Renaissance Festival War Stories August 30/31 & September 1

Labor day weekend is the first of two three-day weekends over the course of the festival season. You would think this would lead to more war stories, but some how, working 33 hours in 3 days makes the whole thing a blink and a blur. So here are just a couple things I recall from the weekend.

Hard working ladies

There are a group of ladies that work, are the most popular, most beautiful, and beloved by nearly everyone. Those would be the Elephants: Paige, . No matter how many times I see them, it never gets old. I get to see them walk in and leave each festival day. A few times before opening cannon, I've taken a few moments to see them after they get to the ride pen, see them, sing to them, and with the trainers permission, give them a couple pieces of fruit.

They are more loved than so many pets. They travel. They get better health care than most Americans. They have a nutrient-rich diet. I hear they get to go swimming sometimes. They work 16-24 hours each week.

The level of magic of seeing these three ladies never tires. If you want a magic moment, watch the elephants walk away at golden hour around 6:20PM, you won't regret it.

Another hard working lady

Labor Day weekend this year was Woofstock weekend. Lots of dogs out. So many perfect dogsm but one particularly got my attention. Her name was Paisley and her human was kind enough to let her sit with me on the counter at the Sidequest booth stop for a few minutes, and it healed my heart for a bit. Because Paisley was a black dachshund.

Earlier this year, I had to let my Dr. "Sapa" Saperstein cross the rainbow bridge and say goodbye. There are some days that are harder than others. But he is always with me. I showed Paisley's human my tattoo of Sapa and she told me, as Paisley got comfortable and lie down next to me, "She's a therapy dog. She knows."

Families

As I was trying to recall last weekend, I was having a hard time pulling the memories. But then I start writing and somehow the memories unlock themselves. There were some fun experiences with families I absolutely enjoyed.

During my AM wanders, I ran into two women who were looking at a map and talking on speaker phone trying to find the rest of their group. I spoke to their party on the phone and I determined where they were and escorted the two ladies to the rest of their party.

The look on the faces when the other pair met me was a mark of pure surprise. When they were looking for help, they certainly weren't expecting to see my face.

We finally get a taste of fall in weekend 4. See you then!