Pirates Ahoy! Insired by the Disney movie, "Curse of the Black Pearl," this Captain Jack Sparrow-lookalike turned heads wherever he went at Excalibur! His attention to detail was truly awesome: although it does not show up clearly in this photo (Left), Captain Jack is shown holding up the piece of Aztec gold he carried around faire all day! I'd seen him before -- briefly, alas! -- at the Louisiana Renaissance Festival back in the Fall of 2003, but was only able to catch a quick portrait of him in passing at that time. This weekend at Excalibur, he was more than happy to pose for a series of portraits both with playtrons and one of the buccaneer-garbed merchants at faire. As if the LRF connection wasn't strong enough already, I was both surprised and delighted to also see Geoffrey the Piper (Below, Right: leading the Afternoon Parade with one of the Good Faeries at Excal) playing his sprightly tunes for appreciative fairegoers at Excalibur. It seems he finally decided to follow his dream and join the faire circuit this year, full-time. Over the winter he bought an RV, then packed out his wife and daughter as soon as the weather would allow and they all hit the High Road for Adventure together! I can't say I really blame him: given the same opportunity, I'd take to the highway myself, visiting as many renaissance faires and festivals as I could -- time and money allowing. Alas, but that must wait until my retirement, eight years from now! In the meantime, however, I'll make it a point to look for Geoffrey at both LRF and Excal when next I visit those faires: verily, there's nothing like having good Rennish friends to make faire more fun!!!

Excalibur is certainly no exception to that rule. Being the first faire of the Texas Renaissance Festival Season, all the Texas Rennies who can drive, walk, crawl or be carried in on a stretcher show up for this occasion! It's not only a grand excuse for one awesome party, but a great opportunity to get reacquainted with old friends, make lots of new friends, share personal news and PLAY together (Photo, Left: Malice showed up at Excal this year as a Wood Elf -- a truly wonderful surprise! Photo, Right: a Kat on a stick elicits a hearty laugh from this sturdy forester!). Instrooth, that's what drives the faire experience for me nowadays. Yea, while the stage performers are always entertaining, the musicians truly talented and the jousts really exciting (see Photo, Below), yet after following a number of midwestern festivals for more than twelve years, many of the faire acts and entertainments on our local circuit have become quite familiar and downright predictable for me. Fact is, more than one stage show has never ever bothered to change their gig -- routines, dialogue, jokes or "patter" -- one whit in all that time! Believe me, you can only see so many comedy swordfighters, jugglers, fire-eaters, magicians et al at faire before you find yourself not only following their lines but laughing uproariously at all their jokes -- BEFORE THEY SAY THEM!!! Which's why I rarely stop to watch any of the stage performers these days: I would much rather just hang out with my Rennish friends now, laughing, joking, playing and partying together at faire. Indeed, it is all my friends and acquaintances who truly make the Rennish Experience so enjoyable for me, aye!

Not that I don't appreciate it when a RenFaire like Excalibur tries to do something new, different and exciting. Or unique, like the Pickle Joust (Photo, Above), which lampoons hilariously the goodly -- but far more serious! -- Knights of Noble Cause; or the children's "Slay the Dragon" game (Photo, Below), where each child gets three chances to whack the dragon pinata until -- bruised, battered and broken -- it spills its' tasty treasure hoard of candy to the delight of all. Such events are not only great fun for the participants but for all the spectators as well!

Needless to say, I was quite happy with Excalibur2004, right up to and thru the Closing Cannon on Final Weekend (see Photo, Below). Aye, I might have missed out on the festivities of Opening Weekend because of the weather, but I was not at all disappointed by the three faire weekends which followed. That season I came away with over 400 images of the players, playtrons, entertainers, events, street theater and storyline alone. Besides that, I was also able to buy all my Christmas presents and birthday gifts well in advance at Excal; and -- far more important to me at that point! -- meet and greet all my old Rennish friends and acquaintances one last time again. In 2004, you see, I moved out of Texas permanently, returning to Arkansas shortly after Excalibur closed for the year. It was, as you can well imagine, a most bittersweet farewell for me: even with family and friends awaiting me back home, it was not easy leaving all my faire friends in Texas behind. Fortunately, this move did not mean an end to my involvement with Texas faires. As it turned out, once back in Arkansas I quickly found gainful employment with one HUGE benefit: an automatic four-day weekend once a month -- every month! -- during the year. Which means that I can still visit the likes of Excalibur, Scarborough and TRF, although not as often as before. Which also means that I WILL be at Excalibur in 2005 to meet, to greet, to play and to party with all my Rennish friends, once again! So if the RenFaire Godz are willing, I'll see you all there in the Spring: HUZZAH!!!

Standard Disclaimer: This webpage is strictly an *Unofficial* look at the Excalibur Renaissance Festival held near Bastrop, TX. The author of these pages is in no way, shape, manner or form connected with the Excalibur Renaissance Festival (OFFICE ADDRESS: 1007 Main St., Suite E, Bastrop, TX 78602) and/or any of the sponsors associated with this event. All opinions expressed are strictly this author's own. Unless noted otherwise, all photographs are copyright ©2000-2005 by George Laking.