The weather this year was a lot nicer than the freezing cold temps that we experienced in '99. I could feel my fingers the entire time we were there!

KCRF IN 2001
by Willa, ATF Staff Writer

The Kansas City Renaissance Festival is a special faire for John-Paul and myself because it was our first date. It was a magical weekend in '99 that we try to relive (and somehow don't quite manage to) every year since. However, new magic always seems to happen. We always leave with new friends that we will never forget.

We managed to attend on our anniversary weekend, October 29 & 30, which just happened to be NASCAR weekend just a few miles from the festival grounds. This lead to no hotel rooms in a 90 mile radius and a packed interstate.

We got there early afternoon on Saturday and immediately ran into the Brobdingnagian Bards and got to see the end of their show. We also caught the Orckes & Trolles (who were in fine form!), Minstrosity, 3 Pints Gone, Jolly Rogers, The Rogues and quite a few others.

We hung out for quite some time at Mother Pockets (such an absolutely lovely woman!) and got to see a bit of the behind the scenes action. We even got to participate in being a wall to block the crowds from seeing her work her magic at the cauldron over the fire. I felt extremely special! And, of course, we partook of her delicious soup as often as we could. Yum.

Oh, and JP discovered Chaucer's Mead, which he fell madly in love with...both cold and warm. A very special thank you to Rosalynd for putting up with his antics while we waited in line. Such a lovely lass!

We had an awful lot of fun having absolutely no schedule. There was no where to be at any set time...there was no one waiting for us anywhere to make sure that we got this or that done. We view our annual trip to KCRF as if we were mall employees doing a pilgrimege to the Mall of America.

Speaking of shopping, we went nuts! JP got the pimp jacket we've been dreaming about finding (thanks Layla!) and I found a very haughty straw hat that just screamed for massive amounts of orange feathers (which I heard).I had a big mug full of tangerine tea (heaven) and did I mention how much JP loved the mead? I got my portrait drawn by a very talented artist and we got Sheila a new pair of horns (halellujah!) and spent far too much money on all the goodies.

All in all, it was a most enjoyable weekend. And we went back the next weekend with the boys for Bandits and Bucaneers weekend! Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

The photos should be up soon...