A different experience

Yesterday we were searching for something to do. That is, we had a ton of stuff that we needed to do around the house, but wanted to find something kind of fun and definitely outside since it was only about seventy degrees here yesterday.
I'm not sure which one of us came up with the idea, but we decided to check out the Renaissance Fair in the local town. My husband had been to one of these as a kid, but I'd never gone. From the way he described the one he went to as a child, it sounded pretty cool.
The woods of the county fairground have all of these wooden "huts" in them. Permenent structures built specifically for the six weekends of the year that this fair is here. All of these structures house merchants, crafters, and food vendors during the weekends of the fair. We thought that they'd also have blacksmith strations, sword making demos, and all kinds of other "medival" crafts.
Instead, it was like a giant craft show, with entertainment dispersed in between. Some of the entertainment was pretty cool.
We caught a juggling act, a belly dancing troupe and the high joust. Which is exactly what it sounds like. Two men, in armour on horses trying to knock the crap out of each other. Pretty good stuff. Especially considering that it was a "joust until the " and the losing knight had bladders concealed in his clothing which he popped open as he was "stabbed".
So, although the booths and vendors were disappointing, the entertainment was pretty interesting. The crowds in attendance were also interesting, as apparently there is a huge subset of the population that likes to get dressed up in period clothing and pretend that they're in medival France. There were definitely some unusual characters there.
Oh well, I've been now, and don't ever really need to go back.