Renaissance Time
By: David O'Connor
I attended a Renaissance fair with some friends a few weeks ago, intending on interviewing fair-goers about their experience and other thoughts on Renaissance fairs. Some were more enthusiastic than others, but they were all very kind and talkative. Here is an interaction I had:
There were multitudes of different costumes and cosplays. Some included a very detailed pirate, Darth Vader, Valkyrie, and Kevin G. Nicholson. Nicholson is the best part of the Renaissance fair world.
I was initially interviewing someone dressed up as a middle-aged stepfather when I noticed that someone else was recording me. I looked over, and it was Kevin, a well-known Renaissance-goer and interviewer. When I told him what I was doing there, which was filming interviews, he claimed that I was "stealing his shtick, man!". We proceeded to discuss his work and his experience with Renaissance fairs for the next few minutes; it was a delightful conversation.
I continued on by asking him who he was, and he turned around to reveal on the back of his trenchcoat an inscription that read, "Kevin G. Nicholson." My friend Nicholas, who was, at the time, recording, added that he also shared the same name. Kevin took a step back and repeated Nicholas’s name, and then said the word Nicholson in a way that separated the two halves of the word, contradicting the two very similar names. After all this talk about his name, I knew I wanted to dive deeper. What made Nicholson go out and interview people? I questioned him further.
​
"Wha-what inspired you?" I asked. He replied that he had been shooting videos for 30 years, making me understand that I was only a newbie to the Renaissance fair world. I was an amateur talking to a professional. I continued on by asking him what inspired him to begin interviewing at Renaissance fairs. He stated that he had noticed that these Renaissance fairs were going on around Connecticut and he was intrigued. He wanted to check them out. That resonated with me as I too was purely looking into this new concept I had heard of recently. Nicholson and I said our goodbyes and continued in different directions, witnessing the joy of the fair.
Going to the Renaissance fair was a lot of fun and an eye-opening experience. It makes you wonder what these people are like in the real world, without a costume on. However, the fair makes you put those thoughts away. It is a make-believe land, filled with joy and innocence. Allow for yourself to become immersed in that land, that’s what allows for the most joy.
Here is a comedic video of the interviews we administered:
​