Despite unseasonably gloomy, cold and wet weather, Mayfaire 2006 in Northern Arkansas turned out to be one of the more memorable and enjoyable faires Ryleh the Wanderer has experienced in a long time (Photo, Above: early Saturday morning in Merchants' Row at the new Mayfaire Renaissance Festival). First and foremost, it was a glorious opportunity to "do faire" with my cousin and her family again (Photo, Right: Lady Marie "Celeste" Laveaux in Gypsy garb with her husband, Squire Lee Ewegest, who was slated to receive his knighthood later that same day; Photo, Left: her daughter, the Lady Rhiannon, enjoying the warmth of her royal-purple cloak; Photo, Below: and Lady Celeste's son, Sir Aaron, a ranger-bowman, shown embracing his girlfriend, the lovely Lady Erica). It had been many years since we all had played together at faire -- at the late, lamented Withrow Renaissance Festival 1999 at Huntsville, Arkansas, in fact -- so we had some really serious catching up to do. It did not hurt at all, of course, that this new festival was conveniently located near Erbie in Newton County, Arkansas, only an hour away from our doorstep; nor that this faire weekend also just happened to coincide with Sir Aaron's seventeenth birthday (see map to Mayfaire here)!

Mayfaire itself was just a wee bit different as far as renaissance festivals go. Billed as "a renaissance festival for Rennies," it was organized more along the lines of a SCA (Society for Creative Anachronisms) event, with a healthy dose of LARP (Live-Action Role-Playing) thrown in for good measure. Which meant there were tournaments and fantasy quests and more tournaments and plenty of hand-to-hand combat with boffer (heavily-padded) weapons to go around! All of which suggested to me that Mayfaire would be an excellent opportunity to try out a slightly different "look" for faire. Basically, all this meant was simply tinting my facial hair -- eyebrows, mustache and beard -- with an "acid green" spiking gel and donning a "Green Man mask" Mardi Gras throw over my usual green-and-brown renaissance garb. Unfortunately, the green tint did not photograph well with my own camera (see Photo, Left), but that certainly did not prevent other photographers from stopping me to ask for a portrait. Which certainly suggests that Ryleh was indeed successful with the new look he was trying to achieve!

Standard Disclaimer: This webpage is strictly an *Unofficial* look at MayFaire held at Herbhome Farm near Erbie in Newton County, Arkansas. The author of these pages is in no way, shape, manner or form connected with MayFaire (mailing address: Hc 73 Box 113 Marble Falls, AR 72648; Phone (870)446-6105; home page http://herbhome.tripod.com/mayfaire.html) 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 ©2000-2006 by George Laking.