Silver Leaf Renaissance Faire

In strictest adherence to the One Fun Rule, a roadtrip was made this past weekend-a step back in time, into Sherwood Forrest, the world of Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men, wenches and swashbucklers, knights and fairies, kings, queens and all manner of royalty and their attending courts-including jesters and wizards! The Silver Leaf Renaissance Faire takes place each year in Battle Creek, MI at Kimball Pines Park and runs every weekend from the first weekend in July through the first weekend in August. This is the 17th season, growing and going strong!

The moment Chris, Elizabeth, Talia, and I stepped through the front gates,we were transported to another world. In the forest all the vendors, staff, volunteers, entertainers and even some of the guests, are in costume and in their character roles for the entire event.

There are nine different stages that host live entertainment all day long! We took in a few shows while there. The first was a musical comedy act called The Bocca Show, which combined beautiful, harmonious voices, along with jokes, silly songs, and slapstick humor. The Birds of the Gauntlet is a falconry show where we saw elegant falcons and hawks fly free and learned about this ancient art. The Deb Bob Sho was a unique brand of graveside humor. Luckily we weren't "Bob-mo-tized"! Noble Cause Production was the valiant jousting knights, but due to the all the rain the day before they had to cancel their show because it would be to dangerous for the horses. Instead the knights gave a very informative lecture about their armor and weapons.

All of the shows were free with our admission to the festival, however, the actors do accept tips. Many of them are theater interns and semi-professional actors from local theater groups. The only pay they receive for their efforts at this event are through the tips they are given. All of the shows we watched were well worth a buck or two!

Then we capped off the experience with the final act of a 6 vignette that went on throughout the day starring Robin Hood, his Merry Men, Maid Marion, King Richard, evil Prince John, and the entire Sherwood Forrest! Of course, in the final act, good triumphed over evil.

This was a great time! Check out my pictures below.