10 Reasons to Visit Your Local Renaissance Festival! (w/ Jacob Wright)

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Join us, Joshua and Craig, as we share our adventurous escapades, starting with an amusing critique of a distorted image layout and venturing into Joshua's recent trip to Venice, Italy. Hear the incredible story of an 86-year-old's human-powered amusement park and Craig’s exciting plans for his upcoming European trip. We also reflect on the "delays and upgrades" that come with packed travel schedules filled with geocaching, video creation, and amusement park thrills.

Step back in time as we explore the enchanting world of Renaissance festivals. Craig's curiosity, shaped by American media, opens a window into why these fairs are so beloved in the United States. From the thrill of knife-throwing acts and medieval MMA fighting to the beautiful chaos of dressing up and blending in with elaborately costumed attendees, we dive into the sense of community and vibrant atmosphere these events offer. Tune in for our personal anecdotes, including moments of being mistaken for festival workers, and advice on making the most of your Renaissance fair experience.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Absolutely horrendous .
Like one person's face istaking up half of the entire
page, like there's this littledot here in the middle.
That's one whole person.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Do you love to travel ?
Do you love road trips?
Do you love finding hiddentreasures in towns all over the
USA?
Hi, I'm Joshua.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
And I'm Craig.
Welcome to Treasures of OurTown.
It's the podcast that exploresunique and charming towns
scattered throughout the UnitedStates.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Guided by our love for location-based games like
geocaching, join us as weventure into some of the
country's most intriguingdestinations, uncovering hidden
gems and local secrets along theway.
On today's episode, josh, youbrought this guy in and and
what's it?
What?
What's renaissance?
Renaissance, we're gonna visitsome towns we're gonna visit

(00:53):
some towns.
Yes, pounds of the past, oh, isthat what it is?
Towns, yes, towns.
It's like we're gonna.
We're gonna time travel.
We're gonna visit not one, butseveral towns, yeah throughout
the united states, becausethat's what this podcast is
about.
But before we get there, wehave to talk about our highs and
lows so much has happened.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
Oh, you mean talk, you mean delays and upgrades.
Remember, we call them delaysand upgrades.
Of course, delays and upgradesif you're listening for the
first time.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
A delay.
Those are our lows.
Our lows and our upgrades areour highs.
And so a lot has happened forme since we last talked, Craig.

Speaker 3 (01:30):
Well, tell me, do you want me to start?
Yeah, absolutely.
You're on a high already.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
You're ready to go Upgrade, upgrade.
I visited a new country.
Oh, yes, I went there, I livedit up and now I'm back.
But, greg, I went to Italy,italy.
I went to Venice, italy.

Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yes, and what did you do actually in Venice?
Did you ride on a boat?
Did one of those?

Speaker 2 (01:54):
Venice boats.
I did not ride on a gun, Ididn't ride on those romantic.
Yeah, I saw, they were reallyexpensive.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
Oh, so you there.
You were there with your otherpartner, pal buddy.
You know, surely, surely youshould have ridden a gondola
together, you and him ride agondola together.
I'm telling you, josh, okay, ifyou and I were there I would
have made you ride a gondolawith me, just saying so, daniel.
If you're listening, daniel,then uh, you're lucked out, mate

(02:25):
.
So there you go they were.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
They're very expensive for what they are.
Everybody's like.
Don't ride those things.
It's just the photo opportunityand plus I have to save
something for when my wife and Ivisit venice so I can't, I
can't do it, do it all.
I did take a water taxi thoughisland to island, which was
really really cool.
That's cool.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
Anyway.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
Craig, have you ever been to Venice?

Speaker 3 (02:50):
No, no, I haven't even been to Europe yet, josh.
I'm from Australia, so I'vebeen all over Asia and Australia
and New Zealand and obviouslythe US and Canada and even
Mexico with you that time, butI've never actually been to
Europe until next month, josh.
It's not really Europe, butanyway, I'll leave that for next

(03:10):
episode.
There you go, so what's your?

Speaker 2 (03:13):
delay then.

Speaker 3 (03:16):
You're still on your high.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
I've got to talk more about the upgrade.
So I visited Venice and you'rethinking, oh, you know the city
on water and it's just amazing,it's just beautiful.
But we did something reallyunique.
We went to an amusement parkthat was created by an
86-year-old man, that had rollercoasters and thrill rides and

(03:39):
with no electricity.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
It's all human-powered and
gravity-powered and it wascompletely free and it was
amazing that it was so uniqueyeah, yeah, and I will say, if I
was gonna say josh again, I sawthis on not only your youtube
channel with the full-lengthvideo, but you did a couple of
shorts on it as well, like atiktok and stuff as well.
So, yeah, go again, go tojosh's videos.

(04:02):
I'm telling you, josh, I lovedit, loved it.
And always when you go tosomething like that, I'm telling
you, josh, I loved it, I lovedit.
And always when you go tosomething like that too, like
you did, you went with good men,in terms of strong men as well,
that make you spin faster, thatmake you go higher, you know,
because some of it's all humanpowered.
So, yeah, well done.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
Yeah, it was.
It was a lot of fun.
And another travel aspect and Iknow this is about, you know
travel throughout the unitedstates.
But I took a night train, craig, like I took a sleep car.
What a nine hours from veniceall the way to northern germany
or hanover, germany, and I.
I got my car, I had my privateown bathroom, I had my bed, my

(04:40):
bunk, I plugged in all my stuffand I went to bed and then I
woke up in germany.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
It was, it was awesome it was so cool a hotel
on rails.
Is that what you did?
Like a hotel room on rails?

Speaker 2 (04:51):
that's wow yeah, this is your international travel
trip, or tip right here, becauseI mean, not only did I have my
accommodations, but I was, but Ialso had my transportation and
craig, it was around 200 euros,that's.

Speaker 3 (05:05):
That is a bargain, that's that's probably the same
price as what it is for anairfare, and let alone the
accommodation.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah wow, oh yeah, you get there a little, a little
slower, but it's.
You know, it was what I like tocall.

Speaker 3 (05:17):
It was adventure sleeping exactly exactly did it
rock you to sleep with the train?

Speaker 2 (05:22):
peace.
Yeah, it was so peaceful, craig.
Craig, it was so peaceful,craig, it was so peaceful.
Like these European fast trains, they're not bumpy at all.
It was very smooth, but there'sjust like a slight jiggle.
Yeah, it just rocks you rightto sleep.
So that was really cool.
That was a really upgrade too.

(05:43):
That was fantastic.
My delay here.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
In general, it was a really upgrade too.
That was fantastic my delayhere.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
In general, it was a great trip I was there for about
a week um mostly venice andthen also germany.
I I was so exhausted, craig Iwas so tired.
Every day was packed withcreating videos and geocaching
and visiting amusement parks andvisiting Venice.
And of course in Europe there'sso much walking and I was so

(06:07):
tired, it was exhausting.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
Is that your delay?
Was it the fact that you gottired?

Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, that's my delay .
It's so tiring, oh poor.

Speaker 3 (06:19):
Everyone listening to this is going oh, poor Joshua.
He got so tired from travelingthe world.
The world traveler got so tired.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
I love it, mate.
I love it.

Speaker 3 (06:31):
It's not a complaint, it's just a delay, it's just a
delay.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
Oh, Greg I almost got delayed for real, oh my gosh,
most stressful airport thing inmy life.
My flight was like two hoursdelayed, going to the us and I.
And when you fly from you knowinternational and then you land,
your connection is in a usstate.
You have to go all the waythrough customs and then you

(06:56):
have to go all the way backthrough security and then you
have to run your bag again andyou have to talk to the border
guy.
He wanted to chat it up and I'mlike I'm gonna miss my
connection.
I, I was imagine this craig,this is my delay.
I was running to my gate withmy shoes still off, with my
laptop under my arm, with my bagwide open, sprinting and I

(07:21):
barely, I barely made it.
Oh, I did make it did.

Speaker 3 (07:25):
Did the tca tsa pre-check help in any way, or is
that just domestic?

Speaker 2 (07:31):
no, it doesn't help when you're coming back, that's
just domestic doesn't help.
Shame, yeah, it doesn't helpunless you have like.
You have to have, like worldglobal entry, which isn't oh,
that's yeah that's, that'sthat's next level.

Speaker 3 (07:43):
That would be that.
That would.
That's probably the tsapre-check for the world traveler
.
That's what that is.

Speaker 2 (07:49):
Pretty much.
There you go, craig, that wasme Sorry, I used up a lot of
time, but it was a big deal.
No, that's okay, it was a lotof fun.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
Mine's just very quick, mine's very quick.
I'll make mine quick Because mydelay, josh, I'll start with my
delay first and I'll end on ahigh.
The delay was that the caritself has cost me more money
again.
Yes, more money again.
They had to redo some wiringcables and reprogram computer
work and everything else as well, and so that's my delay.

(08:17):
Is it actually cost me moremoney again to get on the road?
So this car, josh, I'm tellingyou now this car, initially it's
a 14-year-old car.
Initially it cost me $10,000,right to buy the second-hand car
.
It's cost me.
I've double that now again,with all the repairs, the
brand-new engine, no, no,another $18,000.
Another $18,000.

(08:37):
Oh yeah, so I'm 28 deep in thisthing.
So I know.
Ouch, I know, I'm 28 deep inthis thing.
So I know, I know.
So that's my delay, but myupgrade is that I managed to get
on the road.
So, yes, I am currently rightnow, as we speak, people, I am

(08:58):
recording this from my littlepodcast hub in the back of my
car.
I'm in a Cracker Barrel inTennessee.
There you go, tennesseetennessee, tennessee I was
waiting for you.
Tennessee.
Anybody do you know that?
Do you know that band?

Speaker 2 (09:18):
yes, I know that band , but it's a rest of development
that's what it is.

Speaker 3 (09:20):
That's what it is, and I'm having a rest and
development while I'm inTennessee, but anyway, when are
you parked?

Speaker 2 (09:27):
Where are you parked right now?
Are you at a Cracker Barrel?

Speaker 3 (09:30):
Absolutely Cracker Barrel.
That's the best place to park,to be honest with you.
But, mind you, this is my firstof this trip.
I've been away now for what?
Four days.
This is my first Cracker Barrelstop, so all the others have
been like good rest stop areasand decent places around, so no
Walmarts just yet.
This is my first Cracker Barreland I'm looking forward to

(09:50):
breakfast tomorrow, to be honestwith you, and Cracker Barrel
great place, great place, notsponsored, just to let you know.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:58):
Great gift shop, great gift shop.

Speaker 3 (10:01):
It's a busy gift shop .

Speaker 2 (10:04):
Oh yeah.
What are you going to have forbreakfast in the morning?
What are you looking forward toin the morning.

Speaker 3 (10:12):
Just bacon and eggs, just the basic.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I used tolike their old-timer breakfast
with the bacon and eggs and thehash brown casserole with the
biscuits and gravy.
But, josh, I'm trying to lose acouple of pounds, so I'm
thinking just the bacon and eggswill do.
Don't worry about the biscuits,don't worry about the gravy and
all the hash brown stuff.
So just have the bacon and eggs, mate.

(10:32):
So that'll be mine, that'll bemy thing.
So there you go.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
And, as we speak, you're heading towards Texas.
Yes, fort Worth.
Yes, fort Worth, texas, becausethere is a very large Munzee
event happening there, not thiscoming weekend but the next, and
then you're heading to Rome,georgia, for going, caching,
going caching.
Exactly yes.

(10:58):
I'm very excited for you, Craig, because I've been to going
caching.

Speaker 3 (11:02):
And you're not going this time it doesn't look like
I'm going to get there.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yeah, italy took it out of me, craig.
Yeah, I know I've been to goingcaching and you're not going
this time.
It doesn't look like I'm goingto get there.
Yeah, you know, italy took itout of me.

Speaker 3 (11:10):
Craig, yeah, I know, it took it out of me.
You went to a different.

Speaker 2 (11:12):
Rome, I sure did.

Speaker 1 (11:15):
No, I didn't.
I would love to visit, I didn'tget to Rome.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
I didn't get to Rome, but that's yeah, that's funny.
It's so funny because somebodyon social media said I was in
Venice or I showed that video ofthe amusement park and they
said I was in.

Speaker 3 (11:27):
Venice and people were like this is in.
Venice, florida.
America always take over thebig city names.
I know, I know, but yeah, no.
I'm telling you I loved yourtrip.
I loved watching you from afar.

Speaker 2 (11:51):
So you're going to love watching me me, although in
saying that, I'm not doing asmany videos what you do, so
there's a difference.
Yeah, I just only put one videoout, so I'm gonna have another
video um, when this comes out,it'll already be out, but like
of me walking through venice andfinding my first geocache in
italy which get this spoileralert.
It was a crushed water bottle.

Speaker 3 (12:05):
It was so bad, hey, a crushed water bottle in Venice
amongst all the water.
That makes sense and it'smemorable, josh.
It is memorable, it's a plasticMakes no difference, it was a
plastic like Dasani bottle.
Makes no difference.

Speaker 2 (12:21):
Makes no difference.
It was like trash and I felt sobad because the guy I was with
it was his very first geocacheand I'm like here it is.

Speaker 3 (12:31):
Yeah, this is what you look for when you go around
the world.
You're looking for pieces oftrash.
Yeah, really no kidding.

Speaker 2 (12:38):
He's like that's not cash, that's trash.
But you know it's a verypopular city.
Yeah, but it, you know it, it'sa very popular city.
So I think a lot of thosecaches there are older caches
that you know a tourist put downand then other tourists just
kind of keep them going.
They're like oh, I got thiswater bottle yeah, I'll just put
this here instead I'm almostcertain.

(12:59):
Yeah, okay, but craig, yes, weneed to get to the topic at hand
.
This is a travel podcast, andwe're not going to be talking
about Cracker Barrel, we're notgoing to be talking about Italy.
We're talking about the USA,exactly, and so today we are

(13:21):
talking to an individual that isan expert on little towns from
the past.

Speaker 3 (13:29):
Are you intrigued, craig?
Yes, because I mean, this istreasures of our town, josh.
So are you talking aboutsomething like a renaissance
fair whereby they create littletowns within a town?
There you go, I got to use it.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
Yes it's like towns within a town and there's
costumes, and so with us today,we have I'm going to use it now
yes, it's like towns within atowns and there's costumes, and
so with us today, we have I'mgoing to say it.
Go for it.
We have a Renaissance man, aRenaissance man.

Speaker 3 (13:54):
As opposed to what's the other one.
What's the movie?
I can't think of it now.
Encino man.
It's a Renaissance man, not anEncino man.

Speaker 2 (14:01):
So there you go man, not an encino man.
So there you go.
Or bicentennial man, yeah, orthe one there's lots, there's
lots, of iron man.
No, this is a renaissance man.
We are bringing on somebodythat is expert with about all
these little towns, these littlerenaissance towns.
Please welcome to the show,jacob right hello jacob, how

(14:21):
doing good, excited to be here.

Speaker 1 (14:25):
I've never been called so many types of man
before in my life.

Speaker 3 (14:31):
That was fantastic, jacob, do you want to tell us a
little bit about yourself?
I was going to say do you wantto tell us a little bit about
yourself, mate?

Speaker 1 (14:41):
Let us know where you are what you are that sort of
thing, yeah, about me.
You are what you are that sortof thing, yeah, um about me.
Um, so for me, uh love,renaissance festivals, all that.
I've been going since I was akid.
Um grew up south of minneapolisst paul the metro area, and
then kind of came up herebecause there is one local to

(15:03):
this area.
Yeah, I've been going to themsince I was a kid and now I'm
enjoying it in my mid-20s,having fun and love having a
good time, making some friendsthere, bringing other friends to

(15:23):
it and kind of just hanging outand having a good time.

Speaker 3 (15:25):
Might sound great.
He didn't want to say this.
What he out and having a goodtime Might sounds great.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
He didn't want to.
He didn't want to say this,what he didn't want to say this.
But but it's not his job, justto hang out and go to
Renaissance Fest.

Speaker 1 (15:33):
I wish it was.

Speaker 3 (15:36):
I wish it was.
It is a hobby.

Speaker 1 (15:39):
Though some people they do, they do have jobs.

Speaker 2 (15:51):
They work there full time and that that's what they
do.
They do have jobs, they workthere full-time and that that's
what they do.
That's the only thing they do.
That's awesome, uh.
But no, I am simply a patron.
Yeah, but I think I hope thisis okay to say.
But you are also you're also anactor which I think sort of
plays a little bit into therenaissance vibe.
Right, because you can likeshow up and you're like I am
from the renaissance period.
So not only dressing up, buteven jacob, I I dare to guess
that you could do a pretty goodaccent, like pretty good british

(16:12):
accent it does help.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
It is not necessary but yeah, I having a background
in theater doing that it.
You definitely walk in and youfeel right at home being able to
kind of hop into that in thosemoments when you want to.
It has its perks.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
I will say yes so here's the deal, dear listeners.
We've got a renaissance manhere, and our objective, jacob's
objective, is to convince youto visit your local renaissance
festival, because he is going toshare with us the top 10
reasons why you should visit arenaissance festival.

(16:48):
Oh so, stay tuned, but we gottaget some, like, high level
information.
I don't know a whole lot abouta renaissance festival I.
I went once when jacob what Iwas in junior high like once,
maybe one time I went as anadult.
I have some like vague memoriesof it.
Um, there was like a pickle guyand there was.

(17:09):
That was one of the things Iremember, and there was a, there
was a, a show called puke andsnot um it was yeah, I remember
some vaguely, some things, butbut it's very, it's a very
blurry to me.
So, craig Craig, what is your?
Do you have any connection?
Have you ever been to aRenaissance?

Speaker 3 (17:26):
festival?
No, no, we don't really have.
I don't have them in Australia.
We don't have Renaissance fairsin Australia.
Really, I've never seen one.
The only time I've ever seenone Josh is on American shows,
like TV shows or movies, thatsort of thing.
So whenever I think of the wordRenaissance fair or whatever,
all I think about is these grownadults dressing up like it's

(17:46):
back in the day and some of themhave got plastic swords and
shields and they're.
They're big guys, are walkingaround eating a big Turkey leg.
That's what I think of.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
That's a pretty accurate portrayal, jacob.
Do you know our Renaissancefestivals really pretty specific
to the united states?
Are their most, are they themost popular here, or are they
all over the world?

Speaker 1 (18:12):
yeah, they are pretty popular here in the states.
They kind of got their starthere but obviously you know,
anywhere you go you're gonna seeyour reenactments, that kind of
thing, um, so it kind ofstemmed out of that a little bit
.
But yeah, they're.
They're pretty popular in thestates for the most part okay,
cool, yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:32):
so if what, what is the draw?
What?
What is the?
What draws people torenaissance festivals?
Or should I ask what draws youto renaissance festivals?
Why do you like them?
And why would somebody thatmaybe has never experienced one
before, uh, why would?
Why do you think they shouldattend one?
And I know you got a list?
We're going to start overlap,but give us, give us Jacob, give

(18:53):
us Jacob the high kind of thehigh level, reason why you love
it.

Speaker 1 (18:57):
Yeah, I mean, for me it's like going to like a state
fair or a County fair in a lotof ways.
Right, you're gonna have a lotof the same things, you know,
people walking around having agood time checking stuff out, um
, having some food, having somedrinks, that kind of stuff and
um, so you've got that side ofit and that's really fantastic.

(19:17):
You know, getting to do thatkind of stuff and in a setting
where, for Minnesota, like theMinnesota State Fair, that's
been getting a lot of trafficlately and people have been
talking about that a lot, it'snot nearly that size.
So you're looking at somethingthat's a lot.
You got a lot of the samethings going on, but you're not
looking at that size of crowd,which is really really nice.

(19:37):
But then also you've got a lotof unique experiences, stuff
that you're not going to seeanywhere else.
Um, literally, like there areshops and businesses and actors
and workers that this is thething that they do and you
really are going to have a hardtime finding or seeing them
anywhere else or something likeit anywhere else.

Speaker 3 (20:00):
Interesting.
I like it, I like it.
But I was going to say Jacob aswell, in regards to the
atmosphere that's involved.
You know that sort of thing aswell.
I mean, do you have to actuallydress up, for instance, to be
part of it, or is that justoptionable, or you know, and if
you do, dress up does make youmore, more part of it?

(20:21):
You know what I mean, that morefeeling towards it as well.
What's it actually like?

Speaker 1 (20:25):
yeah, I.
I mean, first and foremost, youdo not have to dress up.
That's fully an optional thing.
I would say it's probably closeto like a 40 60 split in terms
of about.
I'd say about 40 percent ofpeople aren't dressing up, 60
percent of people are any givenday.
Um, so there's like a goodmajority of people that aren't
doing that, and that's that'stotally fine.

(20:47):
If that's not your thing,that's a okay um.
I would say, however, thatdressing up it definitely gets
you more involved, does get youmore in it yeah, yeah, do people
get confused about, like, whoactually works there and who's
just visiting?

Speaker 2 (21:00):
it's like you know, like when you go to disney world
you can't dress up as like acharacter because they don't
want to confuse you with thepeople that work there.
Are there some kind of ruleswhen it comes to dressing up, or
you probably can't pretend thatyou work there, but I'm sure
people do.
They do, or is it?
Is it pretty loose?

Speaker 1 (21:17):
it's a little bit more loose, uh, in that, because
it's happened to us a couple oftimes we've got costumes and
stuff that I mean it's kind of acompliment.
They look good enough thatpeople think that we work there,
which is really nice.
Um, you know, they'll ask uslike directions to a place, or
they'll ask, like grab a picturewith us, or something we're
like, yeah, sure, why not?
We're happy to help out inthose ways, um.

(21:38):
But I mean, yeah, there's uh,there's some other ways to like
kind of help identify who worksthere.
Like anyone in like safetyservices has like a certain
uniform that they're dressing in.
Um, usually you can tell,though, because the most like
complex, complicated costumes,um, that are really accurate,
those are usually the peoplethat are working there.

(21:59):
A lot of times they'll havelike little trinkets and buttons
that might also help notate.
They're like hey, I work here.
Um, they're also the ones goingaround interacting with people,
being in character, doingaccents and some of that stuff.
So it does help, but it's notalways a guarantee you might
just bump into someone and it itmight just be someone like me
who's just there hanging outhaving a good time and you're
like I I'm not sure that theyactually know what they're

(22:23):
talking about.

Speaker 3 (22:24):
They're just here tell me jacob as well.
I've always thought about itand that is that, um, basically,
renaissance has been, thesefairs have been going on for
years and years and years, and Ifeel personally like the
renaissance themselves is likethe cosplay of the past.
Is that about right, like youknow, because you go to a
cosplay festival, whatever youdress up to, as some sort of

(22:46):
unique character, that sort ofthing but when you go to these
renaissance fairs, can you makeup your own name?
For instance, is there actualcharacters involved that
everyone would recognize?

Speaker 1 (22:55):
you know, that sort of thing yeah, people do that
kind of thing all the time.
You're coming with you know,maybe it's just like an original
character that you kind of made.
It's like, well, I kind of, youknow, have a story in my brain
of why do I have this sword andthis like wizard hat and all
this stuff going on, and maybeyou're just dressing up.
You kind of got that idea.
Some people do that.
Um, it is, I would say, prettycommon, especially like if

(23:17):
you're doing something thatoftentimes goes alongside of a
Renaissance festival, somethinglike LARPing or like Dungeons
and Dragons.
A lot of times people will drawon characters and experiences
from those and pull those in.
But you also do just see a fairamount of straight cosplay
nowadays at a Renaissancefestival.
A lot of it is stuff that kindof fits in the era of it.

(23:39):
Every single year you see awhole lot of like Princess Bride
is a classic example.
How many Wesleyan buttercups doyou see walking by any given day
?
That's super, super fun.
But then also you'll have somemore obscure characters and
stuff or stuff that doesn't fitnecessarily like in the timeline
.
That's not a strict thing byany means.

(24:01):
Um, if you walk in and you'relooking too futuristic, they're
not going to kick you out by anymeans, um so they they pull
some of that in and they reallydo lean into that quite a bit
but for the people that workthere, do they have to follow a
certain amount of rules as faras being a part of the
renaissance timeline, or or dothey expand beyond that?

Speaker 2 (24:21):
because I think I've seen pictures of the minnesota
renaissance festival wherethere's they enter like a realm
of fantasy where, like I believe, there's like they have like
real, like mermaids, for example.
So they do, they?
Do they go into the fantasyworld, or do the people that
work there, or is it mainly justlike a part of like what the
Renaissance was like?

Speaker 1 (24:39):
Yeah, they, when you work there my understanding is
there is a bit more of you aretrying to make sure that it fits
and that it's period.
Obviously, it is a fantasyexperience.
So, yeah, you've got mermaids,you've got magic, you've got all
sorts of different stuff thatare happening there.
It gives you quite a bit ofwiggle room, um, but yeah, yeah,
they, they do talk about thatand what exactly you know would

(24:59):
fit best with that.
So that's again.
That's where you're seeing itlike.
Okay, that guy's like notwearing khaki pants.
He's actually got like theright thing going on.

Speaker 2 (25:07):
He might work here if you really know what to get
picky about what to look for.

Speaker 3 (25:12):
Uh, that's the kind of stuff that could help sort
that out I'm really intrigued,jacob um, after speaking to you
now only for this short periodof time about your attire.
What do you wear?
Do you have one character thatis your go-to character, or do
you have, like, severaldifferent?
You know aliases that you go byand and I want to know what are
their names uh, I ran a coupledifferent outfits that I've been

(25:36):
using.

Speaker 1 (25:39):
I none of mine have super specific like.
This is the character, this isthe name.
One of my favorites, though, iswe've got a pair of matching
green cloaks that my wife Sirimade.
She goes with me and it's likeour favorite thing to go and do
together, and so we have thesematching green cloaks and, um,

(26:00):
the cut of the cloak, the styleof it and the fact that it's
even green, that uh is inspiredby uh, one of the characters
from uh, one of my favoritebooks, uh kvothe from the name
of the wind by patrick rothfussso I walked up to her.
I was like, I want a cloak, Iwant to be like this, like, do
you think you could make thathappen?
And she's a bit of a sewingwizard and she's like, yeah, I
got it, I can make it happen.
So she made matching ones forus so any day we can wear the

(26:22):
matching cloaks.
I always think that's supercute and that's a super fun one
to do.
Um, I have been working on apirate outfit this year, which
also is a very common thing atrenfest, you see that, and,
again, it's not exactly period,but people don't really care
that much.
So I picked up a nice liketricorner hat.
I've been getting like somelonger vests and stuff to go

(26:47):
with it.
I haven't landed on a name forthe character yet, so if you
have ideas for pirate names,toss them my way.

Speaker 2 (26:54):
If I was to go to a Renaissance festival, I think it
would be really funny to go asMarty McFly and just say that
I've time traveled to theRenaissance.

Speaker 1 (27:03):
I saw one of those this year.
Yeah, I did, did you.

Speaker 2 (27:08):
It's brilliant.

Speaker 1 (27:08):
I would say you need a Marty and you can have a Doc
in there too.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
Yes, that would be, brilliant, there you go.
So, Jacob, talk to me a littlebit about the entertainment Now.
As I go back into my juniorhigh brain.
I remember a variety show ofthese two guys called Puke and
Snot.
I'm sure they're not thereanymore.

Speaker 1 (27:29):
Oh, they are.

Speaker 2 (27:30):
What they're still alive.

Speaker 1 (27:35):
I think one of the two original members might have
passed, but they got someonereplaced.
On and on.
But yeah, Pukin's not have beenaround forever.
At the Minnesota RenaissanceFestival.

Speaker 2 (27:48):
And it was like a comedy thing and like I think
there were probably a lot ofpuns.
You would have loved it, craig.

Speaker 3 (27:54):
Just by their names alone.
I'm just thinking about it.
What do they actually do?
Like, obviously there's Pukkeand snot, they work there,
they're, they're characters thatwork there.
But what do you, can you expectwhen you actually go and see
puke and snot?

Speaker 1 (28:05):
that sounds really bad, but you know yeah, no, and
there's all sorts of differentshows, uh, at our renaissance
festival and sometimes, um, likepuke and snot, like they might
work at ours.
They might also pop around anddo other festivals, depending on
how the season goes, orsometimes, you know, minnesota
is the only one that they do,but for a show like them, like

(28:26):
that's a comedy show, that'sgoing to be doing some crowd
work.
It's like kind of like seeingmedieval stand up in a way.
It's always fun where you'vegot some of those that are more
family friendly, uh, but thenyou've also got a different
variety for different crowds.
So there will be other ones inthere.
Uh, I believe, like the, theTortuga twins, um, they're a bit

(28:48):
more adult oriented, but a lotof the same vibe.
Um, pukin's not, I mean, that'svery slapsticky, very physical
humor.
Uh, it's, it's a staple.
They've been around.
I don't even know how long theymight have been there since the
beginning.
I'm not 100% sure.

Speaker 2 (29:06):
If I remember from when I was in junior high that
was a while ago and so, jacob,you said, overall Renaissance
festivals, they'refamily-friendly, you can bring
the kids.
But I remember also as a juniorhire, like some of these shows,
like when you say it's a moreadult, they, they operate on a
level of innuendo where a kidcould be watching something and

(29:30):
everything could be going overtheir head.
Yeah, Is that is that still?
Is that still true?
Is that pretty common?

Speaker 1 (29:35):
That's still pretty common.
Yeah, a lot of the innuendostuff.
Um, that tends to be the case.
They also talk to their staffabout like hey, what can you do
with an adult when, like, you'rehaving a like a moment with
them at a booth, doing somethingwith them there, versus what
does that look like when youhave a?

Speaker 2 (29:52):
family that's there, or something with kids.

Speaker 1 (29:54):
So right, you know they, they know how to kind of
balance and level that playingfield a little bit.
Most of them, I would say ninetimes out of ten again very
family oriented.
Uh, for the for the most part.
Um, especially, one of ourfavorites to go and see is the
danger committee.
Um, they are knife throwers anddaredevils.
They get to do that kind ofstuff and kids obviously are

(30:15):
gonna love to come see that showand they do.
If they look at the kids,obviously are gonna love to come
see that show and they do.
If they look at the kids likethis is a very family-friendly
show.
You are our target audience andsometimes you might be our
target and then the kids get allriled up when they, you know,
get volunteers to go on stageand they never put them in
anything dangerous.
You know they get someinformation and they're like,

(30:36):
cool, we're gonna make up a poemabout so and so while we're
juggling flaming knives, great.
And now we've got this kidinvolved and they're having the
time of their lives getting tobe a part of that situation.

Speaker 3 (30:47):
In that scenario, that's really cool, that's
really intriguing too.
By the way, and just to let youknow, what other entertainment
value are there so far thatyou've seen and not just in
minnesota, if you've actuallybeen to other ones as well like,
apart from comedy acts or knifethrowers or that sort of stuff,
what other is there any othersort of renaissance games or
styles etc.
That, uh, that people play?

Speaker 1 (31:09):
yeah, there's, the comedy is kind of one of the
classic ones.
A danger committee is I'm againthat uh, the daredevil knife
throwing.
That's a more common one.
It's a lot of the same stuffthat you'd see like at the
circus, a little bit.
Uh, one of the big ones that'sblown up on social media is, uh,
jacques Z whipper.
If you've seen any clips of himmaybe you have, maybe you don't

(31:30):
even realize it what his likeshtick is that he puts out on
social media is he goes totheissance festivals and does
all this stuff and he has whipsand he's usually doing like whip
tricks and stuff.
He's got different kinds.
Usually people prompt him tosing a song and then he improvs
his own version of the lyrics tothat song while whipping to the

(31:52):
beat and like it's one partmusical performance, one part
whips, one part improv and itusually works way better than it
should.
Uh, which is very, veryimpressive.
Yeah, um, but then you've alsogot other stuff out there where
you know they've got likejousting and whatnot.
That's very, very medieval,that's a classic one.

(32:14):
At the minnesota renaissancefestival.
Um, they, they've also startedwork in essentially what is
medieval, mma, fighting, what.
This is one of the coolestthings that they added at
Minnesota.
It started last year.
There are national teamsthroughout the country.
I'm sure there's someinternationally as well and it's

(32:36):
literally these people who puton full suits of plate armor.
They are given dulled swordsand weapons and things, and
there are rules, they scorepoints and it's a full contact
sport and they hop in a ring andit's three, two, one go.
It's so cool.
So our local team is the TwinCities Wyverns um.

(33:03):
So our local team is the is thetwin cities wyverns um, and so
they've been coming to thefestival and they've got like a
little wooden ring set up andthey're like yeah, we're just
kind of doing this as like anexposition fight, getting people
interested, uh.
We do have to be careful, though, because these swords will
still bruise and break bones andstuff, even though they're not
sharp.
And it's wild, and when you seethem, uh, during like their
actual competitions, I mean,it's literally like an mma ring

(33:24):
cage match style thing that'shappening wow see craig this
sounds like the coolest littletown ever and they're all over
the country are yeah, all overthe country.

Speaker 2 (33:36):
Talk to us a little bit, jacob, about the types of
foods and drinks you can get atRenaissance festivals.
What's different?

Speaker 3 (33:42):
Yeah, apart from a turkey, a big turkey leg, the
turkey leg's the classic.

Speaker 1 (33:47):
That's legit, it is.
I usually will go get a turkeyleg at least once a year, once
per season.
I will say the turkey leg lineis always the longest.
Out of any food or drink You'regoing to stop, you'll get.
Turkey is always always thelongest, um.
But you've got all sorts ofdifferent, like classic, kind of
fair foods there.

(34:08):
Anything that's deep fried on astick tends to be the big hits,
Um.
You've also got some other onesthat uh are our favorites, that
are kind of the abnormal ones,which is always fun.
Uh, there's like a curry booththat we go to all the time.
That's so good, really hits thespot, uh, during a long, long
day, um.
Or even like the medieval icecream shop, also really really

(34:30):
good.

Speaker 3 (34:31):
Love that one had them ice cream back in the day.
That's my interest.
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (34:37):
They just use a lot of ice, or maybe that's one of
the magic booths that could be amagic thing, you know, probably
, probably a little magic icecream spell or something.
Uh, we love those ones.
We also for drinks, the classicto go to.
Uh, especially as the adults,it's mead um if you're not
familiar with mead, it is.
It's basically honey, wine isall that it is, and it is, it is

(35:01):
wonderful, it is sweet, it wasa big, big hit back in the day,
like, if you think, like thenorse, like mead halls, all of
that, um, there's a localcompany that comes in and, uh,
they, they make mead and they'vebeen like the official supplier
since the 70s for therenaissance festival, so that's
kind of one of the classic onesthat we go for.
But then you've also gotsmoothies.

(35:22):
You've got, uh, lemonade um,overpriced bottled water is
always the classic you need tohave that somewhere in there uh,
if you're dressing up uh,gatorade is a good go-to.
Um, and you do have the picklebooths.
Uh, you mentioned those before.
Josh the pickle guys.
So place throughout therethere's several of them.

(35:43):
They are special because theyare food and drink and comedy,
and comedy and comedy becausethey're they're hawking out to
the crowd.
They're, they're comedy, uh, butthe pickle juice is so funny
because what they'll do is youcan buy the pickle for like two
bucks or whatever and that's agreat snack.
It's awesome, uh.
But because of you know the waythat they're pickled and soaked

(36:04):
and everything, they are greatin electrolytes.
So, like, if you're like havinga hard day or like you're
getting faint, safety servicesis literally trained to go get
you pickle juice.
And so if you go up to themlike, and you're like, hey, can
I just have like a cup full ofpickle juice, like they'll give
that to you for free.

Speaker 2 (36:22):
That's your secret pro tip have you ever had to get
the pickle juice, jacob?
Uh, have you ever been to?
Have you ever been to thatlevel of intensity at the
renaissance festival?
Not out of dehydration?
The pickle juice, no, no, notunder dehydration.

Speaker 1 (36:37):
I have done it by choice.
Sometimes it just hits the spotand I don't want to pay for
like a $4 Gatorade or something.

Speaker 2 (36:47):
And I said comedy too , and this is a family-friendly
podcast.
But the innuendo is at a wholenew level with the pickle.

Speaker 1 (36:58):
Oh, yes, oh it would be.
Yes, whole new level with thepickle.

Speaker 2 (37:03):
oh, yes, guys, oh, and they even have, yes, they
have innuendo filled picklebuttons that you can buy too, as
souvenirs.

Speaker 3 (37:06):
Sure, yeah, sure, no, jacob, I was thinking as well
um, what about the actualcontainers in which this stuff
comes in?
Like is it?
Is it the old school sort ofrenaissance?
Yeah, steins and, and the bigwine goblets and that sort of
thing as well?
Like, or do you bring your ownfor that?

Speaker 1 (37:22):
yeah, they normally they serve out of.
They serve out of plastic cups.
Uh, it is a bring your owngoblet type situation out there.
So if you go very often likelike I do, uh, I've got my.
My favorite one is it's thisbig leather tankard, um very old
school, classic style.
I bought it.

(37:43):
I'm like how do I take care ofthis thing?
Like, this is so cool looking.
Um, they're like yeah it'sbasically like you know, you
wash it like you wash your handsDon't put anything in it or on
it that you wouldn't want to puton bare skin and you're good to
go.
So that's what I usually bringout.
I bought it out at theRenaissance festival.
But there's other stuff toothat they have out there.
They've got like the drinkinghorns, They've got the goblets.

(38:05):
I've seen everything yeah, Formetal, leather, wood, people
bringing stuff from home, glassgoblets.
There's also the classic forthe Minnesota one.
There is a souvenir mugs thatthey're just pottery ones that
are really, really beautiful.
And a friend of mine he hasbought one of these like every

(38:28):
single year since he's gone,since he was like a kid.
He has like his own shelfdedicated.
He's got like 20 of these mugs,one from every year.
Wow.

Speaker 2 (38:40):
Speaking of that, what other things can you
purchase there?
What other?
I'm sure there's differentcrafts, but what kind of things
do people buy at these things?

Speaker 1 (38:46):
yeah, some of our favorites that we've purchased,
that we've come home with.
Um, there's a booth that haslike screen printed maps and
designs and whatnot, likedifferent art, but it is printed
on paper.
That and this is their spielthat they use to help sell it,
and I am assuming it's mostlytrue, but that they've.

(39:07):
They create it usingessentially like 16th century
map making techniques so thatthe paper is fairly waterproof,
it's water resistant, it'sdurable and it's got a bit of
that leathery texture to it andit's a bit thicker than normal.
So we have a water bendingscroll from avatar, the last
airbender, printed on that andthat's hanging up in our

(39:29):
apartment.
Super, super cool.
I've seen people walk away withmaps you know the size of their
torsos made out of those.
You can buy swords and whatnottoo, not just the plastic ones.
But there are a couple of shopsthat will sell you like full on
legit swords.
One booth is known for it.
They've got like the best ones.

(39:52):
You can literally sign up for apayment plan for this sort of
like cool, like we'll set you upfor installed payments.
You can come back next year andpick it up because it's like
$3,000.
Wow.

Speaker 2 (40:05):
So it's like sword layaway yeah literally.

Speaker 1 (40:09):
I mean, the swords are beautiful and maybe one day
maybe I will get one of those,but they're gorgeous.
But you can buy swords, knives,spears, axes, that kind of
stuff, um all sorts of different.
Yeah, knickknacks, crafts.
There's one booth that, uh,this lady makes like little um

(40:32):
leather, like dragons, um.
A lot of times they've got likemagnets on them so you can put
them on the fridge.
A lot of people will wear themaround at the festival, which is
really cool because they'llhave pins on them.
One of our ones that we pickedup this year it's they only
operate at the minnesotarenaissance festival.
It's the only time and placethat they sell it.
They don't do like farmer'smarkets or anything else.

(40:52):
All they do is they make umlittle like goblets and cups and
bowls out of like stained andshattered glass and it's
designed so that you can putlike lights and candles inside
of it and it just the mostbeautiful like natural light
display that you kind of willever see.
So we bought one of those forour kitchen table as like a

(41:12):
centerpiece and it's it's justbeautiful.
Uh, having that, you know, whenwe've got friends coming over
or just for fun, put a candle inthere, and it's just gorgeous
it'll be a great talking pieceas well, like, uh, the fact that
it's in the, in the house andwhatnot too.

Speaker 3 (41:27):
But I, jacob, I can't stop thinking about buying my
own sword.
For some reason, after you saidit, I'm, I'm all in once once
you actually get your own sword.
Though you said before aboutthere's, you know the activities
like jousting and that sort ofstuff as well.
I've seen archery as well, butcan you actually participate in
this stuff as well?
Can you actually be part of thejousting or be part of the

(41:47):
archery, that sort of stuff?

Speaker 1 (41:50):
So, yeah, there's all kinds of booths for knife
throwing, archery I've seenjavelin throwing crossbows.
There is one for jousting,though they won't put you on the
horse, uh, they won't do that.
Um, they've got a track set upfor um one of the other, like

(42:11):
classic medieval competitions.
That would happen at a festivallike this, where, rather than
jousting against an opponent,you're jousting essentially
against like hoops and rings andyou're trying to like collect
the rings on like a lance typesituation.
So they have like a little mockhorse set up on a track that
they'll run you down and you cantry to get some stuff that way.
The joust with, uh, with thehorses and everything, I mean

(42:33):
you, they're getting hit withreal lances.
Uh, they're made of wood andthey will run at each other and
you'll see them shatter andsplinter and unless you're
trained to be on that horse anddo that and do it full armor to
help make sure that you'reprotected, that's, it's some
seriously intense stuff and it'sdangerous, it's pretty much.

Speaker 2 (42:53):
It's real.

Speaker 1 (42:54):
It is when you see yeah, it really, it really
really is.
And there's you.
You can't fake shattering thelances and everything.
Um no, I've seen it happen somany times where it's like
usually the same two or threepeople that they have out there
doing it every single weekend,multiple times a day, and every
time I see it it's different.
So it's legit they're, they'rereally going for it and kudos to

(43:16):
them because, yeah, it'sdangerous, but also, man, is it
impressive?

Speaker 2 (43:20):
have you ever seen jacob the movie a knight's tale?
I love a knight's tale I love aknight's tale.

Speaker 1 (43:25):
Have you seen that?

Speaker 2 (43:26):
craig, I have seen this, yes oh yeah, and they,
they're playing like we willrock you while they're like
jousting it's yeah, I gotta seethat movie again because that's
yeah, that that movie.
Every once in a while they'lldo stuff like that out there
where it's yeah, I gotta seethat movie again because that's
yeah, that that movie.

Speaker 1 (43:39):
Every once in a while they'll do stuff like that out
there where it's like okay wereally need to amp up the crowd.
Great, let's get him singing,let's get him chanting.
We'll use something a littlebit more modern, yeah yeah, how
about uh stuff for kids?

Speaker 2 (43:51):
are there any?
Is there anything specific tokids that they can do at a red
festival?

Speaker 1 (43:57):
yeah, there's a lot of the activities, a lot of the
booths, so, like you might havean archery, that's, you know,
okay, gonna be geared moretowards adults.
You've got a lot of those thatare geared more towards kids, a
lot like the fair game activitytype booths.
Uh, one of the big spots that Isee at the minnesota festival
that is huge, huge draw for kids, uh, is the fairy wing forest,

(44:19):
and what this is is it's justlike tucked away.
It's on the back edge of thefestival and you literally you
walk through like a hobbit holeand you go down a set of steps
and you're just like in thewoods and they've got like a
couple of like almost liketraveling cart type things set
up and everyone down there isdressed up as like fairies and
satyrs and stuff like that.
So that's a huge, huge draw forkids.

(44:40):
They've got a lot more of likecoloring and games.
There's actually like a littleplayground that's down there for
kids, so a lot of that that'sgeared just more towards them
and they're in it and they justthink it's like the best thing
ever.
They added this year there's aBarbie fairy, which is super,
super fun down there.
A Barbie fairy, which is super,super fun down there.

(45:01):
Me personally, when I was thereas a kid, I was like mom, dad,
I need a crossbow, like that waswhat I wanted and there was a
they sold there and I still haveit.

Speaker 2 (45:15):
It's hanging up on the wall over here.

Speaker 1 (45:16):
It's a rubber band crossbow and it's super
well-made, still lasts tilltoday, but it yeah, the fire
mechanism.
It's just a.
It's just a clothespin, yeah itjust pushes the rubber band up
and off there's a little peg onthe end sends it flying and I
I've used that thing on mysiblings so many times.

Speaker 3 (45:32):
It's got some serious mileage oh, I do, yeah, I still
got it yeah, it's and it worksgreat.

Speaker 1 (45:39):
Now, every once in a while, I'll use it to, like you
know, fling one of my cat's toysor something.

Speaker 3 (45:43):
Yeah, yeah, well, jacob, I'm just thinking, as
well you said, about the there's, there's fairies and there's
all this sort of you know ummagical, mystical stuff as well,
but there's actual, real life,um like history stuff as well,
and do people learn about actualhistory?
And we're talking, we'retalking the renaissance period,
which is people, if you don'tknow it'd actually be before the

(46:04):
usa became usa, like before allthat sort of stuff wait what
there was be before the USAbecame USA, like before all that
sort of stuff.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
Wait what there was something before the USA.

Speaker 3 (46:10):
Yes, Josh, I know you are a typical American, but
there was something before theUSA.
And so we said before about youtalking in a British accent.
So I want you to answer thisquestion about the history
lessons you get in a Britishaccent.
So there you go, I'm going toput you on the spot.

Speaker 2 (46:28):
Oh gosh, here we go.

Speaker 1 (46:30):
Well, what I would say is that, in terms of the
historical part of it, you dohave a lot of things happening
there, like, for example, likeShakespeare plays are happening.
There's a group that does anexcerpt from Midsummer Night's
Dream and they just do the play.
At the end they do pyramid, uh,pyramus and Thisbe, I believe,

(46:53):
um, so you're getting to seestuff like that.
That's in there.
There's a uh booth that haslike family crests that I
remember visiting as a kid.
That was a lot of fun, um, andthen you're just you're, you're
immersed in it.
You know, you're seeing allthese things and taking it all
in and just getting a glimpseinto what life was like back

(47:16):
then, I suppose.

Speaker 2 (47:17):
Oh wow.
I slipped in the accent there alittle bit.
He does an accent better thanyou do an accent, Craig.

Speaker 3 (47:27):
I'm Australian, josh, I'm not British, I'm Australian
.

Speaker 2 (47:30):
No.

Speaker 3 (47:32):
We're the convicts, whereas you fought against the
British, and we're the convicts.

Speaker 2 (47:36):
Wait, wait, wait, craig, your accent's real.
I thought this was just ashtick the whole time.

Speaker 3 (47:41):
No, crikey mate, you think I can bung this on Jacob.
Well, done, done.
That accent was very it wasvery high-end british.

Speaker 2 (47:50):
It was very uh, like the posh very posh yeah yeah,
extremely posh really, it wasrealistic it was if, if I was
doing it, if I, if you asked meto do it, craig, I would go
straight.
Dick van dyke, I do get a wholemix out there um step in time
because they've got.

Speaker 1 (48:09):
They've got people being the big posh characters.
You've got the king and queenthat are out there, but then
you've got other like themedweekends and stuff where they'll
do like highland fling.
So everyone is doing likescottish accents um you've even
got like some uh, there's onethat's bold north adventure, so
that's more viking oriented,which is super fun because a lot

(48:30):
of Scandinavian heritage inMinnesota, so that's a big, big
draw.
So, yeah, you'll hear alldifferent kinds of accents out
there.
You will.

Speaker 2 (48:38):
I'm going to ask a question that Craig is thinking
but he's not asking Are there,is there beer?
Is there alcohol, like you said, wine, like this mead, but is
there like, are there beer, isthere?

Speaker 1 (48:50):
alcohol, like you said, wine, like this mead.
But is there like, are therebeers?
Are they local beers?
Yeah, they've got local craftstuff.
Yeah, beer, cider, wine, mead,hard liquor, you name it, it's
there.
The pro tip is that they do atleast in Minnesota they do some
tastings throughout the day,which is super great.
So they've been like workingwith this cider company from
Vermont.
We've gone to that a coupletimes getting to hear like their

(49:13):
story, their company.
It's like why is a cidercompany from Vermont at the
Minnesota Renaissance Festival?
That's kind of a weird thing.
But then you know, okay, when Igo to a booth and I want
something, which one am I goingto like the most, which one's
going to be the best?

Speaker 2 (49:27):
Yeah, I like sampling things.
We like a good flight, don't we?
Craig?

Speaker 3 (49:33):
Yes, yes, we do, but we have different types on the
flight.
So, jacob, if you're not aware,joshua is a very light beer
sort of guy.
He's the Miller.

Speaker 2 (49:41):
High Life.
I like sours too.

Speaker 3 (49:43):
He's starting to broaden his horizons with a bit
of sour, but sours too, he'sstarting.
He's starting to broaden hishorizons with a bit of sour, but
that's because we, our othermate, rob, he's right into the
sours.
Me, I'm an, I'm an ipa fan, see.
So I go into the deep, I gointo the depth of the flavor.
Yeah so, uh, that's thedifference.
But yeah, so the flight.
Josh likes the flight becausehe's not going to waste any beer
.
If he doesn't like it, he justputs it aside.

Speaker 2 (50:02):
So that's why so there you go, that's true, any
any actual Renaissance beeritself.

Speaker 1 (50:08):
Um, there's a couple that are just, I feel like have
more flavor notes of theRenaissance style stuff.
Um, like one of the meads, forexample, uh kind of has this.
And there's some other beersand stuff that have some of
these flavor notes and whatnottoo, but it's like that old
timey, like they've got like thesarsaparilla in it, some of
that and that stuff.
I mean that's.

(50:29):
It hits the spot on a hot day.
You're out there and you've gotyour own you know tanker and
it's like overflowing to thebrims.
That's.

Speaker 2 (50:38):
That's a good time jacob, you have convinced me
that I need to brush off the.
I don't know the the.
What do they wear the, the,something I got to brush off my
soul.

Speaker 1 (50:56):
The sword, a doublet, a cloak, a cape.

Speaker 2 (50:59):
Yeah, okay, I don't have any of those things.
I'm going.
I'm going as Marty McFly,that's for sure, there you go.
But um, uh, I want to visit a.
I'm going as Marty McFly,that's for sure, but I want to
visit a Ren.
I'm convinced.
And here's the deal if peoplearen't convinced yet, you're
going to give us your top 10list of why people should visit

(51:19):
a Ren Festival.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
I'm very positive that there's probably already
overlap because we probablyalready talked about a lot of it
but there might, there might besome hidden, hidden nuggets um
in there, yeah.

Speaker 2 (51:34):
So, jacob, hit us with it, we'll react to it.
We'll react to each one okay,top 10 uh this is is this any
any particular order?

Speaker 1 (51:43):
this is not in any particular.

Speaker 2 (51:45):
I could not organize my thoughts, that much I can't
pick favorites.

Speaker 1 (51:50):
So first thing I thought of yeah, food and drinks
Like we were just talking about.
I mean, literally I was talkingwith my wife, we're going
tomorrow and I was like okay,what are we going to get?
Trying something new, going foran old classic, an old favorite
for an old classic.
An old favorite Might need toget a turkey leg.

Speaker 2 (52:07):
We'll see what happens so food and drinks.

Speaker 1 (52:09):
Gotta have it Always good.
Check Boom.
Yeah, love the shows, theperformers that are there for
the specific shows.
One other one that I haven'tmentioned yet, also a Minnesota
classic, is the Fundazi Firefire show.
Um fire dancers.

(52:30):
So they do like they've gotdifferent ropes and chains and
they're like spitting fire anddoing all of that and the tree
above their stage is very deadand singed um love, love.
That one super cool um, andthey've got like live music that
they get accompanied with.
That's a really, really coolone that we like to go see.

(52:51):
Um love getting to watch them.
So different shows that they'vegot going on puke.

Speaker 2 (52:57):
It's not all of that and those are included in the in
the price right, typically.

Speaker 1 (53:01):
Yeah, like you're in, you can walk around visit these
shows.

Speaker 2 (53:02):
That's not like an extra charge, correct?
Those are all free of charge.
You're just walking.
You can walk around, visitthese shows.
That's not like an extra charge, correct?

Speaker 1 (53:07):
Those are all free of charge.
You're just walking around it'sdefinitely encouraged and
you're wanting to help tip thema little bit.
They'll usually ask for thatstuff at the end.
But yeah, that's free of cost,free of charge.
So like, if you okay, I didn'treally get to see the whole show
I want to come back and see itlater.
You can Later.

(53:28):
You can catch a glimpse of itand come back to it another time
too.
Number three I just wrotecombat.
Because that jousting is just sogood.
I remember the first timeseeing that I'm like no way
they're about to do this andthen literally seeing the Lance
shatter go flying off.
They've got people running andpicking up, picking up the

(53:49):
pieces that, just like you know,actually hit someone.
Someone doesn't get, like youknow, impaled in the chest with
a giant spear piece.
I just love that stuff.

Speaker 3 (53:57):
Just thinking to Jacob as well, when you say
about the jousting, Josh, I'mnot sure if you're aware of this
, but I did watch a televisionprogram on Netflix at the time
and it was like America's BestJouster, and they had like 20
contestants there on two teamsand they went at each other
until there was one winner andit was like what do you call it?

(54:18):
The greatest chef, but thegreatest jouster.
So look for that up on Netflix.

Speaker 2 (54:23):
Wow, yeah, that's still on there.
It was like a reality show.

Speaker 3 (54:28):
Yeah, a reality TV show about jousting.

Speaker 2 (54:30):
That's super cool.

Speaker 3 (54:31):
Yeah, yeah, I remember that one.
So there you go.
That's what I think about, cool.

Speaker 1 (54:35):
Look that up, find that, check that out.

Speaker 2 (54:38):
So Jacob, the live-action roleplay, the
LARPing, do people show up withtheir like foam swords and like
do that at?
Or is that not encouraged?

Speaker 1 (54:48):
I've seen a couple of people show up with that.
The rule is for weapons is thatthe idea is that you're keeping
them put away Cause you don'twant anyone getting hurt
especially at a place where youknow people are having drinks.
We're having fun.
You've got kids around.
So if you have, like a realmetal weapon.
They check it at the door andthey make sure that it's piece
tied and basically just it's.

(55:09):
They've got like good handfulof zip ties on that thing,
basically just to prevent youfrom being able to pull it out
quickly.

Speaker 2 (55:16):
Oh, my God, that's more loose.
That's more loose than Ithought.

Speaker 1 (55:21):
Yeah, it's not If you had a pair of scissors in your
bag.

Speaker 2 (55:23):
that won't stop you for very long.
That's funny.

Speaker 1 (55:29):
Yeah, that's funny.
Yeah, that's funny, it's, itwould not take much.
But I I've never once seen anincident or like seen anything
happen.
You know it's, it's a very rarecase.
The foam stuff, I mean, youmight have people out there
every once in a while.
It's like, okay, we're gonna,you know, get a picture doing a
little something, get a littlevideo, um, you'll see a little
bit of that.
But usually people are reallyrespectful about and just keep

(55:50):
it put away because you know youdon't want anyone, you know,
getting bumped into or gettinghurt, which is, you know, it's
nice, it's considerate.
If you do want to fight yourfriends, there are a couple
booths and things that will letyou do that.
There's one where they'll giveyou like fencing swords and
they'll have you put on a helmetfor protection, and on the
helmet are like two balloons andthe goal is to pop the other

(56:11):
person's balloons.
That's so fun.
It's great watching grown mensit there with the fencing
swords and just like flailingaround with their hands trying
to pop these balloons becausethey don't know what they're
doing so much fun.

Speaker 3 (56:24):
That's cool.
I love it.
I love it.
So what else you got left forus, jacob?
How many, how many more we'vegot left?

Speaker 1 (56:31):
uh, that was three, so we got seven left seven left
um, next one I've got is thestreet characters.
Street characters.
So they've got people you know,working booths that are selling
stuff.
Those are usually externalvendors.
They've got the like veryspecialty people that are doing
the shows.
I love the street characters,uh, because these are the people

(56:53):
that are kind of in between allof that.
They're hired by the festival.
They're there, they've got aspecific character in mind and
you just bump into them andthey'll just like, come up to
you, they'll talk to you aboutyour day.
How's it going?
Uh, a couple years ago, like webumped into there, a couple of
fairies had wandered out offairy wing.
So they're trying to talk to usand have us hop in their fairy

(57:13):
circle, which is like adecorated hula hoop, and I'm
like I don't want to get trappedin like the fey in fairyland or
anything.
I'm not going to tell you myname, I'm not going in your
fairy circle.
So we got to have like a wholeinteraction with that.
It's all you know, improv andfun.
Um, and then, like you know,for interacting with them, a lot
of times, like they'll havestuff like give you, so like

(57:33):
they'll be able to give you likelittle trinkets and stuff.
So like I got like little ittybitty, like one like two
millimeter by two millimeter,like die, like a, like a d6
playing dice.
We got like a set of those fromthem which was super fun.
One of my other favorites out atMinnesota is they've got these
two caricature artists, scriband Scrawl.

(57:56):
They're the King's Drawers andthey are going around and
they've got just like brownsheets of paper and they like
get your group together and theyjust have like just black
charcoal and they're just doingthis wonderfully awful rushed
drawing of like you and yourgroup and they give it to you
and it's the most justdisgusting, grotesque looking

(58:17):
thing you've ever seen in yourlife.
We've got one from a coupleyears ago that's like framed.
We just got a new one this year.
We happen to bump into them andlike they're just like hey, we
want to draw you for free.
Like let's just do it likegreat, scribble, scribble,
scribble takes like a minute.
They're rushing through it sofast and it's, it's wonderful

(58:37):
are they expected to have betipped for that?
they've got like a tip jar outand whatnot too.
So yeah, they've got some ofthat.
If you want to toss a couple oftheir way, you certainly can
it's america.
I think they also have like aqr code for venmo too, if you
want to do oh my gosh,contactless option that's so
funny, because this is like.

Speaker 2 (58:55):
It's just a bit like they could be the.

Speaker 1 (58:57):
They're probably the worst artists no, I well, here
I've got, I'll be able to showyou guys.
This is our one from this year,is?
It is just absolutelyhorrendous.
Like one person's face istaking up half of the entire
page, like there's this littledot here in the middle that's
one whole person.
Uh, that's our buddy elijah,who's just taking up like an

(59:20):
eighth of the page.
It's wonderful josh josh.

Speaker 3 (59:23):
this is a obviously an audio onlyonly podcast.
What Jacob was basicallyholding for listeners out there
was very much like a black andwhite charcoal Picasso,
basically it was like a Picasso.

Speaker 2 (59:35):
That's a good way to describe it.
Yeah, Very abstract.

Speaker 1 (59:38):
yes, Very loose.
If you were not there, youwould not be able to tell who's
who or what is happening in that.
Yeah.
So that's a big one, uh, lovethe street performers.
They're great, uh, number fivehalfway there.
Number five um the smallbusinesses, the shopping I we we

(01:00:00):
budget out like okay, how muchare we allowing ourselves to
spend this year, uh, at theseplaces?
Um, but I you can get somereally cool stuff that you're
not going to get anywhere else.
It's one of a kind.
One of our favorites is there'sa hand like crafted leather
bookshop and so it's like thesehandcrafted leather journals.

(01:00:23):
They're just absolutelygorgeous.
They've got like cotton paperpages.
They're great for, I mean,whatever you want to use a
journal for, like actualjournaling, like a planner.
A lot of people use them aslike sketchbooks and just the
most beautiful thing ever.
So we've bought a couple ofthose.
We've gotten like crystal umink pens and fountains for like

(01:00:44):
actual, like more classical,like calligraphy writing, and
I'm super bad at it and I don'tknow what I'm doing and I smudge
the pages, all the time, but welove those.
Those are super cool.
We picked those up.
Yeah, just some really reallycool stuff that you can't really
find anywhere else.
Or even if you can find itsomewhere else, it's the
experience of buying it thereand getting something cool and

(01:01:05):
special there and making thatmemory.

Speaker 3 (01:01:07):
No that sounds, that sounds awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:01:09):
Yeah, Josh, I was going to say, I was going to say
as well.

Speaker 3 (01:01:12):
Josh, I was going to say we've got two more left.
How about we leave the last twofor our patrons only?
What do you think?

Speaker 2 (01:01:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:01:19):
Yes, yes.
So, Jacob, stay with us.
We're just going to quickly endthe show very, very soon now
and then stick around becausewe're going to do that little
extra bit.
The last two for our patronsNow, Josh if people want to
become a patron.

Speaker 1 (01:01:35):
Wait a minute.
Do we have more than that?

Speaker 3 (01:01:36):
I'm saying that was number five.

Speaker 1 (01:01:37):
Oh, so we have three more and then two for the
patrons.

Speaker 3 (01:01:39):
Oh no, we'll do five for the patrons.
Then, josh, we'll do five forthe patrons.

Speaker 1 (01:01:43):
Five for the patrons, five for the five for the paper
great five for the paper.

Speaker 2 (01:01:46):
Fantastic, okay, um, jacob, thank you so much.
You have convinced me.
I'm I want to go particularlyto the minnesota renaissance
festival, because that is your,that is your home festival it is
it's home turf it's almost like.
It's almost like your home awayfrom home.
It's almost like a little townthat you visit maybe once or

(01:02:09):
twice a year.
How often do you go?

Speaker 1 (01:02:12):
we go.
Ours runs for about a month anda half and we go at least once
a weekend, so we're like sixtimes six times.

Speaker 2 (01:02:20):
Wow, you know what season ticket holders right here
yeah wow.
So, greg, you know what thatmeans I do, I do, jacob jacob is
proud of his, of hisrenaissance time I am I am.
He's proud of it and you knowwhat?
That's a damn rare thing thesedays when you're proud of your
town like that are you gonnatell jacob you're gonna come

(01:02:42):
jack with us?
from yeah, I try to get thatphrase in every single episode.
He's proud of his town.
It's from the movie planes,trains and automobiles.
If you know that, you're alittle young, but yeah, that's
what it's from yeah all right,jacob, stick around, stick
around, mate.

Speaker 3 (01:02:58):
Uh, we're gonna do the five patrons, josh.
And if people want to become apatron josh, how do they can
become a patron?

Speaker 2 (01:03:03):
uh, if you're enjoying our podcast, we we
really appreciate your support.
By supporting us, you help uscreate even better content and
keep it free for everyone noannoying commercials.
So please consider joining usat patreoncom backslash
treasures of our town.

Speaker 3 (01:03:18):
And how else can people find us, Josh?
If they just want to reach outand talk to us, Josh, how can
they find us doing that?

Speaker 2 (01:03:23):
They can click the little fan mail link in our
thing and then they can justcomment that way.
Or they can go old school andemail us at
treasuresofourtownpodcasts atgmailcom or follow us on
Facebook, instagram, twitter Xand YouTube.

Speaker 3 (01:03:39):
And so that's it for our show today.

Speaker 2 (01:03:40):
Please subscribe, rate and review on your favorite
podcasting app and, as always,josh may your travels always
lead you to the most unexpected,amazing, magical, back in time,
amazing adventures in yourlittle little cities, within
your cities, around the world,around the US.
See you next time, everybody.

(01:04:01):
Bye-bye, thank you, thank you,bye, thank you.