Hear ye! Hear ye! Dost thou detect a period piece nerd?

As you can see, there was no Man Meat-ing this week. I'm sorry, folks. Instead, I have some local excitement to share with you!

Every September (and most of October), the Ohio Renaissance Festival is held ten minutes from my hometown in Harveysburg, Ohio. Due to school, I haven't gone in recent years, but today, I made the trip with my parents.

Let me explain. Do you remember the live-action, medieval, role-playing game that McLovin played in the movie Role Models? Multiply that by 100. That is the Ohio Renaissance Festival. It is essentially a real-life version of A Knight's Tale...except the knights aren't nearly as hot as Heath Ledger.

So, today, we decided to escape the woes of the 21st century by roaming around in a re-created 16th century English village. There were multiple shows (jousting, human chess, Robin Hood, etc.),

Hundreds of crafts and art shops,


Lots of medieval foods (turkey leg),


Tons of hired actors (here are the Queen and her guards),


Lots of dangerous games,


Human-powered rides,


...and the greatest people-watching you could ever imagine. Seriously, these people react to live-action Medieval Times how I would react to Sidney Crosby and Vince Vaughn showing up at my house to present me with Bengals' season tickets.

Here is the thing: Almost half of the festival attendees dress up as lords, ladies, wenches, knights, jesters, pirates, serfs, elves, etc. Yes, these people wear absurd costumes, eat like barbarians, and speak in fake British accents all day long. For free. In fact, they pay $20 and the price of the costume to do it.


...and for that, I thank them.