Ebony's Pearls

For another year, MedFaire's over.

We had decent weather - even on Thursday and Friday, when it was at it's chanciest. If a water main hadn't broken (not once, but three times) and flooded through the south end of the Faire, the ground would have stayed mostly dry.

The north end is almost hopeless, a little bit of rain and it stays marshy for days. The whole rest of the Faire can be dry and firm ground and that one section will be a swamp, even in the drought of summer. We've come to expect that one portion of the Faire to be muddy and have even developed a routine for dealing with it.

Because of the unexpected water main breaks, we had standing water on a large portion of the grounds. Our crack grounds crew planted pumps and sucked the water up into nearby drainage ditches, but it was a slow process. Still, the few treacherous patches were easy enough to avoid.

The food vendors were a bit unhappy because the worst of it was directly in front of them. I didn't notice a slow-down in food sales; the lines were incredibly long every time I looked. That's why I always bring food out to the Faire. If I can't get to the food vendors before 10:00 a.m., I won't have time to wait in line. Since my shifts are usually morning shifts, I can't get to the food vendors before 10:00 a.m.

Anyway, the crowds were huge. Lots of dogs, lots of people, lots of feet crushing the life out of the grass. With most of the vendors gone, you can see exactly where the foot traffic went. There is no "heaviest" area - it was all equally trampled. The grassy areas were the narrow strips around the tents where the tents were staked out with guy ropes, and the round spots where the trash bins were.

Some of the ground is pounded so hard it had to be tilled up before being seeded.

In spite of the mud that prevented people from driving on the grounds, we had relatively few problems. So-and-so drove their tent ropes into such-and-such's space was a biggie. Another large problem were the people who brought larger tents than the space they'd purchased. A third were the people who forgot this is Oklahoma, land of the perpetual 25 mile an hour winds, and the tents they brought were too flimsy for the wind. Technically, this isn't our problem unless they leave the grounds and their tent blows down onto someone else's tent, or goes blowing merrily down the street.

We moved a few tents because of the water main flooding. Some were rather interesting to move, seeing as they were tents provided by the tent catering company and were composed of heavy metal tent poles bolted to the ground and solid. One such tent took 9 strong men to lift and carry it down the aisles to its new site. We recruited Rufus the Rude and other big and strong street performers to carry it, so they naturally hanned it up, singing work songs as they hauled this huge and heavy tent along to a cheering and waving crowd of other vendors who paused in their set-up to lend their verbal support and approval.

This is a fine example of why MedFaire is such a great place to be - we take care of one another.

Another is seeing the kids who grew up at MedFaire returning as volunteers and as vendors in their own right - it's a generational family tradition now.

On a personal note, I bought Itzl a pair of fairy wings to wear. They're blue with little blue rhinestones set into them. It took us a while to find the right pair of wing for him, too. Child sized wings were obviously far too large. Dog-sized wings were also rather large for him. We finally found the basket of doll sized wings and he had to go through the entire basket to find the pair he liked best. Once we found them, he wore them all day and was upset when I finally took them off. I've hidden them so he doesn't ask to wear them again, but he went looking through his drawer of clothes and I know he was looking for his wings. They are much better than his dragon wings were, so now I have to remake his dragon suit with much better wings.

He didn't want to wear his landsknecht clothes. Perhaps they weren't flashy enough for him. I'll add some fluttery ribbons and bells and maybe he'll like it better. I may trade out the undershirt for a flashier color, too.

His pouch was such a hit at the Faire, everyone who had a small dog wanted one. The pouch only works for really small dogs, though, those under 5 pounds. Any larger, and it's better to have a sling so the weight is borne on the shoulders and back and not the neck. The Mayan baby sling is a good choice for most small to medium sized dogs. Big dogs just need to get over it and walk - or be pulled in a cart.

I learned I not only don't hear feed back at the stages, I can't hear the walkie talkies. Fortunately, I don't work the Faire Office alone, so the other person was responsible for all radio traffic. At the Info Booth, I know all the answers to the questions asked, so I never needed to ask for back-up on those shifts.

Of course, the biggest question was, "Where are the privies?".

I started calling out to the incoming visitors, "Program guides! Maps to the nearest privies included!" and got inundated with people looking for them. Even though we have many, many port-a-potties out there - 3 clusters of 20 regular plus 4 handicapped, by 2:00 p.m. they weren't pleasant to visit anymore.

The Bilge Pumps were unable to be at MedFaire - they're expecting a wee pirette. Yes, I know all the Bilge Pumps are men, but they are modern piratical men who stay with their women when wee pirettes are born. In teir place, we had the Jolly Rogers from Kansas.

It was a bit of a change, because the Jolly Rogers lack the history with the vendors here that the Bilge Pumps have. Building them into the community was fun. I don't know if they plan to return. MedFaire is large enough we could support two pirate crews, especially two as diverse as these are.

If you were at MedFaire and I missed you, I hope you enjoyed it anyway.

If you didn't visit the Faire and were in anywhere nearby, you missed a great time.