Renaissance Faire offers amazing family fun
April 6, 2006
KOKOMO, Ind.—See high-flying swords, Indian clubs, flaming stakes, and maybe an audience member or two, when the Amazing Budabi Brothers of Minnesota present extraordinary feats of juggling Saturday, April 22, at the Indiana University Kokomo Renaissance Faire.
Running 10 a.m.–6 p.m. on the campus grounds, the open air festival promises lots of family fun, including
• Puppet shows and a storyteller
• Bocce ball and chess challenges
• Sword-fighting and artisan displays by the Society for Creative Anachronism
• Belly dancing and a Middle Eastern bazaar booth by the Shalimar Dance Troupe of Burlington
• A birthday cake, celebrating the 442nd anniversary of William Shakespeare’s birth
Faire admission is $4 for adults and $2 for youth, ages 2–18. IU Kokomo students will be admitted free with a university ID. All parking is free.
Shakespeare lived and wrote in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, during a boom period for European arts and thought, known as the Renaissance. The IU Kokomo Renaissance Faire brings together games, sports, music, and refreshments that might have been seen at an English festival or market of that time.
A Faire King and Queen, chosen from IU Kokomo students, will hold court and “knight” young spectators. In period costumes, the IUK Singers will perform madrigal tunes, and other students will perform European dances, tell “fortunes,” and present short skits. The student organization MeshEd will offer games for children. Members of the Medical Imaging Club, Humanities Club, History/Political Science Club, and the Purdue University College of Technology Da Vinci Group will staff booths.
Even the refreshments offered at the faire will evoke a bygone era, said faire chairman Kate Washburn. “We’ll feast on ‘roast beasts’ [chicken legs and other entrees], vegetable soup, bread, oranges, and other good things,” she said. An English major from Peru, Washburn heads a 30-member Student Shakespeare Team that is coordinating the faire. The team formed earlier in the semester, to act as campus guides to a visiting Shakespearian acting troupe, Actors From The London Stage.
Having participated in similar faires through the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), Washburn wanted to share the fun with campus. An international organization dedicated to researching and re-creating the arts and skills of pre-17th-century Europe, SCA has two local clubs, called “shires”—The Steren Codha Shire based in Kokomo, and the Narrental Shire, covering the Peru/Logansport region. Both shires will participate at the IU Kokomo faire, demonstrating tournament-fighting techniques and Renaissance trades.
For more information on the IU Kokomo Renaissance Faire, contact Washburn at bonnykatews@aol.com , (765) 438-9688, or (765) 689-7570.
