Episode 24 - A Renaissance Festival Reflection

Bonjour! Welcome to Coffee Talk with King Francois I, episode twenty-four, A Renaissance Festival Reflection. I am your host, Theodore Jander.

At the end of the previous installment, I mentioned who my guest would be for episode 24. Unfortunately, I ran into some technical difficulties with the interview recording and editing process. So, that conversation will most likely be episode 25.

That said, I wanted to take this opportunity to let you know what to expect in the upcoming episodes for this podcast as well as a reflection or two regarding my involvement over the past 25 years with the St. Louis Renaissance Festival. But first, some more coffee humor to start things percolating. Why was the barista fired? They kept showing up to work in a tea-shirt. With that bit of java jocularity, grab a cup of your favorite java, sit back, and enjoy this episode of Coffee Talk with King Francois I.

To start things off, here is what you can expect in the upcoming episodes:

• Interview conversations with Malgar Thorvik of Thorvik Crafts; Douglas Carr, former Creative Director of the St. Louis Renaissance Festival; Genevieve and Mike Linder of Seymours of London; Steve and Candy Swope of Candy’s Creations; Ceara Cullen, a long time merchant/manager at various festivals around the US; as well as another recorded-live-series with guests from the St. Louis Renaissance Festival.
• Also, I will present the fourth and final installment for 2023 of Festivals, Festivals, Festivals as well as another episode of Something to Help You Sleep 3.0.

I thought, as the 25th Anniversary season of the St. Louis Renaissance Festival kicks off on September 16th, we would take a brief journey down the scenario memory lane.

• 2004 - The Grand Parti de Lyon - The focus was on how Henri II would bring France out of a financial debacle.
• 2005 - Joust for the Cure - The scenario theme involved Nostradamus and a ruse that delved into an outbreak of the plague.
• 2006 - Coup de Jarnac - In our opening scene, we discovered one of the characters, Guy Chabot, Sieur de Jarnac, was causing some problems that were ultimately remedied by the end of the day.
• 2007 - The scenario was held in 1523 Petite Lyon with the return of King Francois I and focused on the meeting between King Francois Premiere and Giovanni du Verrazzano to discuss plans for an expedition to the New World.
• 2008 - The Fall of Bourbon - presented the discord between Charles Bourbon and Francois I, and culminated in an intense scene involving a dual (sword fight) between the duke and the king.
• 2009 - The scenario that season took place in the year 1518. Francois I was in negotiations with King Henry VIII of England to arrange the betrothal of Francois's son to Henry's daughter.
• 2010 - A Day of Duels was the scenario where each day was filled with, well duels, whether with swords or words between various characters of the realm.
• 2011 - Saw the first year without a focused scenario other than arriving in Petite Lyon for a wonderful festival.
• 2012 - We just had a great time celebrating life and all that was a part of the Renaissance.
• 2013 - Celebrated the festival’s Chrystal Jubilee.
• 2014 and 2015 - We integrated preparations for the Field of the Cloth of Gold into the activities of the festival day.
• From 2016 until 2020, the scenarios were pretty loose focusing mostly on the two kings convening over a grand celebration in Petite Lyon (and for a time Balinghem, in the north of France).
• 2021 - Robin Hood, Maid Marion, and the Sheriff of Nottingham joined the cast to create some entertaining encounters with the French and English courts.
• A character likened to Cinderella drove the storyline for the season of 2022 and included some dueling excursions between I think it was the three Rodrigos.

To hear a bonus story shared by a