Las Cruces, New Mexico, holds an annual Renaissance ArtsFaire that is an absolute blast to attend. So, once again this year, we loaded ourselves into the roadster (big mistake, as you’ll soon see) and headed north from El Paso.
Althought it’s billed as an Arts Fair, Renaissance is much more than that. Participants dress up in fancy period costume and parade about the grounds. Innumerable food vendors ply their wares. “Gypsies” perform sword dances. And even rescue greyhounds are sent off to new homes. It’s a pretty fun time for those of all ages.
Now for the story of bringing too little car to too large a source of art:
Being an Arts Fair, we of course went art shopping. What we found (see gallery below) was something that does not fit into the trunk of a BMW Z3. Thus, we wound up driving back to El Paso, switching out cars, and then returning to Las Cruces to load up our new acquisition.
So, here’s how a Renaissance ArtsFaire appears:
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- Medieval Ice Cream Stand
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- Even the Gypsies Made an Entrance
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- Going to the Dogs . . . or in this case, the Greyhounds
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- Colorful Garb
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- More Happy Couples in Costume
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- Wenches on Parade
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- Opulent Dress
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- More Bagpipes
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- The Bagpipe Brigade
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- Costumed Characters
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- Renaissance Bridge
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- In the Shadow of the Organ Mountains
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- Gypsies with Swords
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- Home Cooking Renaissance-Style
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- The Wizard Watches Over His Apprentice
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- And Here’s the Culprit — 5 Feet of Sculpture for a 3-Foot Trunk
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- The Downfall of the Z3 was Contained within this Stand
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- There were some Tents Moments
Decisions — Murder in Paradise
The Globe — Murder in Luxury
R. Doug Wicker — Author 
How fun! And a great piece of art as well. Love it.
We have one here in NC too. I just went this weekend. It was a lot of fun to see people all dressed up! Great photos!
Great pics as usual. Our medieval fair always coincides with the main autumn fair (which was first held in 1035 and is the oldest continuously held fair in Germany) and ended three weeks ago. For the last few years, there’s also been a second smaller medieval fair right by the river in the weeks before Christmas.
Small trunks are a main drawback of sportscars. When I bought my last car, I looked longingly at the lovely Mercedes SLK in the dealer’s lot that wouldn’t even have cost that much more than the car I eventually went with (the SLK was several years older though). Then I remembered that I wouldn’t be able to fit my groceries into the SLK (let alone my Mom and her groceries) and bought a sensible car instead.
Interesting, Cora. Thanks for the tip. Sounds like a wonderful festival.
And glad you enjoyed the pictures.
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