Treasures of our Town
Embark on an exhilarating voyage through the heart of America's captivating towns and cities with the enthralling travel podcast, "Treasures of our Town." Join your experienced hosts, Craig (Seemyshell) and Joshua (Geocaching Vlogger), as they unveil the hidden gems and extraordinary treasures that lie beyond the surface.
Delve into a world of cultural exploration as our hosts guide you through historical sites, natural splendours, and extraordinary local experiences. All their travels are guided by their love of outdoor games like Geocaching and Munzee. Whether you're a seasoned globetrotter or a curious beginner, our captivating city tours and off-the-beaten-path destinations will ignite your wanderlust and leave you inspired.
Are you ready for an unforgettable adventure? Tune in now and prepare to immerse yourself in the allure of "Treasures of our Town." Let us ignite your curiosity, fuel your desire for exploration, and set your spirit free as we unravel the secrets that make each town a true treasure trove.
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Website - www.treasuresofourtown.buzzsprout.com
Email - treasuresofourtownpodcast@gmail.com
Treasures of our Town
10 Reasons to Visit Your Local Renaissance Festival! (w/ Jacob Wright)
Join us, Joshua and Craig, as we share our adventurous escapades, starting with an amusing critique of a distorted image layout and venturing into Joshua's recent trip to Venice, Italy. Hear the incredible story of an 86-year-old's human-powered amusement park and Craig’s exciting plans for his upcoming European trip. We also reflect on the "delays and upgrades" that come with packed travel schedules filled with geocaching, video creation, and amusement park thrills.
Step back in time as we explore the enchanting world of Renaissance festivals. Craig's curiosity, shaped by American media, opens a window into why these fairs are so beloved in the United States. From the thrill of knife-throwing acts and medieval MMA fighting to the beautiful chaos of dressing up and blending in with elaborately costumed attendees, we dive into the sense of community and vibrant atmosphere these events offer. Tune in for our personal anecdotes, including moments of being mistaken for festival workers, and advice on making the most of your Renaissance fair experience.
Absolutely horrendous. Like one person's face is taking up half of the entire page, like there's this little dot here in the middle. That's one whole person.
Speaker 2:Do you love to travel? Do you love road trips? Do you love finding hidden treasures in towns all over the USA? Hi, I'm Joshua.
Speaker 3:And I'm Craig. Welcome to Treasures of Our Town. It's the podcast that explores unique and charming towns scattered throughout the United States.
Speaker 2:Guided by our love for location-based games like geocaching, join us as we venture into some of the country's most intriguing destinations, uncovering hidden gems and local secrets along the way. On today's episode, josh, you brought this guy in and and what's it? What? What's renaissance? Renaissance, we're gonna visit some towns we're gonna visit some towns. Yes, pounds of the past, oh, is that what it is? Towns, yes, towns. It's like we're gonna. We're gonna time travel.
Speaker 2:We're gonna visit not one, but several towns, yeah throughout the united states, because that's what this podcast is about. But before we get there, we have to talk about our highs and lows so much has happened.
Speaker 3:Oh, you mean talk, you mean delays and upgrades. Remember, we call them delays and upgrades. Of course, delays and upgrades if you're listening for the first time.
Speaker 2:A delay. Those are our lows. Our lows and our upgrades are our highs. And so a lot has happened for me since we last talked, Craig.
Speaker 3:Well, tell me, do you want me to start? Yeah, absolutely. You're on a high already.
Speaker 2:You're ready to go Upgrade, upgrade. I visited a new country. Oh, yes, I went there, I lived it up and now I'm back. But, greg, I went to Italy, italy. I went to Venice, italy.
Speaker 3:Yes, and what did you do actually in Venice? Did you ride on a boat? Did one of those?
Speaker 2:Venice boats. I did not ride on a gun, I didn't ride on those romantic. Yeah, I saw, they were really expensive.
Speaker 3:Oh, so you there. You were there with your other partner, pal buddy. You know, surely, surely you should have ridden a gondola together, you and him ride a gondola together. I'm telling you, josh, okay, if you and I were there I would have made you ride a gondola with me, just saying so, daniel. If you're listening, daniel, then uh, you're lucked out, mate. So there you go they were.
Speaker 2:They're very expensive for what they are. Everybody's like. Don't ride those things. It's just the photo opportunity and plus I have to save something for when my wife and I visit venice so I can't, I can't do it, do it all. I did take a water taxi though island to island, which was really really cool. That's cool.
Speaker 3:Anyway.
Speaker 2:Craig, have you ever been to Venice?
Speaker 3:No, no, I haven't even been to Europe yet, josh. I'm from Australia, so I've been all over Asia and Australia and New Zealand and obviously the US and Canada and even Mexico with you that time, but I've never actually been to Europe until next month, josh. It's not really Europe, but anyway, I'll leave that for next episode. There you go, so what's your?
Speaker 2:delay then.
Speaker 3:You're still on your high.
Speaker 2:I've got to talk more about the upgrade. So I visited Venice and you're thinking, oh, you know the city on water and it's just amazing, it's just beautiful. But we did something really unique. We went to an amusement park that was created by an 86-year-old man, that had roller coasters and thrill rides and with no electricity.
Speaker 3:It's all human-powered and gravity-powered and it was completely free and it was amazing that it was so unique yeah, yeah, and I will say, if I was gonna say josh again, I saw this on not only your youtube channel with the full-length video, but you did a couple of shorts on it as well, like a tiktok and stuff as well. So, yeah, go again, go to josh's videos. I'm telling you, josh, I loved it, loved it. And always when you go to something like that, I'm telling you, josh, I loved it, I loved it. And always when you go to something like that too, like you did, you went with good men, in terms of strong men as well, that make you spin faster, that make you go higher, you know, because some of it's all human powered. So, yeah, well done.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was. It was a lot of fun. And another travel aspect and I know this is about, you know travel throughout the united states. But I took a night train, craig, like I took a sleep car. What a nine hours from venice all the way to northern germany or hanover, germany, and I. I got my car, I had my private own bathroom, I had my bed, my bunk, I plugged in all my stuff and I went to bed and then I woke up in germany.
Speaker 3:It was, it was awesome it was so cool a hotel on rails. Is that what you did? Like a hotel room on rails?
Speaker 2:that's wow yeah, this is your international travel trip, or tip right here, because I mean, not only did I have my accommodations, but I was, but I also had my transportation and craig, it was around 200 euros, that's.
Speaker 3:That is a bargain, that's that's probably the same price as what it is for an airfare, and let alone the accommodation.
Speaker 2:Yeah wow, oh yeah, you get there a little, a little slower, but it's. You know, it was what I like to call.
Speaker 3:It was adventure sleeping exactly exactly did it rock you to sleep with the train?
Speaker 2:peace. Yeah, it was so peaceful, craig. Craig, it was so peaceful, craig, it was so peaceful. Like these European fast trains, they're not bumpy at all. It was very smooth, but there's just like a slight jiggle. Yeah, it just rocks you right to sleep. So that was really cool. That was a really upgrade too. That was fantastic. My delay here.
Speaker 1:In general, it was a really upgrade too. That was fantastic my delay here.
Speaker 2:In general, it was a great trip I was there for about a week um mostly venice and then also germany. I I was so exhausted, craig I was so tired. Every day was packed with creating videos and geocaching and visiting amusement parks and visiting Venice. And of course in Europe there's so much walking and I was so tired, it was exhausting.
Speaker 3:Is that your delay? Was it the fact that you got tired?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's my delay. It's so tiring, oh poor.
Speaker 3:Everyone listening to this is going oh, poor Joshua. He got so tired from traveling the world. The world traveler got so tired.
Speaker 2:I love it, mate. I love it.
Speaker 3:It's not a complaint, it's just a delay, it's just a delay.
Speaker 2:Oh, Greg I almost got delayed for real, oh my gosh, most stressful airport thing in my life. My flight was like two hours delayed, going to the us and I. And when you fly from you know international and then you land, your connection is in a us state. You have to go all the way through customs and then you have to go all the way back through security and then you have to run your bag again and you have to talk to the border guy. He wanted to chat it up and I'm like I'm gonna miss my connection.
Speaker 2:I, I was imagine this craig, this is my delay. I was running to my gate with my shoes still off, with my laptop under my arm, with my bag wide open, sprinting and I barely, I barely made it. Oh, I did make it did.
Speaker 3:Did the tca tsa pre-check help in any way, or is that just domestic?
Speaker 2:no, it doesn't help when you're coming back, that's just domestic doesn't help. Shame, yeah, it doesn't help unless you have like. You have to have, like world global entry, which isn't oh, that's yeah that's, that's that's next level.
Speaker 3:That would be that. That would. That's probably the tsa pre-check for the world traveler. That's what that is.
Speaker 2:Pretty much. There you go, craig, that was me Sorry, I used up a lot of time, but it was a big deal. No, that's okay, it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 3:Mine's just very quick, mine's very quick. I'll make mine quick Because my delay, josh, I'll start with my delay first and I'll end on a high. The delay was that the car itself has cost me more money again. Yes, more money again. They had to redo some wiring cables and reprogram computer work and everything else as well, and so that's my delay. Is it actually cost me more money again to get on the road?
Speaker 3:So this car, josh, I'm telling you now this car, initially it's a 14-year-old car. Initially it cost me $10,000, right to buy the second-hand car. It's cost me. I've double that now again, with all the repairs, the brand-new engine, no, no, another $18,000. Another $18,000. Oh yeah, so I'm 28 deep in this thing. So I know. Ouch, I know, I'm 28 deep in this thing. So I know, I know. So that's my delay, but my upgrade is that I managed to get on the road. So, yes, I am currently right now, as we speak, people, I am recording this from my little podcast hub in the back of my car. I'm in a Cracker Barrel in Tennessee. There you go, tennessee tennessee, tennessee I was waiting for you.
Speaker 3:Tennessee. Anybody do you know that? Do you know that band?
Speaker 2:yes, I know that band, but it's a rest of development that's what it is.
Speaker 3:That's what it is, and I'm having a rest and development while I'm in Tennessee, but anyway, when are you parked?
Speaker 2:Where are you parked right now? Are you at a Cracker Barrel?
Speaker 3:Absolutely Cracker Barrel. That's the best place to park, to be honest with you. But, mind you, this is my first of this trip. I've been away now for what? Four days. This is my first Cracker Barrel stop, so all the others have been like good rest stop areas and decent places around, so no Walmarts just yet. This is my first Cracker Barrel and I'm looking forward to breakfast tomorrow, to be honest with you, and Cracker Barrel great place, great place, not sponsored, just to let you know. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Great gift shop, great gift shop.
Speaker 3:It's a busy gift shop.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah. What are you going to have for breakfast in the morning? What are you looking forward to in the morning.
Speaker 3:Just bacon and eggs, just the basic. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I used to like their old-timer breakfast with the bacon and eggs and the hash brown casserole with the biscuits and gravy. But, josh, I'm trying to lose a couple of pounds, so I'm thinking just the bacon and eggs will do. Don't worry about the biscuits, don't worry about the gravy and all the hash brown stuff. So just have the bacon and eggs, mate. So that'll be mine, that'll be my thing. So there you go.
Speaker 2:And, as we speak, you're heading towards Texas. Yes, fort Worth. Yes, fort Worth, texas, because there is a very large Munzee event happening there, not this coming weekend but the next, and then you're heading to Rome, georgia, for going, caching, going caching. Exactly yes. I'm very excited for you, Craig, because I've been to going caching.
Speaker 3:And you're not going this time it doesn't look like I'm going to get there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, italy took it out of me, craig. Yeah, I know I've been to going caching and you're not going this time. It doesn't look like I'm going to get there. Yeah, you know, italy took it out of me.
Speaker 3:Craig, yeah, I know, it took it out of me. You went to a different.
Speaker 2:Rome, I sure did.
Speaker 1:No, I didn't. I would love to visit, I didn't get to Rome.
Speaker 2:I didn't get to Rome, but that's yeah, that's funny. It's so funny because somebody on social media said I was in Venice or I showed that video of the amusement park and they said I was in.
Speaker 3:Venice and people were like this is in. Venice, florida. America always take over the big city names. I know, I know, but yeah, no. I'm telling you I loved your trip. I loved watching you from afar.
Speaker 2:So you're going to love watching me me, although in saying that, I'm not doing as many videos what you do, so there's a difference. Yeah, I just only put one video out, so I'm gonna have another video um, when this comes out, it'll already be out, but like of me walking through venice and finding my first geocache in italy which get this spoiler alert. It was a crushed water bottle.
Speaker 3:It was so bad, hey, a crushed water bottle in Venice amongst all the water. That makes sense and it's memorable, josh. It is memorable, it's a plastic Makes no difference, it was a plastic like Dasani bottle. Makes no difference.
Speaker 2:Makes no difference. It was like trash and I felt so bad because the guy I was with it was his very first geocache and I'm like here it is.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this is what you look for when you go around the world. You're looking for pieces of trash. Yeah, really no kidding.
Speaker 2:He's like that's not cash, that's trash. But you know it's a very popular city. Yeah, but it, you know it, it's a very popular city. So I think a lot of those caches there are older caches that you know a tourist put down and then other tourists just kind of keep them going. They're like oh, I got this water bottle yeah, I'll just put this here instead I'm almost certain.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, but craig, yes, we need to get to the topic at hand. This is a travel podcast, and we're not going to be talking about Cracker Barrel, we're not going to be talking about Italy. We're talking about the USA, exactly, and so today we are talking to an individual that is an expert on little towns from the past.
Speaker 3:Are you intrigued, craig? Yes, because I mean, this is treasures of our town, josh. So are you talking about something like a renaissance fair whereby they create little towns within a town? There you go, I got to use it.
Speaker 2:Yes it's like towns within a town and there's costumes, and so with us today, we have I'm going to use it now yes, it's like towns within a towns and there's costumes, and so with us today, we have I'm going to say it. Go for it. We have a Renaissance man, a Renaissance man.
Speaker 3:As opposed to what's the other one. What's the movie? I can't think of it now. Encino man. It's a Renaissance man, not an Encino man.
Speaker 2:So there you go man, not an encino man. So there you go. Or bicentennial man, yeah, or the one there's lots, there's lots, of iron man. No, this is a renaissance man. We are bringing on somebody that is expert with about all these little towns, these little renaissance towns. Please welcome to the show, jacob right hello jacob, how doing good, excited to be here.
Speaker 1:I've never been called so many types of man before in my life.
Speaker 3:That was fantastic, jacob, do you want to tell us a little bit about yourself? I was going to say do you want to tell us a little bit about yourself, mate?
Speaker 1:Let us know where you are what you are that sort of thing, yeah, about me. You are what you are that sort of thing, yeah, um about me. Um, so for me, uh love, renaissance festivals, all that. I've been going since I was a kid. Um grew up south of minneapolis st paul the metro area, and then kind of came up here because there is one local to this area.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've been going to them since I was a kid and now I'm enjoying it in my mid-20s, having fun and love having a good time, making some friends there, bringing other friends to it and kind of just hanging out and having a good time.
Speaker 3:Might sound great. He didn't want to say this. What he out and having a good time Might sounds great.
Speaker 2:He didn't want to. He didn't want to say this, what he didn't want to say this. But but it's not his job, just to hang out and go to Renaissance Fest.
Speaker 1:I wish it was.
Speaker 3:I wish it was. It is a hobby.
Speaker 1:Though some people they do, they do have jobs.
Speaker 2:They work there full time and that that's what they do. They do have jobs, they work there full-time and that that's what they do. That's the only thing they do. That's awesome, uh. But no, I am simply a patron. Yeah, but I think I hope this is okay to say. But you are also you're also an actor which I think sort of plays a little bit into the renaissance vibe. Right, because you can like show up and you're like I am from the renaissance period. So not only dressing up, but even jacob, I I dare to guess that you could do a pretty good accent, like pretty good british accent it does help.
Speaker 1:It is not necessary but yeah, I having a background in theater doing that it. You definitely walk in and you feel right at home being able to kind of hop into that in those moments when you want to. It has its perks.
Speaker 2:I will say yes so here's the deal, dear listeners. We've got a renaissance man here, and our objective, jacob's objective, is to convince you to visit your local renaissance festival, because he is going to share with us the top 10 reasons why you should visit a renaissance festival. Oh so, stay tuned, but we gotta get some, like, high level information. I don't know a whole lot about a renaissance festival I.
Speaker 2:I went once when jacob what I was in junior high like once, maybe one time I went as an adult. I have some like vague memories of it. Um, there was like a pickle guy and there was. That was one of the things I remember, and there was a, there was a, a show called puke and snot um it was yeah, I remember some vaguely, some things, but but it's very, it's a very blurry to me. So, craig Craig, what is your? Do you have any connection? Have you ever been to a Renaissance?
Speaker 3:festival? No, no, we don't really have. I don't have them in Australia. We don't have Renaissance fairs in Australia. Really, I've never seen one. The only time I've ever seen one Josh is on American shows, like TV shows or movies, that sort of thing. So whenever I think of the word Renaissance fair or whatever, all I think about is these grown adults dressing up like it's back in the day and some of them have got plastic swords and shields and they're. They're big guys, are walking around eating a big Turkey leg. That's what I think of.
Speaker 2:That's a pretty accurate portrayal, jacob. Do you know our Renaissance festivals really pretty specific to the united states? Are their most, are they the most popular here, or are they all over the world?
Speaker 1:yeah, they are pretty popular here in the states. They kind of got their start here but obviously you know, anywhere you go you're gonna see your reenactments, that kind of thing, um, so it kind of stemmed out of that a little bit. But yeah, they're. They're pretty popular in the states for the most part okay, cool, yeah.
Speaker 2:so if what, what is the draw? What? What is the? What draws people to renaissance festivals? Or should I ask what draws you to renaissance festivals? Why do you like them? And why would somebody that maybe has never experienced one before, uh, why would? Why do you think they should attend one? And I know you got a list? We're going to start overlap, but give us, give us Jacob, give us Jacob the high kind of the high level, reason why you love it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, for me it's like going to like a state fair or a County fair in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1:Right, you're gonna have a lot of the same things, you know, people walking around having a good time checking stuff out, um, having some food, having some drinks, that kind of stuff and um, so you've got that side of it and that's really fantastic. You know, getting to do that kind of stuff and in a setting where, for Minnesota, like the Minnesota State Fair, that's been getting a lot of traffic lately and people have been talking about that a lot, it's not nearly that size. So you're looking at something that's a lot. You got a lot of the same things going on, but you're not looking at that size of crowd, which is really really nice. But then also you've got a lot of unique experiences, stuff that you're not going to see anywhere else. Um, literally, like there are shops and businesses and actors and workers that this is the thing that they do and you really are going to have a hard time finding or seeing them anywhere else or something like it anywhere else.
Speaker 3:Interesting. I like it, I like it. But I was going to say Jacob as well, in regards to the atmosphere that's involved. You know that sort of thing as well. I mean, do you have to actually dress up, for instance, to be part of it, or is that just optionable, or you know, and if you do, dress up does make you more, more part of it? You know what I mean, that more feeling towards it as well. What's it actually like?
Speaker 1:yeah, I. I mean, first and foremost, you do not have to dress up. That's fully an optional thing. I would say it's probably close to like a 40 60 split in terms of about. I'd say about 40 percent of people aren't dressing up, 60 percent of people are any given day. Um, so there's like a good majority of people that aren't doing that, and that's that's totally fine. If that's not your thing, that's a okay um. I would say, however, that dressing up it definitely gets you more involved, does get you more in it yeah, yeah, do people get confused about, like, who actually works there and who's just visiting?
Speaker 2:it's like you know, like when you go to disney world you can't dress up as like a character because they don't want to confuse you with the people that work there. Are there some kind of rules when it comes to dressing up, or you probably can't pretend that you work there, but I'm sure people do. They do, or is it? Is it pretty loose?
Speaker 1:it's a little bit more loose, uh, in that, because it's happened to us a couple of times we've got costumes and stuff that I mean it's kind of a compliment. They look good enough that people think that we work there, which is really nice. Um, you know, they'll ask us like directions to a place, or they'll ask, like grab a picture with us, or something we're like, yeah, sure, why not? We're happy to help out in those ways, um. But I mean, yeah, there's uh, there's some other ways to like kind of help identify who works there. Like anyone in like safety services has like a certain uniform that they're dressing in. Um, usually you can tell, though, because the most like complex, complicated costumes, um, that are really accurate, those are usually the people that are working there. A lot of times they'll have like little trinkets and buttons that might also help notate. They're like hey, I work here. Um, they're also the ones going around interacting with people, being in character, doing accents and some of that stuff.
Speaker 1:So it does help, but it's not always a guarantee you might just bump into someone and it it might just be someone like me who's just there hanging out having a good time and you're like I I'm not sure that they actually know what they're talking about.
Speaker 3:They're just here tell me jacob as well. I've always thought about it and that is that, um, basically, renaissance has been, these fairs have been going on for years and years and years, and I feel personally like the renaissance themselves is like the cosplay of the past. Is that about right, like you know, because you go to a cosplay festival, whatever you dress up to, as some sort of unique character, that sort of thing but when you go to these renaissance fairs, can you make up your own name? For instance, is there actual characters involved that everyone would recognize?
Speaker 1:you know, that sort of thing yeah, people do that kind of thing all the time. You're coming with you know, maybe it's just like an original character that you kind of made. It's like, well, I kind of, you know, have a story in my brain of why do I have this sword and this like wizard hat and all this stuff going on, and maybe you're just dressing up. You kind of got that idea. Some people do that.
Speaker 1:Um, it is, I would say, pretty common, especially like if you're doing something that oftentimes goes alongside of a Renaissance festival, something like LARPing or like Dungeons and Dragons. A lot of times people will draw on characters and experiences from those and pull those in. But you also do just see a fair amount of straight cosplay nowadays at a Renaissance festival. A lot of it is stuff that kind of fits in the era of it. Every single year you see a whole lot of like Princess Bride is a classic example.
Speaker 1:How many Wesleyan buttercups do you see walking by any given day? That's super, super fun. But then also you'll have some more obscure characters and stuff or stuff that doesn't fit necessarily like in the timeline. That's not a strict thing by any means. Um, if you walk in and you're looking too futuristic, they're not going to kick you out by any means, um so they they pull some of that in and they really do lean into that quite a bit but for the people that work there, do they have to follow a certain amount of rules as far as being a part of the renaissance timeline, or or do they expand beyond that?
Speaker 2:because I think I've seen pictures of the minnesota renaissance festival where there's they enter like a realm of fantasy where, like I believe, there's like they have like real, like mermaids, for example. So they do, they? Do they go into the fantasy world, or do the people that work there, or is it mainly just like a part of like what the Renaissance was like?
Speaker 1:Yeah, they, when you work there my understanding is there is a bit more of you are trying to make sure that it fits and that it's period. Obviously, it is a fantasy experience. So, yeah, you've got mermaids, you've got magic, you've got all sorts of different stuff that are happening there. It gives you quite a bit of wiggle room, um, but yeah, yeah, they, they do talk about that and what exactly you know would fit best with that. So that's again. That's where you're seeing it like.
Speaker 1:Okay, that guy's like not wearing khaki pants. He's actually got like the right thing going on.
Speaker 2:He might work here if you really know what to get picky about what to look for.
Speaker 3:Uh, that's the kind of stuff that could help sort that out I'm really intrigued, jacob um, after speaking to you now only for this short period of time about your attire. What do you wear? Do you have one character that is your go-to character, or do you have, like, several different? You know aliases that you go by and and I want to know what are their names uh, I ran a couple different outfits that I've been using.
Speaker 1:I none of mine have super specific like. This is the character, this is the name. One of my favorites, though, is we've got a pair of matching green cloaks that my wife Siri made. She goes with me and it's like our favorite thing to go and do together, and so we have these matching green cloaks and, um, the cut of the cloak, the style of it and the fact that it's even green, that uh is inspired by uh, one of the characters from uh, one of my favorite books, uh kvothe from the name of the wind by patrick rothfuss so I walked up to her. I was like, I want a cloak, I want to be like this, like, do you think you could make that happen? And she's a bit of a sewing wizard and she's like, yeah, I got it, I can make it happen. So she made matching ones for us so any day we can wear the matching cloaks. I always think that's super cute and that's a super fun one to do.
Speaker 1:Um, I have been working on a pirate outfit this year, which also is a very common thing at renfest, you see that, and, again, it's not exactly period, but people don't really care that much. So I picked up a nice like tricorner hat. I've been getting like some longer vests and stuff to go with it. I haven't landed on a name for the character yet, so if you have ideas for pirate names, toss them my way.
Speaker 2:If I was to go to a Renaissance festival, I think it would be really funny to go as Marty McFly and just say that I've time traveled to the Renaissance.
Speaker 1:I saw one of those this year. Yeah, I did, did you.
Speaker 2:It's brilliant.
Speaker 1:I would say you need a Marty and you can have a Doc in there too.
Speaker 2:Yes, that would be, brilliant, there you go. So, Jacob, talk to me a little bit about the entertainment Now. As I go back into my junior high brain. I remember a variety show of these two guys called Puke and Snot. I'm sure they're not there anymore.
Speaker 1:Oh, they are.
Speaker 2:What they're still alive.
Speaker 1:I think one of the two original members might have passed, but they got someone replaced. On and on. But yeah, Pukin's not have been around forever. At the Minnesota Renaissance Festival.
Speaker 2:And it was like a comedy thing and like I think there were probably a lot of puns. You would have loved it, craig.
Speaker 3:Just by their names alone. I'm just thinking about it. What do they actually do? Like, obviously there's Pukke and snot, they work there, they're, they're characters that work there. But what do you, can you expect when you actually go and see puke and snot?
Speaker 1:that sounds really bad, but you know yeah, no, and there's all sorts of different shows, uh, at our renaissance festival and sometimes, um, like puke and snot, like they might work at ours. They might also pop around and do other festivals, depending on how the season goes, or sometimes, you know, minnesota is the only one that they do, but for a show like them, like that's a comedy show, that's going to be doing some crowd work. It's like kind of like seeing medieval stand up in a way. It's always fun where you've got some of those that are more family friendly, uh, but then you've also got a different variety for different crowds. So there will be other ones in there. Uh, I believe, like the, the Tortuga twins, um, they're a bit more adult oriented, but a lot of the same vibe. Um, pukin's not, I mean, that's very slapsticky, very physical humor. Uh, it's, it's a staple. They've been around. I don't even know how long they might have been there since the beginning. I'm not 100% sure.
Speaker 2:If I remember from when I was in junior high that was a while ago and so, jacob, you said, overall Renaissance festivals, they're family-friendly, you can bring the kids. But I remember also as a junior hire, like some of these shows, like when you say it's a more adult, they, they operate on a level of innuendo where a kid could be watching something and everything could be going over their head. Yeah, Is that is that still? Is that still true? Is that pretty common?
Speaker 1:That's still pretty common. Yeah, a lot of the innuendo stuff. Um, that tends to be the case. They also talk to their staff about like hey, what can you do with an adult when, like, you're having a like a moment with them at a booth, doing something with them there, versus what does that look like when you have a?
Speaker 2:family that's there, or something with kids.
Speaker 1:So right, you know they, they know how to kind of balance and level that playing field a little bit. Most of them, I would say nine times out of ten again very family oriented. Uh, for the for the most part. Um, especially, one of our favorites to go and see is the danger committee. Um, they are knife throwers and daredevils. They get to do that kind of stuff and kids obviously are gonna love to come see that show and they do. If they look at the kids, obviously are gonna love to come see that show and they do. If they look at the kids like this is a very family-friendly show.
Speaker 1:You are our target audience and sometimes you might be our target and then the kids get all riled up when they, you know, get volunteers to go on stage and they never put them in anything dangerous. You know they get some information and they're like, cool, we're gonna make up a poem about so and so while we're juggling flaming knives, great. And now we've got this kid involved and they're having the time of their lives getting to be a part of that situation.
Speaker 3:In that scenario, that's really cool, that's really intriguing too. By the way, and just to let you know, what other entertainment value are there so far that you've seen and not just in minnesota, if you've actually been to other ones as well like, apart from comedy acts or knife throwers or that sort of stuff, what other is there any other sort of renaissance games or styles etc. That, uh, that people play?
Speaker 1:yeah, there's, the comedy is kind of one of the classic ones. A danger committee is I'm again that uh, the daredevil knife throwing. That's a more common one. It's a lot of the same stuff that you'd see like at the circus, a little bit. Uh, one of the big ones that's blown up on social media is, uh, jacques Z whipper. If you've seen any clips of him maybe you have, maybe you don't even realize it what his like shtick is that he puts out on social media is he goes to theissance festivals and does all this stuff and he has whips and he's usually doing like whip tricks and stuff. He's got different kinds. Usually people prompt him to sing a song and then he improvs his own version of the lyrics to that song while whipping to the beat and like it's one part musical performance, one part whips, one part improv and it usually works way better than it should. Uh, which is very, very impressive. Yeah, um, but then you've also got other stuff out there where you know they've got like jousting and whatnot. That's very, very medieval, that's a classic one.
Speaker 1:At the minnesota renaissance festival. Um, they, they've also started work in essentially what is medieval, mma, fighting, what. This is one of the coolest things that they added at Minnesota. It started last year. There are national teams throughout the country. I'm sure there's some internationally as well and it's literally these people who put on full suits of plate armor. They are given dulled swords and weapons and things, and there are rules, they score points and it's a full contact sport and they hop in a ring and it's three, two, one go.
Speaker 1:It's so cool. So our local team is the Twin Cities Wyverns um. So our local team is the is the twin cities wyverns um, and so they've been coming to the festival and they've got like a little wooden ring set up and they're like yeah, we're just kind of doing this as like an exposition fight, getting people interested, uh.
Speaker 1:We do have to be careful, though, because these swords will still bruise and break bones and stuff, even though they're not sharp. And it's wild, and when you see them, uh, during like their actual competitions, I mean, it's literally like an mma ring cage match style thing that's happening wow see craig this sounds like the coolest little town ever and they're all over the country are yeah, all over the country.
Speaker 2:Talk to us a little bit, jacob, about the types of foods and drinks you can get at Renaissance festivals. What's different?
Speaker 3:Yeah, apart from a turkey, a big turkey leg, the turkey leg's the classic.
Speaker 1:That's legit, it is. I usually will go get a turkey leg at least once a year, once per season. I will say the turkey leg line is always the longest. Out of any food or drink You're going to stop, you'll get. Turkey is always always the longest, um. But you've got all sorts of different, like classic, kind of fair foods there. Anything that's deep fried on a stick tends to be the big hits, Um. You've also got some other ones that uh are our favorites, that are kind of the abnormal ones, which is always fun. Uh, there's like a curry booth that we go to all the time. That's so good, really hits the spot, uh, during a long, long day, um. Or even like the medieval ice cream shop, also really really good.
Speaker 3:Love that one had them ice cream back in the day. That's my interest. I don't know.
Speaker 1:They just use a lot of ice, or maybe that's one of the magic booths that could be a magic thing, you know, probably, probably a little magic ice cream spell or something. Uh, we love those ones. We also for drinks, the classic to go to. Uh, especially as the adults, it's mead um if you're not familiar with mead, it is.
Speaker 1:It's basically honey, wine is all that it is, and it is, it is wonderful, it is sweet, it was a big, big hit back in the day, like, if you think, like the norse, like mead halls, all of that, um, there's a local company that comes in and, uh, they, they make mead and they've been like the official supplier since the 70s for the renaissance festival, so that's kind of one of the classic ones that we go for. But then you've also got smoothies. You've got, uh, lemonade um, overpriced bottled water is always the classic you need to have that somewhere in there uh, if you're dressing up uh, gatorade is a good go-to.
Speaker 1:Um, and you do have the pickle booths. Uh, you mentioned those before. Josh the pickle guys. So place throughout there there's several of them. They are special because they are food and drink and comedy, and comedy and comedy because they're they're hawking out to the crowd.
Speaker 1:They're, they're comedy, uh, but the pickle juice is so funny because what they'll do is you can buy the pickle for like two bucks or whatever and that's a great snack. It's awesome, uh. But because of you know the way that they're pickled and soaked and everything, they are great in electrolytes. So, like, if you're like having a hard day or like you're getting faint, safety services is literally trained to go get you pickle juice. And so if you go up to them like, and you're like, hey, can I just have like a cup full of pickle juice, like they'll give that to you for free.
Speaker 2:That's your secret pro tip have you ever had to get the pickle juice, jacob? Uh, have you ever been to? Have you ever been to that level of intensity at the renaissance festival? Not out of dehydration? The pickle juice, no, no, not under dehydration.
Speaker 1:I have done it by choice. Sometimes it just hits the spot and I don't want to pay for like a $4 Gatorade or something.
Speaker 2:And I said comedy too, and this is a family-friendly podcast. But the innuendo is at a whole new level with the pickle.
Speaker 1:Oh, yes, oh it would be. Yes, whole new level with the pickle.
Speaker 2:oh, yes, guys, oh, and they even have, yes, they have innuendo filled pickle buttons that you can buy too, as souvenirs.
Speaker 3:Sure, yeah, sure, no, jacob, I was thinking as well um, what about the actual containers in which this stuff comes in? Like is it? Is it the old school sort of renaissance? Yeah, steins and, and the big wine goblets and that sort of thing as well? Like, or do you bring your own for that?
Speaker 1:yeah, they normally they serve out of. They serve out of plastic cups. Uh, it is a bring your own goblet type situation out there. So if you go very often like like I do, uh, I've got my. My favorite one is it's this big leather tankard, um very old school, classic style. I bought it. I'm like how do I take care of this thing? Like, this is so cool looking.
Speaker 1:Um, they're like yeah it's basically like you know, you wash it like you wash your hands Don't put anything in it or on it that you wouldn't want to put on bare skin and you're good to go. So that's what I usually bring out. I bought it out at the Renaissance festival. But there's other stuff too that they have out there. They've got like the drinking horns, They've got the goblets. I've seen everything yeah, For metal, leather, wood, people bringing stuff from home, glass goblets. There's also the classic for the Minnesota one. There is a souvenir mugs that they're just pottery ones that are really, really beautiful. And a friend of mine he has bought one of these like every single year since he's gone, since he was like a kid. He has like his own shelf dedicated. He's got like 20 of these mugs, one from every year. Wow.
Speaker 2:Speaking of that, what other things can you purchase there? What other? I'm sure there's different crafts, but what kind of things do people buy at these things?
Speaker 1:yeah, some of our favorites that we've purchased, that we've come home with. Um, there's a booth that has like screen printed maps and designs and whatnot, like different art, but it is printed on paper. That and this is their spiel that they use to help sell it, and I am assuming it's mostly true, but that they've. They create it using essentially like 16th century map making techniques so that the paper is fairly waterproof, it's water resistant, it's durable and it's got a bit of that leathery texture to it and it's a bit thicker than normal. So we have a water bending scroll from avatar, the last airbender, printed on that and that's hanging up in our apartment. Super, super cool. I've seen people walk away with maps you know the size of their torsos made out of those. You can buy swords and whatnot too, not just the plastic ones. But there are a couple of shops that will sell you like full on legit swords. One booth is known for it. They've got like the best ones.
Speaker 1:You can literally sign up for a payment plan for this sort of like cool, like we'll set you up for installed payments. You can come back next year and pick it up because it's like $3,000. Wow.
Speaker 2:So it's like sword layaway yeah literally.
Speaker 1:I mean, the swords are beautiful and maybe one day maybe I will get one of those, but they're gorgeous. But you can buy swords, knives, spears, axes, that kind of stuff, um all sorts of different. Yeah, knickknacks, crafts. There's one booth that, uh, this lady makes like little um leather, like dragons, um. A lot of times they've got like magnets on them so you can put them on the fridge. A lot of people will wear them around at the festival, which is really cool because they'll have pins on them.
Speaker 1:One of our ones that we picked up this year it's they only operate at the minnesota renaissance festival. It's the only time and place that they sell it. They don't do like farmer's markets or anything else. All they do is they make um little like goblets and cups and bowls out of like stained and shattered glass and it's designed so that you can put like lights and candles inside of it and it just the most beautiful like natural light display that you kind of will ever see. So we bought one of those for our kitchen table as like a centerpiece and it's it's just beautiful. Uh, having that, you know, when we've got friends coming over or just for fun, put a candle in there, and it's just gorgeous it'll be a great talking piece as well, like, uh, the fact that it's in the, in the house and whatnot too.
Speaker 3:But I, jacob, I can't stop thinking about buying my own sword. For some reason, after you said it, I'm, I'm all in once once you actually get your own sword. Though you said before about there's, you know the activities like jousting and that sort of stuff as well. I've seen archery as well, but can you actually participate in this stuff as well? Can you actually be part of the jousting or be part of the archery, that sort of stuff?
Speaker 1:So, yeah, there's all kinds of booths for knife throwing, archery I've seen javelin throwing crossbows. There is one for jousting, though they won't put you on the horse, uh, they won't do that. Um, they've got a track set up for um one of the other, like classic medieval competitions. That would happen at a festival like this, where, rather than jousting against an opponent, you're jousting essentially against like hoops and rings and you're trying to like collect the rings on like a lance type situation. So they have like a little mock horse set up on a track that they'll run you down and you can try to get some stuff that way. The joust with, uh, with the horses and everything, I mean you, they're getting hit with real lances. Uh, they're made of wood and they will run at each other and you'll see them shatter and splinter and unless you're trained to be on that horse and do that and do it full armor to help make sure that you're protected, that's, it's some seriously intense stuff and it's dangerous, it's pretty much.
Speaker 2:It's real.
Speaker 1:It is when you see yeah, it really, it really really is. And there's you. You can't fake shattering the lances and everything. Um no, I've seen it happen so many times where it's like usually the same two or three people that they have out there doing it every single weekend, multiple times a day, and every time I see it it's different. So it's legit they're, they're really going for it and kudos to them because, yeah, it's dangerous, but also, man, is it impressive?
Speaker 2:have you ever seen jacob the movie a knight's tale? I love a knight's tale I love a knight's tale.
Speaker 1:Have you seen that?
Speaker 2:craig, I have seen this, yes oh yeah, and they, they're playing like we will rock you while they're like jousting it's yeah, I gotta see that movie again because that's yeah, that that movie. Every once in a while they'll do stuff like that out there where it's yeah, I gotta see that movie again because that's yeah, that that movie.
Speaker 1:Every once in a while they'll do stuff like that out there where it's like okay we really need to amp up the crowd. Great, let's get him singing, let's get him chanting. We'll use something a little bit more modern, yeah yeah, how about uh stuff for kids?
Speaker 2:are there any? Is there anything specific to kids that they can do at a red festival?
Speaker 1:yeah, there's a lot of the activities, a lot of the booths, so, like you might have an archery, that's, you know, okay, gonna be geared more towards adults. You've got a lot of those that are geared more towards kids, a lot like the fair game activity type booths. Uh, one of the big spots that I see at the minnesota festival that is huge, huge draw for kids, uh, is the fairy wing forest, and what this is is it's just like tucked away. It's on the back edge of the festival and you literally you walk through like a hobbit hole and you go down a set of steps and you're just like in the woods and they've got like a couple of like almost like traveling cart type things set up and everyone down there is dressed up as like fairies and satyrs and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:So that's a huge, huge draw for kids. They've got a lot more of like coloring and games. There's actually like a little playground that's down there for kids, so a lot of that that's geared just more towards them and they're in it and they just think it's like the best thing ever. They added this year there's a Barbie fairy, which is super, super fun down there. A Barbie fairy, which is super, super fun down there. Me personally, when I was there as a kid, I was like mom, dad, I need a crossbow, like that was what I wanted and there was a they sold there and I still have it.
Speaker 2:It's hanging up on the wall over here.
Speaker 1:It's a rubber band crossbow and it's super well-made, still lasts till today, but it yeah, the fire mechanism. It's just a. It's just a clothespin, yeah it just pushes the rubber band up and off there's a little peg on the end sends it flying and I I've used that thing on my siblings so many times.
Speaker 3:It's got some serious mileage oh, I do, yeah, I still got it yeah, it's and it works great.
Speaker 1:Now, every once in a while, I'll use it to, like you know, fling one of my cat's toys or something.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, well, jacob, I'm just thinking, as well you said, about the there's, there's fairies and there's all this sort of you know um magical, mystical stuff as well, but there's actual, real life, um like history stuff as well, and do people learn about actual history? And we're talking, we're talking the renaissance period, which is people, if you don't know it'd actually be before the usa became usa, like before all that sort of stuff wait what there was be before the USA became USA, like before all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 2:Wait what there was something before the USA.
Speaker 3:Yes, Josh, I know you are a typical American, but there was something before the USA. And so we said before about you talking in a British accent. So I want you to answer this question about the history lessons you get in a British accent. So there you go, I'm going to put you on the spot.
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, here we go.
Speaker 1:Well, what I would say is that, in terms of the historical part of it, you do have a lot of things happening there, like, for example, like Shakespeare plays are happening. There's a group that does an excerpt from Midsummer Night's Dream and they just do the play. At the end they do pyramid, uh, pyramus and Thisbe, I believe, um, so you're getting to see stuff like that. That's in there. There's a uh booth that has like family crests that I remember visiting as a kid. That was a lot of fun, um, and then you're just you're, you're immersed in it. You know, you're seeing all these things and taking it all in and just getting a glimpse into what life was like back then, I suppose.
Speaker 2:Oh wow. I slipped in the accent there a little bit. He does an accent better than you do an accent, Craig.
Speaker 3:I'm Australian, josh, I'm not British, I'm Australian.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 3:We're the convicts, whereas you fought against the British, and we're the convicts.
Speaker 2:Wait, wait, wait, craig, your accent's real. I thought this was just a shtick the whole time.
Speaker 3:No, crikey mate, you think I can bung this on Jacob. Well, done, done. That accent was very it was very high-end british.
Speaker 2:It was very uh, like the posh very posh yeah yeah, extremely posh really, it was realistic it was if, if I was doing it, if I, if you asked me to do it, craig, I would go straight. Dick van dyke, I do get a whole mix out there um step in time because they've got.
Speaker 1:They've got people being the big posh characters. You've got the king and queen that are out there, but then you've got other like themed weekends and stuff where they'll do like highland fling. So everyone is doing like scottish accents um you've even got like some uh, there's one that's bold north adventure, so that's more viking oriented, which is super fun because a lot of Scandinavian heritage in Minnesota, so that's a big, big draw. So, yeah, you'll hear all different kinds of accents out there. You will.
Speaker 2:I'm going to ask a question that Craig is thinking but he's not asking Are there, is there beer? Is there alcohol, like you said, wine, like this mead, but is there like, are there beer, is there?
Speaker 1:alcohol, like you said, wine, like this mead. But is there like, are there beers? Are they local beers? Yeah, they've got local craft stuff. Yeah, beer, cider, wine, mead, hard liquor, you name it, it's there. The pro tip is that they do at least in Minnesota they do some tastings throughout the day, which is super great. So they've been like working with this cider company from Vermont. We've gone to that a couple times getting to hear like their story, their company. It's like why is a cider company from Vermont at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival? That's kind of a weird thing. But then you know, okay, when I go to a booth and I want something, which one am I going to like the most, which one's going to be the best?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like sampling things. We like a good flight, don't we? Craig?
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, we do, but we have different types on the flight. So, jacob, if you're not aware, joshua is a very light beer sort of guy. He's the Miller.
Speaker 2:High Life. I like sours too.
Speaker 3:He's starting to broaden his horizons with a bit of sour, but sours too, he's starting. He's starting to broaden his horizons with a bit of sour, but that's because we, our other mate, rob, he's right into the sours. Me, I'm an, I'm an ipa fan, see. So I go into the deep, I go into the depth of the flavor. Yeah so, uh, that's the difference. But yeah, so the flight. Josh likes the flight because he's not going to waste any beer. If he doesn't like it, he just puts it aside.
Speaker 2:So that's why so there you go, that's true, any any actual Renaissance beer itself.
Speaker 1:Um, there's a couple that are just, I feel like have more flavor notes of the Renaissance style stuff. Um, like one of the meads, for example, uh kind of has this. And there's some other beers and stuff that have some of these flavor notes and whatnot too, but it's like that old timey, like they've got like the sarsaparilla in it, some of that and that stuff. I mean that's. It hits the spot on a hot day. You're out there and you've got your own you know tanker and it's like overflowing to the brims. That's.
Speaker 2:That's a good time jacob, you have convinced me that I need to brush off the. I don't know the the. What do they wear the, the, something I got to brush off my soul.
Speaker 1:The sword, a doublet, a cloak, a cape.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, I don't have any of those things. I'm going. I'm going as Marty McFly, that's for sure, there you go. But um, uh, I want to visit a. I'm going as Marty McFly, that's for sure, but I want to visit a Ren. I'm convinced. And here's the deal if people aren't convinced yet, you're going to give us your top 10 list of why people should visit a Ren Festival.
Speaker 1:I'm very positive that there's probably already overlap because we probably already talked about a lot of it but there might, there might be some hidden, hidden nuggets um in there, yeah.
Speaker 2:So, jacob, hit us with it, we'll react to it. We'll react to each one okay, top 10 uh this is is this any any particular order?
Speaker 1:this is not in any particular.
Speaker 2:I could not organize my thoughts, that much I can't pick favorites.
Speaker 1:So first thing I thought of yeah, food and drinks Like we were just talking about. I mean, literally I was talking with my wife, we're going tomorrow and I was like okay, what are we going to get? Trying something new, going for an old classic, an old favorite for an old classic. An old favorite Might need to get a turkey leg.
Speaker 2:We'll see what happens so food and drinks.
Speaker 1:Gotta have it Always good. Check Boom. Yeah, love the shows, the performers that are there for the specific shows. One other one that I haven't mentioned yet, also a Minnesota classic, is the Fundazi Fire fire show. Um fire dancers. So they do like they've got different ropes and chains and they're like spitting fire and doing all of that and the tree above their stage is very dead and singed um love, love. That one super cool um, and they've got like live music that they get accompanied with. That's a really, really cool one that we like to go see. Um love getting to watch them. So different shows that they've got going on puke.
Speaker 2:It's not all of that and those are included in the in the price right, typically.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like you're in, you can walk around visit these shows.
Speaker 2:That's not like an extra charge, correct? Those are all free of charge. You're just walking. You can walk around, visit these shows. That's not like an extra charge, correct?
Speaker 1:Those are all free of charge. You're just walking around it's definitely encouraged and you're wanting to help tip them a little bit. They'll usually ask for that stuff at the end. But yeah, that's free of cost, free of charge. So like, if you okay, I didn't really get to see the whole show I want to come back and see it later. You can Later. You can catch a glimpse of it and come back to it another time too. Number three I just wrote combat.
Speaker 1:Because that jousting is just so good. I remember the first time seeing that I'm like no way they're about to do this and then literally seeing the Lance shatter go flying off. They've got people running and picking up, picking up the pieces that, just like you know, actually hit someone. Someone doesn't get, like you know, impaled in the chest with a giant spear piece. I just love that stuff.
Speaker 3:Just thinking to Jacob as well, when you say about the jousting, Josh, I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but I did watch a television program on Netflix at the time and it was like America's Best Jouster, and they had like 20 contestants there on two teams and they went at each other until there was one winner and it was like what do you call it? The greatest chef, but the greatest jouster. So look for that up on Netflix.
Speaker 2:Wow, yeah, that's still on there. It was like a reality show.
Speaker 3:Yeah, a reality TV show about jousting.
Speaker 2:That's super cool.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I remember that one. So there you go. That's what I think about, cool.
Speaker 1:Look that up, find that, check that out.
Speaker 2:So Jacob, the live-action roleplay, the LARPing, do people show up with their like foam swords and like do that at? Or is that not encouraged?
Speaker 1:I've seen a couple of people show up with that. The rule is for weapons is that the idea is that you're keeping them put away Cause you don't want anyone getting hurt especially at a place where you know people are having drinks. We're having fun. You've got kids around.
Speaker 1:So if you have, like a real metal weapon. They check it at the door and they make sure that it's piece tied and basically just it's. They've got like good handful of zip ties on that thing, basically just to prevent you from being able to pull it out quickly.
Speaker 2:Oh, my God, that's more loose. That's more loose than I thought.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's not If you had a pair of scissors in your bag.
Speaker 2:that won't stop you for very long. That's funny.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's funny. Yeah, that's funny, it's, it would not take much. But I I've never once seen an incident or like seen anything happen. You know it's, it's a very rare case. The foam stuff, I mean, you might have people out there every once in a while. It's like, okay, we're gonna, you know, get a picture doing a little something, get a little video, um, you'll see a little bit of that.
Speaker 1:But usually people are really respectful about and just keep it put away because you know you don't want anyone, you know, getting bumped into or getting hurt, which is, you know, it's nice, it's considerate. If you do want to fight your friends, there are a couple booths and things that will let you do that. There's one where they'll give you like fencing swords and they'll have you put on a helmet for protection, and on the helmet are like two balloons and the goal is to pop the other person's balloons. That's so fun. It's great watching grown men sit there with the fencing swords and just like flailing around with their hands trying to pop these balloons because they don't know what they're doing so much fun.
Speaker 3:That's cool. I love it. I love it. So what else you got left for us, jacob? How many, how many more we've got left?
Speaker 1:uh, that was three, so we got seven left seven left um, next one I've got is the street characters.
Speaker 1:Street characters. So they've got people you know, working booths that are selling stuff. Those are usually external vendors. They've got the like very specialty people that are doing the shows. I love the street characters, uh, because these are the people that are kind of in between all of that. They're hired by the festival. They're there, they've got a specific character in mind and you just bump into them and they'll just like, come up to you, they'll talk to you about your day. How's it going?
Speaker 1:Uh, a couple years ago, like we bumped into there, a couple of fairies had wandered out of fairy wing. So they're trying to talk to us and have us hop in their fairy circle, which is like a decorated hula hoop, and I'm like I don't want to get trapped in like the fey in fairyland or anything. I'm not going to tell you my name, I'm not going in your fairy circle. So we got to have like a whole interaction with that. It's all you know, improv and fun. Um, and then, like you know, for interacting with them, a lot of times, like they'll have stuff like give you, so like they'll be able to give you like little trinkets and stuff. So like I got like little itty bitty, like one like two millimeter by two millimeter, like die, like a, like a d6 playing dice. We got like a set of those from them which was super fun.
Speaker 1:One of my other favorites out at Minnesota is they've got these two caricature artists, scrib and Scrawl. They're the King's Drawers and they are going around and they've got just like brown sheets of paper and they like get your group together and they just have like just black charcoal and they're just doing this wonderfully awful rushed drawing of like you and your group and they give it to you and it's the most just disgusting, grotesque looking thing you've ever seen in your life. We've got one from a couple years ago that's like framed. We just got a new one this year. We happen to bump into them and like they're just like hey, we want to draw you for free. Like let's just do it like great, scribble, scribble, scribble takes like a minute. They're rushing through it so fast and it's, it's wonderful are they expected to have be tipped for that?
Speaker 1:they've got like a tip jar out and whatnot too. So yeah, they've got some of that. If you want to toss a couple of their way, you certainly can it's america. I think they also have like a qr code for venmo too, if you want to do oh my gosh, contactless option that's so funny, because this is like.
Speaker 2:It's just a bit like they could be the.
Speaker 1:They're probably the worst artists no, I well, here I've got, I'll be able to show you guys. This is our one from this year, is? It is just absolutely horrendous. Like one person's face is taking up half of the entire page, like there's this little dot here in the middle that's one whole person. Uh, that's our buddy elijah, who's just taking up like an eighth of the page. It's wonderful josh josh.
Speaker 3:this is a obviously an audio onlyonly podcast. What Jacob was basically holding for listeners out there was very much like a black and white charcoal Picasso, basically it was like a Picasso.
Speaker 2:That's a good way to describe it. Yeah, Very abstract.
Speaker 1:yes, Very loose. If you were not there, you would not be able to tell who's who or what is happening in that. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So that's a big one, uh, love the street performers. They're great, uh, number five halfway there. Number five um the small businesses, the shopping I we we budget out like okay, how much are we allowing ourselves to spend this year, uh, at these places? Um, but I you can get some really cool stuff that you're not going to get anywhere else. It's one of a kind. One of our favorites is there's a hand like crafted leather bookshop and so it's like these handcrafted leather journals. They're just absolutely gorgeous. They've got like cotton paper pages. They're great for, I mean, whatever you want to use a journal for, like actual journaling, like a planner. A lot of people use them as like sketchbooks and just the most beautiful thing ever. So we've bought a couple of those. We've gotten like crystal um ink pens and fountains for like actual, like more classical, like calligraphy writing, and I'm super bad at it and I don't know what I'm doing and I smudge the pages, all the time, but we love those.
Speaker 1:Those are super cool. We picked those up. Yeah, just some really really cool stuff that you can't really find anywhere else. Or even if you can find it somewhere else, it's the experience of buying it there and getting something cool and special there and making that memory.
Speaker 3:No that sounds, that sounds awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Josh, I was going to say, I was going to say as well.
Speaker 3:Josh, I was going to say we've got two more left. How about we leave the last two for our patrons only? What do you think?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes. So, Jacob, stay with us. We're just going to quickly end the show very, very soon now and then stick around because we're going to do that little extra bit. The last two for our patrons Now, Josh if people want to become a patron.
Speaker 1:Wait a minute. Do we have more than that?
Speaker 3:I'm saying that was number five.
Speaker 1:Oh, so we have three more and then two for the patrons.
Speaker 3:Oh no, we'll do five for the patrons. Then, josh, we'll do five for the patrons.
Speaker 1:Five for the patrons, five for the five for the paper great five for the paper.
Speaker 2:Fantastic, okay, um, jacob, thank you so much. You have convinced me. I'm I want to go particularly to the minnesota renaissance festival, because that is your, that is your home festival it is it's home turf it's almost like. It's almost like your home away from home. It's almost like a little town that you visit maybe once or twice a year. How often do you go?
Speaker 1:we go. Ours runs for about a month and a half and we go at least once a weekend, so we're like six times six times.
Speaker 2:Wow, you know what season ticket holders right here yeah wow. So, greg, you know what that means I do, I do, jacob jacob is proud of his, of his renaissance time I am I am. He's proud of it and you know what? That's a damn rare thing these days when you're proud of your town like that are you gonna tell jacob you're gonna come jack with us?
Speaker 2:from yeah, I try to get that phrase in every single episode. He's proud of his town. It's from the movie planes, trains and automobiles. If you know that, you're a little young, but yeah, that's what it's from yeah all right, jacob, stick around, stick around, mate.
Speaker 3:Uh, we're gonna do the five patrons, josh. And if people want to become a patron josh, how do they can become a patron?
Speaker 2:uh, if you're enjoying our podcast, we we really appreciate your support. By supporting us, you help us create even better content and keep it free for everyone no annoying commercials. So please consider joining us at patreoncom backslash treasures of our town.
Speaker 3:And how else can people find us, Josh? If they just want to reach out and talk to us, Josh, how can they find us doing that?
Speaker 2:They can click the little fan mail link in our thing and then they can just comment that way. Or they can go old school and email us at treasuresofourtownpodcasts at gmailcom or follow us on Facebook, instagram, twitter X and YouTube.
Speaker 3:And so that's it for our show today.
Speaker 2:Please subscribe, rate and review on your favorite podcasting app and, as always, josh may your travels always lead you to the most unexpected, amazing, magical, back in time, amazing adventures in your little little cities, within your cities, around the world, around the US. See you next time, everybody. Bye-bye, thank you, thank you, bye, thank you.
