All in the Faire-mily

Our view of the front gate

They say that your past comes back to haunt you. Well, this weekened one young man's past colored everyone's perception of his stories about his adventures and his assurance than he's changed his ways. I shall call him Mark. According to his mentor, Mark was a feral child who discovered the Faire when he was a youngster. He'd been abandoned by his mother, and his mentor was in his mid-20s (earlier 30s max) ... Of course, Mark loved the idea of adopting a persona -- but he got sucked into the sex, drinking and Celtic reels -- and no one who was working the Faire when he got banned (several times) has forgotten his shenanigans. One of the last was dressing as Gollum on a cold, windy Tolkien weekend ... another was his satyr. Yes, going about half-naked was his thing. Add to that that he was openly pagan and bisexual and -- Mark had made a reputation for himself.

This weekend he returned -- and it caused a ruction in the faire-mily. His mentor wanted to give him another chance, another said no ... a mess. Mark thought it humorous -- he's still at the Faire, so he's "won." But everyone has an eye on him and lets his mentor know what they think Mark is doing ... Mentor's hurt that we just don't trust Mark -- I figure Mark deserves his chance, but would I trust him around my teenaged nieces? Not on your life!!

And you don't know whether to believe his stories ... that he worked in a costume shop in Hollywood and the coat he's wearing was on a featured extra in Pirates of the Carribean, that he played Spiderman as a street performer in Las Vegas, that he has a 2-year-old child that he seldom sees (that I do believe without question), that he came home to attend a funeral (a possibility) ... the list goes on. Our running joke is that you can tell Gov. Perry is lying because his lips are moving; Mark may go on that list, too, because his stories are sooo fantastic -- and he's lied to us in the past. He maybe 10 years older ... but has he made that fundamental change? Has he figured out how he messed up in the past and how he can prove that he's ready to do his share -- and not mess up again? Time will tell.

Outside of that faire-mily drama, we had faire weather (next weekend should be warm with showers) and a moderate number of patrons. We made our booth quota (and paid our quarter to the management) ,,, but it's tight, as always. Sara and I premiered the newsletter -- she insists that I take credit (or blame?) as editor. The main critique was to include the themes in the calendar of events, so we can dress appropriately ... but most people liked our move from the Roman times into the Gutenberg broadsheet.