Heart of the Forest Renaissance Faire
Renaissance Faire, Marin County, CA

By Laura Brueckner

“Fine leather masks!” a gangly youth calls out from his post in front of the mask maker’s shop, his voice carrying far across the road in the summer air. His master, seated inside at his bench, looks up for a moment, smiles approvingly, then turns his attention back to his work: a custom piece that has been commissioned by one of his favorite patrons, who left him a friend’s sketch of a swan to help his design.

Two young girls seated opposite the young hawker, in their family’s inn yard, trade smiling glances at each other as they twirl their drop-spindles with deft fingers, making foot after foot of fine yarn by hand. Is this a scene from the English countryside? A secluded village, forgotten by time? Almost – welcome to the Heart of the Forest Renaissance Faire in Marin!

Produced by As You Like It Productions, this captivating summer festival is held on weekends from July 10-August 15 this year, and is a younger, fresher, more intimate version of the huge Renaissance Faire phenomenon begun by Phyllis and Ron Patterson in 1963.

What started out as a combination school project, fundraiser for public radio and small crafts market all thrown together, has blossomed into an art and entertainment form all its own, with replicas in every state of the country, every weekend of the year.

Now, Kevin and Leslie Patterson, son and daughter-in-law of the original Founders of the Faire, continue the family tradition less than five miles from the site of the first Renaissance Faire to be held in Northern California.

This Faire’s location, gorgeous Stafford Lake Park in Novato, California, makes it easy to forget the 21^st century. Its wide-open vistas of rolling hills, sparkling lake and clear blue sky invite the mind to indulge in fancy. The temperatures can get quite warm in the summer, and visitors and participants alike are encouraged to bring and drink lots of water, and to use sunscreen.

The site is graced by more than ten enormous oak trees, which provide not only beauty but welcome shade to the visitors, called “patrons” by the Faire employees. This term, more than any other, expresses the sense of the relationship between Faire-goers and the artists who make up this festival.

The Heart of the Forest Renaissance Faire portrays a fictional summer market fair outside the English town of Stafford, in the year 1575, as Queen Elizabeth is on her way to visit nearby Stafford Castle on her Royal Progress. The Faire is alive with excitement, as Sir Francis Drake, William Shakespeare, and the Queen herself appear among the common folk in the midst of their rural celebrations.

In addition to the fun to be had watching the many stage shows and interacting with the characters that rove the streets, visitors who are interested in fine handicrafts and craft demonstrations will find much to delight them.

The Heart of the Forest Renaissance Faire is a juried artisan event, with over a hundred charmingly-decorated Tudor-style booths of craftsmen and craftswomen filling the “streets” with color and life. In Maypole Lane, just one of the many small byways of this "Market Faire," costume pieces are available for purchase or rent from several clothiers, alongside many other individual booths displaying leather masks, handmade ceramics both useful and decorative, lavishly scented handmade soaps, pewter goblets in a dozen different beautiful designs, and traditional Welsh hand-carved wooden spoons.

Further on the blacksmiths and armorers begin to appear, with their shining swords and clever hand-forged silverware sets. The Faire's "Village Blacksmith" actually has his smithy open to public view, and passers-by can linger and watch as he turns raw pieces of metal into shining, finished designs.

On “Jeweler’s Row,” over a dozen fine jewelers take advantage of the huge oak tree shading their booths, and chat together as visitors admire their unusual designs and daring use of a variety of materials. One of the most popular jewelers, Chris Miller, carves tiny suns, moons, stars, goblets, oak trees, and other items out of fossil bone or horn, and strung onto ivory or black cord or made into earrings or bracelets. Some are strung by his booth manager, Heidi Barthelemy, onto necklaces of many-hued semiprecious stone beads.

Another jeweler, Reva Myers, works mainly in amber and fossil bone, in a rarely-seen rainbow of colors, including rare blue amber. One piece at a time, she and her apprentices create completely unique sculptures of mermaids, centaurs, and Goddess figures, and gorgeous jewelry with traditional Celtic spirals, interwoven knotwork, and other intricate designs. The other lanes are similarly filled with treasures, and the map provided by the festival details the locations and wares of each craftsperson to be found on the Faire’s grounds.

In a society where mass-produced items are the overwhelming majority of what we wear and use, and even eat, the existence of a forum for fine handicrafts such as the Heart of the Forest Renaissance Faire has made it possible for many creative souls to make a livelihood in their chosen art. Of the performers who fill the Faire, many are polishing their performance and research skills for later success, and many of them are accomplished professionals already, with multiple professional music recordings on the market, or years of symphony work under their belts. Many of them credit the Faire with giving them the tools and the opportunity to become the performers they are.

And the artisans who put the “market” in this “Market Faire?” Like Morgyn Owens-Celli, a wheat weaver whose work has been placed in the Smithsonian Museum, Renaissance Faire craftsmen have been recognized and given arts grants to pursue their unique passions, and many others are able to work as artists as their main source of income. For this, and for many other reasons, the Heart of the Forest Renaissance Faire is a festival like no other, head and shoulders above other crafts fairs in incredible quality and enthusiastic creativity.

A useful URL: www.forestfaire.com.

Laura Brueckner is a passionate traveler who has lived in Los Angeles and Shanghai. She currently lives in San Francisco, where she writes, directs theater and performs.