Renaissance Faire

Each year the Northern California Renaissance Faire runs for six consecutive weekends during September and October at Casa de Fruta in Hollister. This venue is transformed into "Willington, a small village in the countryside of western England inhabited by hard working peasant farmers and crafters". When you visit this event, it is like walking through a huge stage play. Some of the costumes and displays are elaborate. The food and entertainment is wonderful.
Each year I sit to watch humorous skits, dancing and listen to lovely music. The live joust is quite a show!
Vendors sell period apparel and handcrafts. Some are "exotic traders from the east" and have wonderful imported crafts.

I have dreams of setting up a booth and selling my handwoven straps and sashes. Not so practical. I have sold some pieces to folks for their Renaissance costumes, however. This year a friend of mine referred a friend of hers to me. The gentleman purchased a pair of handwoven garters to hold up his kilt hose and sent me these photos of him in the outfit. Stunning!

Usually I find that there is something in the "exotic traders" area that I just can't resist. Last year it was Kente cloth and woven bracelets from Africa .

This year it was a cloth belt purse from a Hmong family. This is a beautiful older piece with lots of embroidery, beads, bells and coins as embellishments.