A Trip Back in Time

In my church there is a group of (mostly) women who play recorders. We play all kinds of music, and we love to play for church services and concerts in the community. We've played for Madrigal dinners at Christmastime and we play several concerts a year in local nursing homes and assisted living centers in the area.


The recorder is an ancient instrument, predating the modern flute. Much of the music written for recorders dates from the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, the Renaissance period. Several years ago the members of the group decided we would acquire period outfits to go with the Renaissance music. Yesterday we played (by invitation) at the Renaissance Fair sponsored by the Episcopal Church in Paducah, KY. Paducah is about 80 miles from Carbondale, so we left early in the morning to arrive just before 10 am.

Weather permitting, the Fair is held on the grounds of this beautiful old church. Inside the church, which is a lovely, ornate and traditional sanctuary with marvelous stained glass windows, tapes of Renaissance music played in the background. A short prayer service was held every hour on the hour for anyone who wished to attend.

This year the weather cooperated beautifully! The skies were mostly clear with just a few white wisps of clouds high overhead. The temperature started out in the 60's and by midafternoon, was in the low 80's. An occasional breeze whirled leaves around and had the bright banners and flags fluttering and snapping.

The shadowy looking fellow in the foreground was dressed as as medieval "inquisitor" type. He roamed around looking for people to "put under arrest" and eventually had one fellow in "the stocks". (I didn't even see the stocks until we were packed and ready to leave, so I didn't unpack my camera to get a shot of that, more's the pity.) When I shot this picture I didn't realize he had walked into the foreground, which is basically what he did all morning, slinking around in that creepy looking garb.

On the grounds booths and tables were set up with displays of ancient crafts, including basket making and some sort of threadwork (which my friend L would recognize immediately, but the name of which I can't recall). A magician performed for the children, and he seemed to be a big hit with the young ones. A lot of items were for sale, including home made soaps and sachets, homemade bread and cookies, jewelry, and the aforementioned baskets.

The portly gentleman making the baskets pointed out to me that they were all made of leather! I've seen many lovely wicker baskets at craft fairs, but I'd never seen any like these. I was quite taken with them and bought one for my daughter for Christmas. (Kim, if you are reading this, you still have to act surprised at Christmas.)

I didn't buy any cookies from this lady, but one of my friends did and she said they were delicious!

A lot of people were in costume, and visitors as well as performers were constantly snapping pictures.

The blue striped tent in the background was set up with games for kids. Quite a few youngsters were running about the grounds, some in costume, some not. All of them seemed to be having a terrific time.

A bagpipe player wandered through the crowd. He stopped to chat with us and told us he could only play for a few minutes at a time, since the instrument takes so much wind to play. Our group decided to alternate with him to keep the music flowing. We would play a half dozen songs or so, and then the piper would play for a few minutes. Sometimes he switched to a stringed instrument that looked a lot like a mandolin, but had a different name, one I hadn't heard before (and can't recall, of course.)

Many people stopped by to listen, take our pictures, and tell us how much they were enjoying the music. (Of course, we hate hearing stuff like that--NOT.)

There are usually 8 or 9 in our group, but only 5 of us could make it to the Fair this weekend. Below is a snap taken of our group by the huband of one of our members just as we began to play.

I am on the far right playing the soprano recorder. If you think by the time it hit 80 degrees I was roasting in that burgundy satin dress and hat, you would be right! Thank goodness for the slight breeze. And thank goodness I had braided my hair and tucked it up under the hat. When it's down it feels like a "shawl" on my neck and shoulders. I'd really have been uncomfortable with "flowing tresses."

Tables were set up near the food booth so patrons could purchase their wares and sit in the shade to eat while enjoying the music and the ambiance.

The sign above the food booth says, "Ye Olde Sausage Shoppe". They were selling bratwurst sandwiches with toppings of either kraut and apples or caramelized onions. Yum! There were two kinds of soups, butternut squash and creamed leek, and also hot or cold cider as well as coffee or soda. After playing for an hour and a half we broke for lunch and enjoyed some of the delicious food. We resumed playing after lunch and played until nearly 2 pm. It was getting pretty warm by then, and all of us were tired and ready to head back home.

The Fair is still small, but is growing every year. This was our second year to be invited to play, and we had such a great time, we're already looking forward to next year.