Pennsylvania Renaissance Fair
- Guy Collins
- Sep 30
- 9 min read
Updated: Oct 2
When I first set out for Key West (January 2001) I passed by the Renaissance Fair at Marathon airport on my way up the Keys, I dropped in and asked if maybe I could do a show or two. They said yes! So I borrowed some bits of costume from the fair and did just that. I was an immediate hit, partly because I had a show, but mostly because of my English accent. I remember Jim the Rat catcher telling me I had a future in Ren fairs. When I got to Key West, I was pretty much immediately taken on by the Hilton Hotel, and the rest became history. I didn't even think about Renaissance fairs again till 2008 when my friend the legendary, and still not dead yet, Gazzo telling me about the Maryland Renaissance Festival and how he was going to recommend me to the artistic director, which he subsequently did.
And so in 2008 I made my debut at the Maryland Renaissance festival, for three weekends on the Lyric stage as Larksalot the Bald. I drew some pretty big crowds from day one, and two years later I started performing for the full run and was actively seeking to perform at other Renaissance fairs as well. My English accent made me an easy fit for productions that seek to be (at least a little bit) authentic.
After my family and I left Key West for Vermont (a move Joanna and I made, so our children would have a better education, Vermont had the best public schools in the USA at the time), I realized that I could make a pretty decent living by adding a few renaissance fairs to my almost empty calendar. Key West had been so easy, two shows per night on the pier at the Hilton (then Westin, then Opal) resort 5 nights per week, all year round, I cycled from my house!
Vermont was going to be very different, if I was going to thrive I needed to tour. My first full run of the Maryland Festival was great, and I was invited back for 2011. So with my new-found success as Larksalot I made a push for more. I had become friendly with the Legendary (that's two in one blog) sword-swallower Johnny Fox (real name John Fox) who was a headline act at the Maryland festival, and we started to perform on the same bill at the Connecticut Spring Renaissance Fair, which was good for us as it was early in the year and didn't interrupt Maryland. Maryland is a huge annual event that has been running since 1977, and now has over 350,000 visitors per year and runs for 9 weekends. The Connecticut Spring fair was less than 5 years old and on a good day got 2000 patrons, it also had far fewer acts and no permanent buildings and only ran for 4 weekends. It did have enthusiastic management and truly celebrated diversity. We had a run of three seasons together, and I stayed at his house in Seymour during that time. The house was filled with freakish wonders left over from the "Freakatourium" museum he had in New York City, there were Narwhal tusks on the wall and a mermaid in a jar among other oddities! In the evenings he would tell me stories of his life in show business (I first saw Johnny on the Paul Daniels magic show on TV in the UK in 1988) which were numerous and often hilarious but always fascinating. I did an interview with Johnny in his bus at the Maryland Renaissance Festival, and you can (and should) listen to it here -
Sadly, Johnny died in December 2017. I miss him, and the Maryland Festival is just not the same place without him.
The other fact I haven't' mentioned yet is that I met my lovely wife Stephanie at the Maryland Festival, obviously she was the Queen. Not just the Queen, but in fact the longest running Queen the festival ever had, a role which she excelled in. I was always particularly struck by her gentle way with children and how much they like her because of it.
Between 2011 through to 2014, I performed at several renaissance fairs and festivals, but I soon realized that Maryland was by far the best in both pay, audience reaction and general professionalism. That was until last year, when I was contracted to perform for one weekend at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire for their Viking weekend.
Pennsylvania is another of the big renaissance fairs, it runs for 12 weekends from the middle of August. Like Maryland, it has permanent buildings and stages and better still paved pathways and flushing toilets. And at least for me, no ghosts!
I have had three great days off at home in Vermont, the garden is growing very nicely, we have an abundance of tomatoes, a decent crop of potatoes, lots of broccoli and the cannabis is looking great. Although, Stephanie has had some words with me regarding the amount of weeding and watering that has had to be done in my absence.
Unusually, Stephanie has also decided that she would quite like to come with me to the faire, and so on Friday afternoon we set off for Manheim, Pennsylvania, where the faire has booked us a hotel. It's a pretty decent place and has both a pool and a fitness centre. And so, well rested, the next morning we set off for the faire. My first show isn't till 1.30 pm, but everyone has to attend the morning meeting, which is at 9 am, so we are up at 7 am, it is only a short drive to the fairgrounds, we are not rushed, and on arrival I am able to drive right up to the backdoor of my stage, which is called the "Endgame", and unload my props which are heavy, very heavy. I have a large trunk and an extremely large hammer, Thor has a mighty hammer, Eric has a mediocre (but massive) mallet! As Eric, I balance a full wine glass on top of the mallet and then place the mallet on my chin. Props unloaded, I park the car and go to the morning meeting. I know a few of the other performers from my days in Maryland, London Broil who are a three-person juggling team are sharing my stage, they are good guys, so I know it's going to be fun. The only original member of the troupe is Matt, who is a large and friendly man. The others being AJ who has probably worked with Matt for about 10 years and the new guy Elan. Their show is old school juggling and as a juggling nerd, I really like it.
I also meet the artistic director Barbara, who is very nice, especially as the first thing she does is to hand me a cheque.
As I am not on till 1.30 pm, and it's only 9.15 am, I walk the grounds with Stephanie, and we indulge in a couple of scotch eggs (not as nice as the ones John Adams mum used to make for us when we went swimming as children) which were pretty good, especially with some mustard. We spend a nice morning together, taking in the sights and sounds. The fairgrounds are quite pretty, but there is also a bit of a theme park feeling. As a former Queen, Stephanie is interested in the Royal Court and Queen here, and we watch a few of their interactions with the patrons. The Queen is fun and full of smiles, which is nice, Stephanie would prefer her to be a bit more regal. In Maryland there was a more serious side to the production of the royal court and the characters and events were based upon real history. Here in Pennsylvania, there seems to be a far more laissez-faire attitude in the portrayal of historical events. I'm not saying one is better than the other, just noting the different styles. The end of the day joust is a full on battle, complete with pyrotechnics, horses and a cast of about 50. That bit really is spectacular.
I head to the stage to get ready for my first performance, I am only performing Eric once this year and this is it. Eric has long blond hair and a rather fetching moustache, so my preshow preparations are going to take longer than normal. Backstage at the Endgame stage is pretty spacious, there are three floors, but it does reek of body odour from years of sweaty performers. It is decorated with old posters and signs from previous years, a glass of wine used to only cost $5, which back then was probably expensive! As I think I mentioned, it is a big stage and even has a balcony.
I make my entrance from the balcony, "I am Eric"! I bellow, "I am Viking"! And I start ringing one of my big hand bells. I have a pretty decent turnout for the first show, the seats are mostly full, and a few people are standing at the back. A lot of the crowd are wearing Viking garb. The bell routine goes down very well, and I move on to the Hammer, it's an unusual prop for sure, I bought it in an antique shop in Bennington, I overpaid for it for sure, but having said that, it was so worth it. The wine glass balance certainly looks very impressive and there is plenty of physical comedy to be had by dropping the hammer on my foot successively, so I do.
After the Mallet, it's time for the plate spinning routine where I spin two plates on my horned hat and one on a stick in my mouth, whilst at the same time juggling axes and balancing on a plank of wood on a tube, there is a cut out of a Viking longship on the plank. I also have cut out waves and a shark. It's always a winner and there is some great fun audience participation. This is a trick that often works better when it goes wrong once or twice. However, the going wrong has to happen organically and cannot be forced, or at least I haven't found a way to force it convincingly!
The finale of the show is a Viking funeral, I light my fire torches behind the cut out of the longship which makes a pretty picture, and then I whip off the wig and juggle the fire.
At the end the crowd are chanting "Eric, Eric, Eric". I'm pretty pleased with that!
All six of the shows over the weekend are pretty good.
I am scheduled to perform at the Pub Sing on Sunday night.
Pub Sing is an integral part of pretty much every Renaissance fair I have ever attended. The format is usually an MC who introduces a number of bands, musicians, singers and a couple of variety acts somewhere in the middle of the bill. As the name suggests, the main idea is to get everyone singing together. Normally the Pub Sing is actually in a Pub, in Pennsylvania it is on the main stage and also it is the only entertainment playing. It's a full house on the Sunday evening. I'm due on stage about half way through the bill, and I am following a band who get a decent enough reception. I have 5 minutes, so I decide to perform the bell routine, I normally do this with young children but tonight I have an adult audience. "I need a woman"! I annouce to the crowd. I choose a woman of about 30 who is wearing some pretty Viking garb. She is a great volunteer full of smiles and easy to play with. I then ask for a man and I choose a fairly slight man who looks a little nerdy, but also looks like he has a sense of humour, again he is easy to play with. "Now I need a good looking man" say I. There is a man dressed as a Viking three rows back from the front of the stage, he's perfect, muscles, viking tatoos, the complete package. I pull him up on stage. There is a bit of banter between us and this guy is great and has a nice bit of macho attitude. I explain to the crowd that each volunteer will ring the bell that is in front of them and the audience will cheer them after they have. I start with the nerdy guy who rings his bell gently at first until I chide him and he rings the bell enthusiastically, big cheers from the crowd. The woman is next a gives the bell a vigourous ring, again big cheers. Now it's time for the macho Viking, his bell is smaller so he has to ring it even more vigourously. He starts to shake the bell, nothing happens, he shakes it again, still silence, the audience are laughing. "Someone has stolen, your dingaling" I say to more laughter, this is an adult audience afterall. I produce the big bell and the volunteers give them another ring, the crowd are particularly loud when the macho Viking rings the big bell. I dismiss the volunteers from the stage and annouce that I am going to juggle the bell until I can no longer hear the sounds of the bells and just hear the sound of clapping and cheering. Wow! I have never had such a huge reaction, the cheering and the clapping was truly massive and when I stop juggling the bells and turn to exit the crowd once again chant "Eric, Eric, Eric"!
I am litterally exilerated by the experience.
Stephanie is waiting at the back of the stage for me. I'm very happy and she is complimentary (which actually means alot to me). We drive back to the hotel and dinner.
As I said this was my only Renaissance fair of the year and my only performance of Eric too. Maybe I should do Eric more?
