Our family has an annual outing planned each year that involves getting medieval. Port Gamble hosts the Medieval Faire each June where hundreds of participants dress up and recreate the Middle Ages for thousands of visitors. The celebration is geared toward educating guests about the arts, crafts, lifestyle and combat of the times. The event is about living the Middle Ages as they should have been — without the plague and everyone is deemed a Lord or Lady.

This goal was experienced first hand by a group of a dozen Girl Scouts that spent the weekend dressed in Medieval Garb and had personal guides the entire time. The weekend started for them during opening “court” where a jester was challenged to juggle something large. He opted to juggle three scouts, a feat that was met with much laughter and entertainment. The purple tunic clad group was a hit for many of the artisans and performers, who relish in entertaining a good audience.

The main attraction for visitors is the heavy armored combat. Fighters don their protective gear and battle out at full speed for the coveted prize of being the armored combat champion for the year. The rule book for armor and tactics is over an inch thick and involves months of training and certification before fighters are allowed in the arena. This is quite an evolution for a group that started with a handful of counter culture protesters at Berkley in the 1960s. Today the Society for Creative Anachronism has grown into a global organization with thousands of members and branches in many countries.

The hook for my crew was the archery. Organizers had loaner gear and instructors for first-time shooters, which was good for my six-year old. He skewered many weeds in the grass, but actually scored some points after getting a feel for the bow. We are now shopping for a good recurve, 15-pound bow. We added new words to our vocabulary during the weekend and gained many great memories. Next year we will again join the hundreds of participants as the medieval times return to Port Gamble in 2010, also known as the “Current Middle Ages.”

Brad Camp is a staff photographer for Sound Publishing, the parent company for the Kingston Community News.