TRF 2005

On a whim and literally at the last minute we decided to head out to TRF on Oct 29, 2005. I was beat from the World Series and had decided Friday night not to go, but we got a call from Jamie and Leya Saturday morning asking where we were. So I decided the heck with it, loaded up the armour and headed out where we also met up with Lorri and Kevin (Norma works with Lorri). Tired as I was, as soon as we got there things perked up and we had an absolute blast. In fact, it was some of the most fun I have had at the Faire in years.

I also got the chance to put the "final look" of my armour together. Melvin (with Valentine Armouries) was able to handle the repair work on my helm and Joe (of Leather Dreams) was able to put together a temporary harness for my wolf pelt cloak. So I'm walking around getting the requests for pictures and the 20 questions (is it real, are you hot, is is heavy, are you tired, how much did it cost etc.) when an old guy comes walking up and starts chatting. I had a feeling I knew him, but couldn't figure it out. Anyway, he asks the normal stuff, how often do we come up (4-5 weekends, depending on what we have going on), asks if I made the outfit myself (I turned him on to Rob and Joe) and then asked if I get into the faire for free, to which I responded "lord no, I've never gotten in for free, I pay to enter just like everyone else). As I'm answering, I notice he has a crest on his left breast pocket and a name on his right and it hits me... this is "King George" the gentleman that *owns* TRF. No sooner do I say that I pay to enter when he responds "well, we will have to fix that then" and motions for this gal to come on over. They get all my contact information and he proceeds to tell me that they will be in touch and that I'll be able to park in the faire participant lot (which is much, much closer) and that I won't need to pay to enter anymore, and that since I'll be on the roster I can actually collect tips and such for taking pictures. He then peels off about 8 free tickets for the rest of this year and hands them to me. It was one of the few times in my life that I was left pretty speechless. When you consider that this man has seen pretty much every costume out there, for him to find me in a crowd and come over and make the offer he did... well, it's about the best compliment I could have received from anyone. What's more though, it's really a testament to the work that Rob and Mich at Valentine Armouries and Joe at Leather Dreams did to put this outfit together. If you are considering any kind of armour or leatherwork and you don't go to these folks to get it done, well I think you are throwing your money away because these guys are the best.

Anyway, here are the pictures. Lorri took a bunch of pictures of the joust.