Lords, ladies you are welcome

Published 5:00 pm Wednesday, June 7, 2006

PORT GAMBLE — “Huzzah, huzzah, huzzah!” The crowd shouted, proclaiming to the lords and ladies before it. The baron and baroness bowed happily as their celebration began with many excited cheers. Children ran to a fro through the crowd, merchants peddled their wares and knights and archers called to each other in greeting. The Barony of Dragon’s Laire, within the Kingdom of An Tir, played host to a most prestigious and renown affair this weekend past.

While it all might sound a bit out of place in 2006, for one weekend, Port Gamble morphed into a medieval village as the Society for Creative Anachronism hosted its annual faire there.

With its tried and true offerings — ranging from rapier sword fights and heavy armor combat to archery — festival organizers added even more Middle Ages zeal with an equestrian demonstration.

“This is really awesome,” said Tasmin Trautman, 12. “I like the forges, the ceremonies and the music. I will come back next year for sure.”

“I was a history teacher,” said Gary Trautman, Tasmin’s father. “It’s nice to see this kind of stuff up close. Lots of students come to these events, and they get to see what it was like back then.”

For many, this was their first look at what medieval times were like, up close and in armor as they watched fighting and training demonstrations from the epoch. Merchants and vendors sold period clothing and goods. The food, though not entirely medieval, was definitely along the lines of the ancient cuisine.

“This is my first faire,” said Michael Ratto, 18 from Bellevue. “My friends brought me here, and loaned me this stuff to dress up in. I’m excited to see the fights. I’ll more than likely be back.”

“The public had good timing,” said Laura White, the president of the local branch of the SCA, also known as Angharad Albanes. “Quite a few showed up on Saturday. We had record or near record numbers of the public on Saturday. We also had record numbers of SCA campers this year.”

White said the only real glitch to the whole affair was parking. So many people attended the event Saturday, SCA officials had to shift vehicles to an overflow lot. White said there were a few visitors who felt that the $3 parking fee was too expensive and parked in front of Port Gamble businesses instead. Other than that “modern problem,” she said the faire went off without a hitch.

“My favorite part was seeing the wide variety of bards that came to the faire,” White said. “The bardic performances added to the ambiance of the faire. I also always like watching the kids watching the fighters. They want to try to fight, too, so they go buy wooden swords from the merchants and practice what they’ve seen. I really enjoy that, too.”

“This is grand fun,” said Suquamish resident Carol Evanger. “This is my first medieval faire. I’m just seeing what they’ve got, looking at all of it with an open mind.”

This year’s fair featured a new demonstration, the equestrian events. On Saturday, the horses made their debut, flaunting their armor and medieval decoration.

“That part went really well, people really enjoyed it,” White said. “It was really neat, the people doing it on Saturday worked in the field and pioneered the techniques used. They were authentic and the safe at the same time.”

White said they are going to try and continue to have horses at the faire, along with all the demonstrations. The SCA is always looking for new things to do, and tweaking and adding and improving their biggest event of the year.

“Next year is our 25th anniversary of doing this faire,” White said. “Who knows what will happen.”