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Friday, October 5, 2001
Page 3
91 wdoCe r r
new world
Texas Renaissance Festival commences
Saturday as a Magical Realm
By Jennifer Cross
THE BATTALION
The aisles are empty of the thousands of peo
ple who visit each year. The grass has grown
over the paths, some booths gleam with fresh
coats of paint, the trees rustle over head, and
somewhere in the distance a bagpiper is practic-
for the opening day.
The Texas Renaissance Festival will explode
;ovibrant life Saturday, and it will be as col-
;ul and noisy as ever. This year’s theme.
The Magic Realm,” will transport visi-
to another world.
A glorious garden has been built by
an unwary mortal, but the garden is
part of a deadly prophecy that may be
end of the fairies, if not
destroyed by the end of
the day. The Goblin
has pledged to
destroy the garden for the fairies, but only if his
son is wed to the beautiful fairy princess. While
plots for the festival seem to repeat, this year’s
plot promises to be interesting and original.
Rehearsals for the festival began in June, and
the 155 members of the performance company
have worked every weekend since then to make
this year’s more magical than the
last. More than 500 people com
prise the core cast of the festival.
The air is teeming with excite
ment as brightly-colored
fairies and green-faced
goblins come down the
lane, mixed
with lords,
ladies and
lowly peasants.
“The best part of
rehearsals is the sense of fam
ily that comes out of them
when you get to know everyone
after a couple of weeks,” said
Liz Markham, who has
worked in the performance
i- company for 4 years. “We’re
like one big closely-knit
family because we’ve seen
each other at our best and
worst.”
But the actors in their rich cos
tumes are no match for the new addi
tion to the sprawling grounds of the
festival.
“We have a new magic garden this year [with]
six different sanctuaries,” said Orvis Melvin,
director of marketing for the festival.
Where once stood a tangled forest beside the
entrance to Sherwood Forest and the rest of the
grounds, a set of tall white columns have been
erected, leading to an enchanting garden. The
garden itself was designed by owner George
Coulam and cost more than $300,000.
Construction began in May 2000 and continued
during last year’s festival. Spanning 280,000
square feet, the garden winds past a stream
whose sides are paved with stones of earthy
beige and soft grays.
“I see a very Spanish-Mexican flavor in there,”
said Erin Gele, a worker at the magic cauldron
booth and a senior international studies major.
The path urges casual strollers through the
garden and into the six different sanctuaries along
the path. Mosaic benches and vibrant plant life
invite long rests in the wild garden.
“I think [the garden] will add to the over
all enjoyment of the fair,” said Kerri Jo Reed,
a senior management major. “The only reason
1 would ever go is because of the atmosphere
of the place.”
The path and the sanctuaries are populated
with unique sculptures, and each sanctuary has a
different theme.
“Some [of the sculptures] were made in our
shop,” Melvin said. “Mr. (George] Coulam
designed them and they were made by our arti
sans here at the festival.”
While the new garden may draw some, the
more than 300 shops and 204 live shows on 21
stages will draw most of the projected 25,000
daily visitors. Popular shows such as “The Dead
Bob Show” on the Globe stage and “The Sturdy
Beggars Mud Show” at the Mud Pitt will be
returning this year, along with some new faces.
“We have new vendors and new acts,”
Melvin said.
Other acts include “Throw Up” at the Globe
stage, “Washing Well Wenches” at the Mud Pitt,
“To the Hilt” and “Cliff Hanger” at the Castle
Stage and “Arsene Dupin” and “Sound & Fury”
at the Odeon stage.
The Texas Renaissance Festival will host more
than three weddings a day this year, for a total of
46 in the popular open-air chapel.
“Weddings are scheduled to be held ]in
the Magic Garden] in the future as well, and
it will be a really popular place to have
them,” Markham said.
A lot of hard work
each year goes into mak
ing the festival a magi
cal place for visitors.
“It’s a lot of hard
work,” Markham said.
“But it’s worth it and
if I had to do it over
again, I wouldn’t
change a thing.”
Tickets are $20 at
the gate for adults
and $9 for children.
Advance tickets for
the first weekend may
be ordered online before
2 p.m. Friday at $12 for
adults and $6 for children.
Tickets ordered online for
any other weekend have a
$3 discount. The festival
opens at 9 a.m. and runs until
dusk Saturdays and Sundays
until Nov. 18. Visit
www.texrenfest.com for
directions, camping infor
mation and ticket sales, or
call 1-800-458-3435.
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