My very first trip ever to the New York Renaissance fair! People have been talking about this fair for years; about how it’s the biggest and the best around, about how they can’t believe I haven’t been. Well, this year we finally made the long drive in the early morning to Tuxedo, NY to attend and see for ourselves what everyone’s talking about.
As soon as we walked through the gates we were greeted by a bunch of different cast members. There was singing and acting and even some birds right at the entrance to marvel at. Everyone was well dressed and embraced their roles. The fair grounds themselves were also beautiful; large, well-maintained permanent structures nestled among the trees. Everything looked fantastic. However, we did have some problems with the layout pretty early on. It was very easy to get lost. The fairgrounds were spread out over a large area, which is a positive, but the streets and corridors are narrow: much too narrow for the crowds that filled them so it was hard to see where we were going. The place was also set up like a maze with the streets winding along odd directions, perhaps designed to make it hard to leave….
Did I mention yet that the streets were crowded? I expected the big popular fair to be full of people, but I wasn’t really prepared for all of the dawdling masses stumbling down the pathways like zombies. It was not at all easy to get from place to place. Another obstacle that we encountered was the weather. It was pretty hot for mid September, and of course we dressed appropriately as we could, but I was surprised by the lack of shade at the fair considering it’s really a summer fair, only running for the months of August and September. Summer fairs are nice and all, but I prefer the fall ones because you can pack on more and more garb. It’s hard to wear allllll of the frippery when it’s 80 degrees, sunny, and there’s little shade at each stage.
Since I’ve already mentioned it, let’s talk about our outfits. I whipped up a new dress special for the occasion and paired it with my moresca Khadijia bodice, bracers, and a few belt accessories. I had planned the look with a fur collar, but it was just too warm for it. I was so sad to learn while at the Moresca booth in NY that they are discontinuing the Khadijia line! Apparently their trim manufacturer went under and they don’t know how to replace them. Bummer! That line was so pretty.
Anywho, my dress is made from a sturdy upholstery fabric. I started with a pattern that zipped up the side but altered it greatly to instead lace up the sides and include pockets! Love my dresses with pockets. I wanted a dress that laces up the sides so I could put it on all by myself for a change. Laces in back look nice and smooth, but they require a lot of assistance to get dressed. I say I altered the pattern greatly because it also was a horrible fit out of the packaging. Pretty much everything about it was wrong: I had to move every dart, and all the seams above the waist. I won’t be using that pattern again, though I like how the dress turned out in the end.
Jake wore essentially the same thing that he did to King Richard’s a few weeks earlier, details here, but we added some fur! He moved them around throughout the day depending on the heat. I also made a few edits to his pants since the last time that he wore them to fit better.
Our favorite show at the fair, though it was impossible to see everything in only one day, was the falconry show. Not just falcons, they had a trained vulture and an owl as well. I have seen bird demonstrations before, but this was the first time that the birds were allowed to fly about the audience! It was easily the closest we’ve ever been to these winged predators. The show did not go exactly to plan; there was some difficulty getting the right animal to go back into the correct cage, but the slip-ups only made it more thrilling because it was evident that these birds had opinions and thoughts of their own, and really, at any moment they could do something totally unexpected like claw your face off or take something from your hand.
The shopping is about what we expected with a few extra dazzling, but also extra expensive treasures thrown in. We were really blown away by this shop full of copper garden sculptures. Some were working fountains and other lit up! All of the shops were well styled in permanent structures with flowers and functional decor.
Another cool feature at the fair was an active viking reenactment village. It was tucked away in a quiet location on the fair grounds so it was actually quite difficult to find. The setting was perfect though for a season-long camp-out. The reenactors wore real evidence-based garb, not as flashy as the stuff that I extrapolate on to make my costumes, and were working by hand to carve logs for their tents and wood sheds. There was a working cook fire, and children running around being bored. Very authentic and enchanting for that reason.
So was Tuxedo a good fair worth exploring? Absolutely! Would I say it’s better than all of the other fairs in the region? I’m not sure about that. I have a great time every year at King Richard’s and the Vermont Winter Faire. Will I go back to Tuxedo every year? We’ll see. It is a very long drive for me, but maybe I can manage the trip once annually….
