CASTLE of Muskogee Ren Festival 2023

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
So I have a soft Now you'regood to go. Yeah, we're all
We're all like in the same vicinity. And the funny story is that I
don't have a soft voice when Iam teaching at the Maple. No,
that is very true, but Idid my first year is the Italian.
I could not get volume with myItalian accent. Oh no, it's hard
to stay an accent. And thenI got angry and it was easy after

(00:20):
that. That's what you do,all right. So I'm Carlo Cantrell.
We're here with the Castle of Muscoge. The Renaissance Festival is kicking off the
twenty seventh annual. Go ahead andintroduce yourselves as your your Muggle personality,
who you are in the real world, and then who you play at the
Castle of Muscogee. My name isChris Ryan, and I play how Much
Stay Queen Elizabeth the First of England, And I am Kelsinia, and I

(00:43):
play Contessa de Medici. I lovethat a lot. And I am Carlo
Cantrell. And while I'm at theCastle of Muscogee, I am a pirate
named bink Bank. Yes, it'sfrom my favorite fantasy novel when I was
a kid. Oh, what novelis that? Uh, well it's from
Zance. I thought it wasn't.Ye bank is he has no magic,

(01:03):
but in the end he really does. Yes, he's all good. I
also have a whole backstory that Ihad um been captured by a Scottish gentleman
with a coup who taught me waytoo much about the coup and made me
take care of them for years.And that's based on a real story because
when I went past the petting zooone year, there was a man with
a coup and he was telling meall about how to do nuts and how

(01:26):
to take care of the coup,and I could not get away from Every
time i'd go to leave with mychildren, he'd be like, wait,
I need to tell you one morething. And so that became the running
joke. You got wrangled, Igot wrangled man with a Highland coup.
We have a new Highland coup thisyear. I have I have a Highland
coup. You do have a Highlandthe studio, I have a stopped Highland
cou just because of that story.That's magnificent. We have a new Highland

(01:49):
coup who is a baby named Oreothis year, and Oreo is stolen the
hearts of everyone. So when youcome to visit us, you'll have to
stop and see Oreo. But Ipromise no Scotsman that will make you stay
there the entirety of the day.There's so much more to sease, There's
so much to see, and that'swhat it's the twenty seventh annual year.

(02:09):
And so people that have never beenbefore, first of all crazy to me
that the castle can be a castlecan be this close to where you live,
right and you have not been.But if you have gone every year,
there's always something new. What isthe new thing that you can see
this year? This year is ourBavarian district, So we like to think

(02:30):
of ourselves of having a little meltingpot in Castleton of all the different nations.
And this season, the latest oneis going to be our Austrian or
Bavarian area deep within the Black Forest, and so there's a new pub there
and a brand new stage, severalvendors up in that area, several characters
that are new to our festival thisseason, and the Provost of Bavarias joining

(02:53):
us. And he's come with quitethe problem for me though, because he's
he's decided to just annex that wholepot of Castleton and to make a tax
free. So now all of thecitizens of Castleton are going to want to
live in that one small area.And how will we ever improve the town
without taxes? Through yes taxos orstart beheading? Yes, well you know,

(03:16):
and you are from I cannot sayyour full name. Go ahead and
say it again, contessa. Contessa, you're from the Italian Piazza, which
is also one of my favorite I'veheard it's been around now for ten years,
but I still remember walking into itfor the first time, thinking they've
built an Italian piazza, and whatcan we find there? There are so

(03:38):
many wonderful artisans in the piazza.We have a woman who makes a beautiful
artwork out of eggshell. She hasbeen with us for many, many years,
and I, in fact, amwearing several pieces from her. Nice
you can see that she has builtfor me. And we have a wonderful
glassblower. We have all it's reallybecome kind of an artist's hub, and

(04:02):
so we have. And then ofcourse you have wonderful things like Italian food
because why not, and wine,and it is a wonderful place to visit,
and it's tucked just slightly enough awaythat it is still a hidden gem.
It is. That is one ofmy favorite things about the castle is

(04:23):
no matter where you turn, there'ssomething magical in that little area, And
even when you think you've been throughit all, you take another lap and
you're like, what what is this? UM? Last year I think it
was I found the remembrance Garden.Yes, it is tucked away, yeah,
yeah it is. It is atribute after UM, after one of

(04:44):
the shootings, so many mass shootingsright now, but after that UM you
had created the remembrance Garden and Iremember finding it and it has like the
little running water and thinking all thehearts of Castleton are right with me right
now. It's such a magical littleguard absolutely, and those who are very
near and dear to us end uphaving memorials placed there. So it changes

(05:05):
season after season as well, soif you've never had the opportunity to swing
by it again, it is oneof those areas there's always growing and changing
just a little bit. Unfortunately,as the wheel does turn and life goes
on, we do lose people,but it's marvelous to always have them.
As you say, in the Heartof Castleton because it is right in the
middle of everything, but quiet andtucked away. So if you don't take

(05:28):
that road you've never taken before,you'll miss something right, And so it
is marvelous to have that there.I love that. So yeah, if
you've never been before you walk intothe care this is what you did wrong
this year. You let me comeon a media day. Yes, where
everyone is in Castleton is doing theirthing, but there are no other people

(05:48):
from the public right And I walkedin the gate and I thought, they
have no idea what they're doing.They've set me free in the past with
no one to guard, no supervision, and I had walked in and just
being on that main street, andI am telling you, I was a
child walking into Disneyland. I tearedup in everything. I was like,

(06:09):
oh, there's the Dragon Hat Streetand you know it is. It is
seriously going back in time, yourgateway to another world. Absolutely, and
come with an open heart and anopen mind. If you're if you're going
and you're saying, oh, thisis gonna be awful. First of all,
you're gonna have fun despite yourself becausethere's so much entertainment. Yes,
there's so much great food and drinkand art and artisans. Um that you're

(06:31):
gonna have fun despite yourself. Butif you come with an open heart and
a playful, a playful way aboutyou like you love it when people try
to get in period and laying downcorrect yoh yes, it's among a favorite
things. Yes, um. Itell people to plan for a morning because
that's what you think. You're goingto spend three or four hours, that's

(06:53):
it. They can't possibly have morethan that. But plan for the entire
day, and in some regards,planned to get a hotel and stay because
you're going to fall in love withus and you're gonna want to come back
the next day as well. Andpart of that is that community. It
is that if you walk up toany member of Castleton and you start speaking
to them, they you're going tohave the time of your life. You
won't know what is going to happen, but you're going to have the time

(07:15):
of your life. So yes,dress up, where's something crazy? Come
as the witcher. I don't care, and you will have such an amazing
time. You'll get transported and you'llget to leave all of the cares of
the world behind you, all thatterrible things. The mass shootings, the
pandemic, that all of that stuffcan just fall away. You can just
be lighthearted and play for the day, and it's a wonderful place. Concentrate

(07:38):
on the Black plague instead. Thereyou are, Yeah, the other pandemic
og the original pandemic exactly, ButI mean are there are so many things
to do. Let's just run throughsome of them. I'm walking through the
castle now as I go. Firstof all, you're going to find all
sorts of food and artisans. Abouthow many vendors do you think? You
have? One hundred and fifty vendorsthis season? That's excellent. I know

(08:00):
a dragon hatchery and that's why I'mheaded. First, there's jousting. If
you've never seen live jousting, thisis so much fun. And they do
it all up and they have theyhave the crowd cheering for your night that
you love. And and then inbetween the jousting they have a birds of
prey exhibit. Indeed, the contessaactually gets to preside over the joust.

(08:22):
Indeed, the five o'clock Justice alwaysI get to preside over it. Excellent.
Can you tell me who's going towin? So I know who to
cheer for? I cannot before theychange it up on me and I will
beat. This is now my fifthor sixth year that I have been working
with the Heroic Knights of Old whodo the jousting. They like to change

(08:43):
things up, not always necessarily tellingme. So we have a bit of
fun amongst our group as well,where we will play with each other.
And that you mentioned play and Iwanted to say that is heart and soul
of the festival is a place tocome and safely play. Absolutely and I
love um that there are people thatjoust who right, five of them with

(09:05):
five people, just like do theydo this and travel around the country all
here? Yeah? They shouldn't theydo? So the Heroic Knights have all
due a number of festivals throughout thecountry, UM, and some of them
are actually they spend part of theiryears split apart. And one of our
nights goes back to the East Coastand he's from Philadelphia originally, UM,

(09:26):
and so he does Pennsylvania and hedoes Florida very early in the year and
then he joins us here with therest of his troop and they all jast
together. We've Dame Eden, We'vea female night. We love that too.
And she's quite popular. I knowmore than one young young person who's
you know, three, four orfive years old named Eden specifically because someone

(09:48):
was very moved by having a ladychampion on the field. So that's magnificent.
But yeah, they do. Theytravel all over the all over the
country doing this. Most of ourartisans and crafts means do they and our
stage performers, they all go andspread their joy, you know sort of
it, all these different festivals allthroughout the countryside, So that's always magnificent.

(10:11):
We have a human chess match thathappens at three o'clock as well,
and that's people fighting for the squaresand that's a lot of fun. That's
all made up of members of thevillage, so people who you know,
you may brush elbows with or getthe chance to talk to you during the
day. Then they take the stageand figure out how to fix whatever the
latest ill is in Castleton by wagerwith a chess match. So that's good

(10:35):
fun. I love that you've got. Um. I know you have the
Jolly Rogers. We do some ofmy favorite bards where they are the Jolly
Rodgers. This year we actually havea split run which is exciting. We
have the musical Blades back as well, if you remember them, yes,
they are really good all right,So musical Blades are going to be here
for three of our weekends. JollyRogers will be here for three of our
weekends. We have Tartanic, whois a pipe and drum band. They

(10:58):
are one underful, wonderful fun Ifyou want to dance and have a jig,
they are your they are your groupfor certain um. We also have
a new magician in a very ownItalian piazza and that he is just doing
wonderful things. And the Wheel ofDeath. If you've not Seeneel of Death

(11:20):
indeed situated right outside of the castle, it is quite a sight. This
gentleman will walk along this enormous wheelup in the sky, and watching him
practice has been a little unnerving forme. It must be almost three stories
tall. The sweete that he hewalks among any juggles fire and does all

(11:45):
do crazy things. Oh right,if we haven't sold people yet, there's
juggling fire, there's a wheel,there's food, there's wine, there's a
magician, and there's no reason notto come down. I'm travel circus.
Are they still part of this yes, of course, also in the entire
industrict. Indeed, I love thatthe tribal circus. I saw them when
years ago she was pregnant and nowher little girl comes out and talks to

(12:09):
the crime in the show. Nota little girl, No, not at
all, not even a little bitlittle. I'm totally jealous of the people
that can just be queens and kingsand jousters throughout the year. I think
it's amazing. But we can doit for at least a month out of
the year. I love it thatit lasts so long. It's every Saturday
and Sunday all the way through Junefourth, including Memorial Day weekend. Right,

(12:31):
Yes, absolutely, And we dothe most touching and magnificent Memorial Day
parade where we honor those that havefallen in defense of all the ideals that
we hold to be really important,things like defending each other and caring for
one another. And the fact thatpeople were willing to give their lives for
that is very humbling for us.So we do have a very special parade

(12:52):
on Memorial Day specifically for those people. Oh that's nice. I've never been
n this is what seemed something newI can do every year and I've got
a Bavarian village that's new. Youdo magicians that are new. There's always
something new in Castleton. So ifyou haven't been. A Renaissance festival is
happening right now through June fourth.You can get all the information at Castle
of Muscogee dot org. You canfollow them on Facebook. You can follow

(13:16):
me on Facebook because I'm gonna planto be there like as much as I
possibly can. Absolutely, and isthere anything else you all want people to
know, anything that we'll move peopleto come to Castleton. I would say
there's always the things that happened everyyear that are so wonderful. We're going
to have the Masked Ball this weekendand that is a wonderful opportunity to come

(13:37):
dancing. All of our dances aredesigned for people of every age. So
if you feel that you have twoof the left feet, do not worry
because we can teach you all ofthe dances and you will have a wonderful
time. And we have four danceshows every day at the Maypole, and
I hope to see you there atsome point in time. You will almost
always find me there before. Ilove the dance. And then there's always

(14:01):
the wonderful musical acts throughout there's somany. You turn a corner, as
you say, and there is anew one. So pleased to come to
see them all. It's amazing andthey really do embrace you. At the
castle and Musco, you can goto stand by the maypole and pretty soon
someone will say, let's dance andthey'll teach you everything you need to know.
So it's it's a beautiful time.Kids can come and be knighted.

(14:22):
They can go on a quest throughoutthe castleton to find things and then be
knighted at the end of the day. There's something for everyone, so grab
a cynic, that's right, takethem to the castle and by the end
of the day they are going towant to stay and be part of the
fun. Yes, absolutely bring yourfamilies. It is absolutely family friendly.

(14:43):
We have an entire woodlands that isdevoted only to the way ones with fairies
and mermaids and all manner of excitementthere. And then yes, our court
welcomes with open arms all all peopleof all ages. They want to become
lord, lady, knight, dame, any member of our court, and
we love having that moment to sitand speak with them individually. During that

(15:05):
nighting as I say, come fora few hours and plan to fall in
love with us and stay with usall day between, as you say,
the shopping, the food, andjust the revel re enjoy that it's going
to be made. You will notwant to leave us, and then you
can just buy your return ticket atthe gate when you're ready to go,
and come back and see us again. Absolutely, you will not be able

(15:28):
to not have an accent. Bythe end of the day they start practicing
huzza. Will see you with theCastle of Muskogee Renaissance Festival. Thank you,
ladies, we really appreciate you.Thank you for having us