February '25: Dragonstone Springs
Just before it opened for its first season, the Arkansas Renaissance Festival’s owner, Patrick, told me to prepare to do my juggling show in any weather conditions, because the festivities wouldn’t stop. I’m glad he warned me, because my first show at the Ren Fest was at 10am on a Saturday… during a downpour. That particular show may have only had a couple audience members under umbrellas, but no weather would stop the festival from bringing in daily audiences well into the thousands during its five-weekend kickoff.
The following February, snow was still falling from the sky while I packed my bags to return to Dragonstone Springs (actually Mount Vernon, AR, a rural town of just 146 people), and ice had accumulated on the gravel and dirt roads surrounding the 25 acres of festival space. But nothing stopped fantasy-lovers in elaborate costumes from traveling across the state to see all kinds of acts, including juggling!
As the sun came out and the temperatures crept above freezing, snow started to melt into the soft dirt, leaving most of the ground covered in cold, thick mud. After I arrived, with hand warmers in my pockets and shoes, I carefully carried my show through the festival grounds and onto the stage near the opening gates.
If wide-eyed attendees coming into the festival weren’t greeted by live viking-style music, they may have walked in to see me throwing a lemon onto a knife, spinning a glass of water inside a hoop, or mystically refilling soda bottles in front of a crowd of people who had stopped to see the show. Between performances, I’d walk around the festival juggling knives and chatting with festival-goers in hopes to drum up a starting audience for my next stage show. I only need a few fun people to get started; at an event like this, an audience of just 5 people will likely grow 10x bigger before the half hour show is over, especially in this heavy traffic area near the festival’s entrance/exit. Luckily, my voice amplification system need not be period appropriate, so a headset microphone allowed even big crowds to enjoy the show.
Since I knew I’d be performing for multiple audiences each day, I used this as an opportunity to get some stage time for the new candlestick act I had started developing the year before. Each rep helped me get a little more comfortable with the technical work, and I found a few new jokes that got good responses. But most important of all, I learned that this trick can be challenging to perform outside. Whether it’s looking directly up at the sun during the face balance or the wind blowing out the candle before the big finish, something tells me I may need to think about a more reliable outdoor version of this routine. Even with those obstacles, I was happy with how the act was received by the audience; one friend even told me afterward it was his favorite part of the show!
As I walked back to my car… oh, sorry, committed Ren Fest enthusiasts… As I walked back to my transportation vessel one day to eat lunch, I noticed a wooden boat, big enough to hold one or two people. I learned that it’s a viking tradition to honor the dead in a boat-burning ritual, so I was asked to write the name of someone who had died recently on a chip that would later go up in flames with the boat. A month earlier, I was seeing and performing magic (by request) at the funeral of one of my favorite friends and mentors, Jon Bucher, who was already on my mind, since he had just been workshopping this new candle thing with me a few weeks before he passed. He was the kind of person who would love to know his name was in a fiery viking boat set aflame at the end of this festival, so I wrote it in my best Bucher-esque calligraphy and tossed the wooden puck into the boat.
It’s remarkable what a magical atmosphere and impressive festival the crew at the Arkansas Renaissance Festival have been able to put together in a relatively short time. Everyone in attendance is so kind, and the interactive shows all feel so unique and personal. I’m grateful they had me back for The Viking Thing!
