Teenagers with multiple furry tails dance on all fours in a patch of dusty earth. A man shouts insults at children, who pay money to hurl tomatoes at his face. Despite the hustle and bustle of faire-goers, a woman with a zen air about her sits calmly on a stool spinning wool with a spindle. Nothing is too eccentric for the Sherwood Forest Faire, a locally-owned medieval village located in the Lost Pines section of Central Texas.

Senior Gideon Witchel attended the Faire for the first time this year, and was particularly impressed by the skills vendors and artists were able to showcase. Vendors across the 25 acres of the Faire showcased and sold handmade masks, jewelry, pottery, weapons, and fabrics.

“I loved seeing people who are really good at crafts that are very old and maybe aren’t super applicable, but are still fun,” Witchel said. “Like there was a very skilled glassblower and lots of really skilled leather makers. And it’s just cool that people are still doing fun random things.”

Senior Liesl Geiger has been to the Texas Renaissance Festival in Todd Mission, Texas three times, but this was her first time attending the Sherwood Forest Faire. She found the glass-blowing demonstration to be particularly interesting.

“I really liked seeing this guy who was blowing glass and had a glass-blowing tutorial and fielded a bunch of audience questions and talked about the scientific aspects of glassblowing,” Geiger said. “It was really cool to see a finished product.”

In addition to the demonstrations put on by the Faire itself, senior Miguel Lathrop finds that a lot of the magic is created by the faire-goers themselves. Attendees will often don a variety of elaborate clothing and accessories, including intricate face paint, mushroom hats, and fur skins. 

“So many people have made the things that they’re wearing, which is inspiring,” Lathrop said. “It’s nice to see that a lot of people are so involved. Whenever people are getting into character it’s also nice because it shows that they’re having fun. It’s a thing they have a lot of passion for which is clear both in what they’re wearing and the way they act. They’re committing fully, and  I like to see that.”