Trip Report: Sherwood Forest Faire

First Time at Sherwood Forest

I have recently been introduced to the fun world of renaissance festivals, so Jack and I took a trip to the Ren Faire in McDade, Texas.

Upon arrival, a group of characters were handing out flyers to gain attention for their show, which happened to be called Blunt Force Drama. Once we Jack and I finally made it through the festival gates, Blunt Force was of the first shows running. So of course, we stopped there. The show is a melee fighting tournament mixed with adult humor. The show starts by picking judges from the crowd and then the fighting begins. They even have adult humor commercials while you wait for the next round. I thoroughly enjoyed the fighting and the humor, but some might find it offensive (it was pretty racy). Also, I wouldn't take kids.

Once the show finished, we followed Jack's policy of taking a lap around the grounds to see what shops and shows are available. This led me to find some awesome leather armor, and I decided I really wanted it. So, we made a few trips around the grounds pricing all the leather armor stores. There are definitely some cool pieces of gear and clothing if you have the money to get fully kitted out. After looking at the prices, we decided to carry on with the experience before I rushed into buying anything.

Failing at bargain armor hunting, it was time for lunch, and Jack ate at Jerusalem Cafe, which was actually cooking and preparing food (I would highly recommend eating there) as you ordered. I ended up eating at a generic food stall where I had bread bowl soup, and I wished I had followed Jack’s lead because it was pretty basic.

After we gobbled our food, we hustled over to the jousting ring just in time to watch the action. However, it was not time to see two warriors smash into each other with lances on horseback, it was time for jousting games to break in new horses. It still turned out pretty exciting as each rider competed to place their lance through small rings or smash fruit to score points.

Next, we wandered around looking at all the various shops we missed earlier or that had items we wanted to look at again. For a moment, the Ren Faire vibe got to me and I just had to have leather armor that I found earlier. As we compared all the prices from the leather shops, I started to ask myself, “do I really need this?” The answer was no. However, I did end up with a leather belt, a belt pouch, a basic shirt, and basic pants, which I wear to all the Ren Fairs now.

After shopping, we headed back over to the jousting ring. This jousting tournament was a little weird because there were only three contestants. The riders battle and smashed into each other, but none of the contestants won by unhorsing their opponent. With the joust complete and the winner declared, the contestants were unhappy with their standings. Everything ended with a double cross and hand to hand fighting.

After some more wandering, we stopped at the Sky King: Birds of Prey show, which was hands down my favorite. The show was entertaining, educational, and amazingly corny. The handler brings out multiple birds, one at a time and has the bird do a few tricks while giving you details on each bird and making bad jokes. Then the birds fly through the crowds to land on perches spaced out in the stands, so make sure to sit on the end of a row. At the very end, a crow comes out and takes donations from your hand and places it in a donation box. They even have a small area where you can go in and view all the birds after the show.

We then ended up at the Paolo Garbanzo Juggling Fool Show. Jack is a huge fan of Paolo so we couldn’t leave without seeing at least one of his shows. As it turns out, Paolo is pretty humorous. All while juggling sharp and flaming objects, which is incredibly impressive.

After Paolo’s show, we just stuck around the stage to watch Saxon Moon with Solar Rain because it sounded cool. The show is live “period” music with fire dancers. As the songs change new dancers come out and show off their moves. It wasn’t what I was expecting, but it sure was exciting.

There were no more shows after Saxon Moon and only a few shops were left open, so we figured it was time to head on home.

Overall, we had a great time and I can't wait to visit the Texas Ren Faires in the future. Also, if you like the blog or our videos, check us out on Patreon.

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