Fire at the Faire!

Seen here is Adam Crack, current holder of 7 Guinness world recorders for working with a whip. His show was just one of the many going on at the St. Louis Renaissance Faire this past weekend.


Renaissance Faires are interesting places because you see many people dressed in regular clothes and then you see an equal number of folks dressed up as everything from fantasy characters, to historically accurate nobility, to sci-fi characters. Besides the Dr. Who's we also saw at least one character from Avatar. This is another one of the perfect pan-geek events that gives people a chance to dress up, have fun, and meet like-minded folks.


Faires are far more than a chance to pick up jewelry and see a jousting match. There are actors walking around who interact with you, parades, and once you get in there are shows going all day with everything from very bawdy singing to fare like Adam Crack's work with fire. The artists and artisans add a nice touch as you can see them working on various projects and sometimes get to try out the crafts they are doing.

A first for me in the many years I have been going to Faires (maybe I've missed these types of booths?) was a booth hosted by a chemistry honour society. It was a working alchemy lab, with of course a beaker over a flame. Two different chemists talked about the history of alchemy and showed how to do some experiments like changing the colour of a penny. The picture on left is part of the inside of the alchemist lab. And of course there was fire, which he is attending to in the photo.





To see some of the faire check out this video I quickly edited today:


There are a few more videos (some of fire!) at the Chronic Geek youtube.

Finally, to see more photos check out the Chronic Geek Flickr.