term events in fairgrounds or other large public or private spaces[1]. Renaissance fairs generally include an abundance of costumed entertainers, musical and theatrical acts, art and handicrafts for sale, and festival food. Some even offer camping, for those who wish to stay more than one day[2]. Most Renaissance fairs are set during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England. Some are set earlier, during the reign of Henry VIII, or in other countries, such as France, and some include broader definitions of the Renaissance which include earlier periods, such as the Vikings, or later, such as 18th Century pirates, and some engage in deliberate "time travel" by encouraging participants to wear costumes representing several eras in a broad time period. Renaissance fairs encourage visitors to enter into the spirit of things with costumes and audience participation. Most tolerate, and many welcome, fantasy elements such as wizards and elves.[citation needed]

Chicago journalist Neil Steinberg said (of the Bristol Renaissance Faire), "If theme parks, with their pasteboard main streets, reek of a bland, safe, homogenized, whitebread America, the Renaissance Faire is at the other end of the social spectrum, a whiff of the occult, a flash of danger and a hint of the erotic. Here, they let you throw axes. Here are more beer and bosoms than you'll find in all of Disney World."[3]"