Opening Weekend at The Castle at Muskogee was truly awesome! For Ryleh, it had been two years since his last visit to OKRF -- and much had changed. Aye, there were plenty of good friends to meet and greet again; and much new construction to admire; but the very best part of the Oklahoma Renaissance Festival 2007 was sharing all of it with his family! Nine of us made the overland trek to Muskogee that Spring. Besides Ryleh, his cousin's husband, Wayne (AKA "Sir Lee Ewegest" Photo, Above); their daughter, Rhiannon (Photo, Below, with Jephael); her brother, Aaron (AKA "The Archer, Sir Aaron"); his fiancee, Erica (AKA "Alexiel the Elf"); Paula and her husband, Mike; and their two children, Ian and Jephael made up our party. Alas, but my good cousin, the Lady Celeste (AKA "Deborah"), was unable to join us that weekend for our adventure. Collectively we are known as "The Ides of March" and our motto is -- WAIT for it! -- "Beware the Ides of March!!!"

Saturday was ominously overcast, warm and breezy; seeming to threaten torrential rains which never really developed. Since we hoped to "make gate" by 10am, we all garbed up well before leaving home early that morning. Then we headed out, caravaning together to Muskogee. OF COURSE, we had to make a pitstop at the rest area just this side of Salislaw -- they offer free coffee, among other things! Naturally, the "Welcome Center" hostesses were curious about our garb so we made sure to tell them about the Oklahoma Renaissance Festival, where it was located, its' hours of operation and its' season. Nothing like creating much goodwill as well as considerable free publicity for a faire we all love and enjoy! Despite the brief rest stop at Salislaw, we still managed to arrive at The Castle just as the Opening Gate Ceremonies began -- but alas! There were many various and sundry garb accessories to don, which meant we missed the Gate Show. Fie! ( Photo, Left: Erica/Alexiel with her fiance, Aaron, at Muskogee on Saturday morning. Erica was wearing Lady Celeste's faire garb while Sir Aaron had borrowed one of Ryleh's spare outfits; nonetheless, they both looked right good together. Photo, Below: Paula and Mike with their children, Ian and Jephael).

Interestingly enough, most of our party had only experienced small, local "tent" faires before stepping foot into Muskogee -- and for some of them, it was their first faire experience, ever. With nine of us present, however, we managed to present quite a formidible front that weekend in Oklahoma. In fact, we had a wonderful time joking and bantering with a great many of Muskogee's fine performers and entertainers, including The Pirate Shantyman and his Bonnie Lass playing at Castleton Harbor (Photo, Right). When the Shantyman called for audience requests, for example, we all shouted out together: "FREEBIRD!" changing it to "FREE BEER!!!" when he asked for requests again, later in their show. Yet while we truly enjoyed interacting lightly with all of the performers during their acts -- and had quite a few good laughs along the way -- all of the "Ides of March" just naturally seemed to know how far we could go with the jokes and bantering. Ryleh is right proud to report that none of us "stepped" on anyone's gig even once during our entire weekend at Muskogee. We also proved to be an "instant audience" for some shows when we all sat down together, simultaneously! Early Sunday morning, for instance, the "Ides" was the entire audience for Mark Logsdon, the "Escapologist" -- or at least until two more patrons joined us. Since his show depended heavily on audience participation, that meant whoever he chose was bound to be one of our group. Needless to say, we really enjoyed all the entertainment which the Oklahoma Renaissance Festival had to offer, both as individuals and as a family group (Photo, Below: Sir Lee on left and Sir Aaron at right hold up a blanket in front of the Escapologist after thoroughly fettering, handcuffing, binding and hogtying him so he couldn't move a muscle. In this view, Mark is using his spare arm to ensure that the blanket is in proper position before he tries to free himself).

Standard Disclaimer: This webpage is strictly an *Unofficial* look at the Oklahoma Renaissance Festival held in Muskogee, OK. The author of these pages is in no way, shape, manner or form connected with the Oklahoma Renaissance Festival (3400 Fern Mountain Road, Muskogee OK 74401 :: 918-687-3625 :: 800-439-0658), the Castle at Muskogee and/or any of the sponsors associated with this event. All opinions expressed are strictly this author's own. All photographs are copyright ©2000-2007 by George Laking, Paula Duggan, Mike Duggan, Erica Russell or Rhiannion Shankle.