THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 18, 1995 TAG: 9505160114
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOAN C. STANUS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
Got a hankering to step back some 400 years in time?
You'll get the chance Saturday and Sunday, when downtown Norfolk will be a stage, and all sorts of lords and ladies will be players at the second annual Virginia Renaissance Faire.
The old Bard himself may even turn up.
For the weekend, Town Point Park will be transformed into a rural British Renaissance village in the midst of celebrating spring and the arrival of King Henry VIII and his queen, Anne Boleyn.
From noon to 6 p.m. each day, members of the royal court, the Duchess of Norfolk, the village idiot, maidens, knights, mud-beggers, peddlers, the court jester, the village drunk and other medieval folk will meander through a potpourri of events and activities, interacting with festival-goers and educating them on the history and lifestyles of the 16th century.
Faire-goers are encouraged to get into the spirit by coming in their own costumes.
The highlight of the weekend will be the Renaissance wedding of Chesapeake resident Diana Reardon and Jason Schmus of Portsmouth. The public is invited to join family, friends, royals and villagers at the 3 p.m. nuptials on Saturday in the Renassaince Garden, adjacent to Waterside. Schmus proposed to Reardon at the faire in 1994 and asked organizers if the couple could wed at this year's event. They agreed.
Other area couples, eager to renew their own vows, will get a chance to do so at the unusual wedding.
But there's far more than a royal wedding crammed into this weekend of time travel. Faire-goers can browse through an Olde World Market, where artisans will display hand-crafted jewelry, dragon art, hand-spun woven clothing, Celtic jewels, pewterware, family heirlooms and more. Or they can check out the antics of the befuddled knights, Hack and Slash, or the comic rendition of a duel in the Jesters Joust. A human chess board, strolling minstrels, sheep-dog trials and performances by dance groups, the Locrian Concort, a fire juggler, tightrope walker, harlequin stilt walkers and the Pyrates Royal also are planned.
At Mahone's Forge, Renaissance revelers will be able to play antique games, grind spice, dip candles, press tin and watch a blacksmith at work. Shows featuring birds of prey and 17th-century puppets also are scheduled.
For the wee lads and lassies, activities will include presentations of ``Cinderella,'' ``Snow White'' and ``Sleeping Beauty'' by the Storytyme Theater, a king's knighting ceremony and opportunities to pet Karmina the Camel. Booths also will be set up for the kids to paint a dragon mural, make bubbles, juggle and catapult frogs.
Throughout the village, a banquet of succulent foods, drinks and ale will be available for the gluttonous. Vendors will sell smoked turkey legs, steak on a stick, bangers on a bun and apple dumplings. Among the libation participants, proprietors of the Renaissance pub Rosie Rumpe's Regal Dumpe promise five ``raucous tavern shows'' each day of the faire.
Proceeds from beverage sales throughout the weekend will benefit the Tidewater Down Syndrome Association, Lions Eye Bank, the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Hampton, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of South Hampton Roads.
Beyond Town Point, merchants in downtown and Ghent also will get into the medieval mood during the weekend. Art galleries, florists and antique shops will feature Renaissance art, jewelry and other wares in their establishments in conjunction with the Town Point Park festivities. by CNB