On the second weekend of November, Jake and I hosted the second annual Family Plague Faire in our side-yard. Inspired last year by pandemic lockdowns and the closures of all our annual renaissance faires, the event’s inaugural year was a covid-compliant tiny event with only eight guests in attendance and social distancing strictly enforced. This year we were able to expand a bit to include more vaccinated friends, more food, and less distance in the open-air.
This year saw upgrades to our feasting, including a functional cook fire and tripod. We had hot bread, soup, chicken legs, and skewers all without any back and forth to the kitchen oven. The fire also kept us warm in the seasonally brisk November air. I was happy for the chill however, so that I had cause to wear my winter viking-garb.
Jake worked the fire most of the day, and quickly shed his kaftan and scarf layers. I kept a close eye (and hands) on the banquet, further from the fire, and was thankful to have a kaftan and hood at the ready. There was less sewing to do in preparation for this year’s event because I reused most of the décor from last year with minimal edits. This freed up more time and mental space to buy lots of wine. I scored a set of vintage pewter candlesticks, as well as a wooden pair at a local antique shop–a real secondhand place, not a place that distresses furniture en masse–the day before the event and justified my purchase by “having an immediate use” for items I’ve long coveted. You can see the red dollar-store candles and the tiny candlesticks in the photo below.
I will be adding tapered candles to the wedding registry I’m currently assembling… In addition to feasting and drinking we had games such as corn-hole, bocce, and ax-throwing. Little beasts that crashed our feast included three hellhounds, one plague-rat, and a dragon! The event ran until sunset when it slowly and naturally concluded and we quickly broke-down the tents in twilight. We were such a proud spectacle that several cars driving by went around the block again for a second look, and one woman stopped and got out of her car to ask what we were up to. Y’know, just living in a fantasy for a bit.
