Bristol Renaissance Faire Steampunk Weekend Recap

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Our second foray of the year into Renaissance Faire Land was fanciful fun.   We rocked the steampunk weekend theme 












and had a great time catching up with a couple dozen friends from Chicago Hip Families, including Jane who has been teaching in China for two years and is back for a short visit.    





We'll soon be featuring some amazing phone photos from Val, a talented friend of ours from the graphic design world.    








This time around we caught a LOT of ren faire regulars like our friends The Swordsmen, Barely Balanced Acrobats, Fairies, and Jousting.   

(We were amazed that the eyeball bandaids we put in the web on opening day weathered all the storms of the past few months and were still there!   Very cool.)


And we couldn't stay away from those mile high chocolate crepes and waffle cones.



Shout out to our friend, Tina, at Gemini Glass.   She's very involved in Chi-Town's theatre scene, but during the summer you can stop by the ren faire shop and find everything from blown glass tinys to massive stained glass masterpieces.    If you love mythical creatures and the beautiful prisms of refracted light, then this is the shop to see.

Congrats to Grichels creator, Melissa Smith-Smith, who is expecting a baby in October.   She'll be one hip mama.   Do we see a line of mini Grichels in the future?    Those would be some seriously cool diaper bags and nursery decor to offset the sickly sweet pastels out there!    I wanna see a baby sling with a Grichel on the tail.





I'm very excited for her and a little selfishly bummed.    I was hoping to score a black laptop case with blue or green eyes, but she's off to Maryland for more faire fun, then laying low for fall.    We love her work!    Maybe during that last frenzy of creative energy and nesting, she'll pop out a few more Grichels before her love and energy rightfully turns to her human newborn for a while.   Ah well....





There's just 1 week left to enjoy merry old England, just across the border in Bristol, Wisconsin.   Then this magical, mystical land will travel onward for another year.   We highly recommend getting a costume together and checking it out.   





Ren Faire is open next Saturday through Monday.   Check their site for specifics and special closing weekend deals.


Check out our prior photo filled Ren Fair 2011 coverage right HERE

Huzzah! Photo Filled Adventures at Bristol Renaissance Faire

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Bristol Renaissance Faire Is Merry Olde Fun For All.   We're going back again next weekend with a bunch of friends, and can't wait.    Here's our photo filled adventures from earlier this season.    We had a chance to check out the new Ren Quest mini mystery for kids.   It was a fun story line and everyone left with a prize.   When we went the kids got a cool, sparkly rock and a wooden Ren Faire necklace.   Make a bee line and register early because space is limited and the game fills fast.


Sagezilla, more pirate than lady, again rocked the pirate catapult and scaled the castle walls.   She's mastered the art of backflips while bouncing unimaginably high, with nothing but bungie cords and a harness to keep her from flying off into oblivion.    She also tried the bigger castle climbing wall for the first time this year and monkeyed right up.


My little collectors thoroughly enjoyed checking out the fair's fares.    We came home with 2 little vials of fairy dust on a lanyard, a dragon necklace, and various magic pebbles, blown glass tinys and a silver unicorn on a rock.    The kids were also give treasures, by various sordid characters, and ended up with a "monkey finger", a bead, three glass pebbles, and two marbles. 


One of our favorite vendors is Grichels-A Wrinkle in Reality.   We're entranced by their leather works with real taxidermy eyes and more personality than you'd believe possible.    Du-Jay bought a bookmark from them with his own money, last year at The Chicago Waldorf School Winter Fair, and our pup, Igraine the Brave, used it as a teething toy.    When we told the good folks at Grichels of the sad fate of the bookmark beastie, they gave Du another.   Very cool!   We're keeping it up in the bunk bed bookshelf, well out of dog's way.    


We're also huge fans of Sky Chairs, and have bought 3 of them over the years.    They're super comfortable.    I even spent much of both pregnancies in the Sky Chair because it was easy to get in and out of and the motion was soothing.


Sagezilla was literally nearly born in our hemp Sky Chair!    I labored so long there before hitting the birthing pool, because being able to rock eased the pressure of contractions and felt great.   Both kids were so chill there as nurslings, too.   It was the coolest suspended rocking chair ever.   We highly recommend Sky Chairs as great gift for pregnant, birthing or nursing friends.    Of course they're pretty cool for just about everyone.    We haven't met anyone yet who didn't love ours.


We've been long time fans of Ren Fair and it was great to see many of our old favs again.    We made a point to catch The Barely Balanced Acrobats big fire finale show and Adam (Crack) Winrich, the Fire Whip Guy.


It was also a visit for checking out some new acts like the ventriloquist, Ded Bob Sho.   We can't wait to go back and check out Jane the Phoole, Moonie and Broon, and The Swordsmen.


We finished off our Ren Fair Adventures with our tradition of decadent Mile High Chocolate Crepes.


We highly recommend checking out the faire, running for the next 2 weekends and closing Labor Day Monday.

DON'T MISS: 

Steampunk Invasion

August 27 & 28

Bring your vials filled with life elixir, crank those sprockets, engage your pulley system and don your Victorian finery. Then come chase 'the green fairy' at our Absinthe Bar.  

&

Fantasy Facial Hair Contest

August 28

Just one growing week left for our Fantasy Facial Hair Contest. Get a beard comb, break out the hair gel, the bedazzler and the food coloring.  Be proud, be scientific and experiment with your hair... Bristol will provide your reward.

ALL THE HAIRY INFORMATION IS HERE. 

Dates & Times

The Bristol Renaissance Faire is only open on specific weekends during the summer and fall. 

In 2011 the show starts Saturday, July 9th and runs only on Saturdays, Sundays & Labor Day, from July 9th through September 5th, 2011. The show is not open on any weekday except Labor Day, which is the final show day of the year.

The show hours are 10am through 7pm.

Join us:

Saturdays, Sundays & Labor Day 

July 9 through Sept. 5, 2011 

Off I-94 at the IL/WI border 

10am - 7pm 

847-395-7773