FULL SHOW | Everything to see, eat, and do at the 50th anniversary Texas Renaissance Festival

FULL SHOW | Everything to see, eat, and do at the 50th anniversary Texas Renaissance Festival

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today on Houston life we are at the Texas Renaissance Festival we're going to show you everything that is in store for their 50th Anniversary such an exciting Milestone and you know whether you have been to the Texas Renaissance Festival a dozen times or maybe you're just planning your very first visit there is something new and exciting for everyone this year we'll cover everything you need to know this year's theme weekends tips for avoiding the lines and of course things you can do with the entire family especially the kids Mel and and of course what to wear renfest is the perfect place to express your medieval side I'm heading over to one of the show's best Outfitters to learn how to dress for the festival or one of a theme weekend and it's not just the vendors here going the extra mile for the show's 50th year even St Arnolds is taking part in the celebration Tessa is at the brewery checking out a brand new beer made just for the Run Fest sounds really really delicious but you know what I think Lauren Kelly may have got the best assignment of all she got to be here at the Texas Renaissance Festival for opening weekend can you guys check it out the beautiful arena is behind us and coming up I am chatting with the Queen the lady of the fair that's coming up on Houston life [Music] [Applause] today hi everybody and welcome to this very special edition edition of Houston life I'm Derek Shore and I am Melanie camp and we are on the beautiful grounds of the Texas Renaissance Festival can you believe it's been 50 years of this Festival they are celebrating a huge milestone anniversary this year if you've been to the festival many many times there's always something new to experience and enjoy but if you are a firsttimer you got to come and check out this place it is a beautiful location sitting on 65 acres in Todd Mission just Northwest of Magnolia that's less than an hour from Houston so just head Northwest and take Highway 249 to FM 1774 it is open Saturdays and Sundays through December 1st and you know what the fun thing about this Festival is people come from all over the United States to experience it not just as vendors but also people come and visit it I mean this is definitely something that people mark on their calendars and come out and enjoy it's a big deal and some people wear Street clothing like I'm wearing today other people dress the theme or maybe they go full on in character one thing Mel I didn't realize today is there's actually a Renaissance University so all the staff members here all the vendors all the performers they have to go through a training program a rigorous training program where they work on their accent where they definitely work on all their outfits and there's an exam you got to pass the test you can even be pop quizzed at any point and that's what keeps uh the Renaissance Festival here so special what's the pop quiz like would you POS it I've never been through the university Mel so I'm not sure what the pop I think they would be testing you on your your character accent or something like cuz you know everyone has to stay in character as a performer throughout the whole festival it's tough to do you know Brandon used to work here at the Renaissance Festival yeah at the wax hand stand for sure did he have a character we'll have more on that later yes he was all dressed up he was so into it hey so one thing super special about this year with the 50th Anniversary there are these limited edition goodies these souvenirs some of which are on this table right now this smell really caught my eye because this design see this 13 here this is from the 13th Renaissance Festival which was 37 years ago this is the original design and the real Musgrave that's the artist's name he gave them permission to reissue this design for the 50th Anniversary so this is a really special edition t-shirt really I mean it's this year and also the 13th wow and we have some beautiful vessels uh depending on what you like to drink there a vessel that will certainly help you drink your your beverage in style and Mel you it's empty right now it's empty for now we're going to try to change that Mel you've been doing a bit of research about the Renaissance Festival and I understand you have some interesting numbers for our viewers well you know what if you want to do the ren Fest by the numbers all right this is pretty awesome did you know 100 weddings happen here every year that's not over the last 50 years that's every single year and they fully book out and they do do one 100 weddings a you and from what I understand whatever kind of wedding you're looking for maybe you want to include an absent tasting or may maybe a special tea for the the bridal party whatever wedding you can dream dream up they can help customize it for you here and that's what it is this is a magical place so there is a lot of magic happening um and uh teas food drinks I mean that's one thing you want here put this in your head next time you pull out a Turkey Lake 880,000 of those babies are cooked up at every renfest every year oh my goodness at this Texas renfest so that's pretty pretty awesome and of course the performers that get pop quizzed and have to go through the university there are a thousand of those that come from all over the country I mean this is the Texas Renaissance Festival is the biggest Renaissance Festival in the whole country even though the festival is running now through December 1st it's only a limited time this Festival happens during the year the Renaissance Festival really has Community impact year round did you know that so far this year they've already posted two blood drives Mel on this property so for people who live up in this area it's a great way to give back they also recently did a back to school backpack Drive where these backpacks were filled and then distributed so the king did that the king handed out imag him coming to your school and giving you a backpack that's what happens if you live out this end of town yeah it it pretty it's pretty special this community and the impact that the festival has year round so uh we talked about wardrobe earlier today Mel and again this is one burning question that a lot of people have should I show up wearing Street clothing like Derek did today or you can do you look very good and your St okay but thank you I think I have my eyes on a kilt which again story for another day but some people really go all out when it comes to planning their costume and Mel that's on your agenda for the day it certainly is cuz you know I'm going to go all in and all the way and I am going to head over and check out Ravenswood it's a place that a lot of people like to get their costumes so I'm going to see if they can give me some tips on how I can dress for the festival I do want to see you in a Kil but I'm heading out now okay how fun Ravens would you already look great but I can't wait to see what you come up with now I got the old Kil Vision in my head okay in the meantime Tessa be has been hanging out over at St Arnold they are Brewing up something very special for the Texas Renaissance festival's 50th Anniversary Tessa how's it going over there that's right Derek I'm here at St Arnold Brewing Company where it's only right that the patron saint of Brewing beer makes beer fit for a king for the 50th anniversary of the Texas Renaissance Festival I'll tell you how they do it coming up on Houston life all right Tessa we will check back in with you in just a little bit all right so breaking news people the king himself is joining us right now from the Texas Renaissance Festival your majesty it's great to see you well Lord Derek it's a pleasure to have you back in the village thank you for visiting us we're so excited we love coming back here every single year congrats on 50 years that's right 50 years 1974 we started this was nothing but a gravel pit and look what it's grown into now it really is incredible it's a magical place there's no place quite like it just a short drive outside of Houston about an hour so this year for the 50th Anniversary there are some really special things going on people can visit the website texrenfest.com to sort of plan out their visit is that what you recommend oh absolutely we want them to do that we want them to go and they can get tickets to all our immers events and all our tastings and everything you can get everything they want at texrenfest.com and they can also get their camping passes or perhaps they want to stay for the entire weekend they can do the stay and play so it's a lot of fun okay for people who are day tripping what time do you recommend they get here I I know this is a very common question right but it gets crowded on the weekends right oh absolutely a majority of our guests arrive between 11:00 a.m. and 2: so we recommend people get here bright and early in the morning they can uh open up they can arrive as early as 8:30 9:00 a.m. the gates open up the queen and I will introduce and open up with a great morning Proclamation and start the festival and then they can stay through the entire day through the evening and fireworks at the very end it really is a magical experience we highly recommend it your majesty I know that this is your uh you know your your rain over this entire area talk to us about some of the kid-friendly events because there are specific shows that are better for kids and then there are shows specifically for adults oh absolutely and of course um they can go online to find which ones are and all the adult shows are marked with a PG13 sign there so to let them know but of course most of our shows are kid-friendly uh one of our favorites they can go visit is a bulot and of course we have games and rides and our Midway for them to enjoy we have an escape room that's always loads of fun and of course we do have an awful lot of fun for all the adults as well oh of course around every single Corner in fact where we are right now can we just take a little bit of a walk I feel like here on the grounds of the Texas Renaissance Festival 65 acres by the way there is a photo opportunity around every single Corner oh absolutely there is not only is our beautiful uh 16th century recreated Village wonderful to look at and all the architecture beautiful but of course it's inhabited by all sorts of wonderful folks who are all out here in costume to present fun to all our people and guests what is it like for you as royalty your Royal Highness your majesty to walk through the Festival because clearly everyone knows who you are it's a lot of work to be you know uh in charge essentially well so yes it is because you know you have to make sure like when I visit with people like you and I'm telling people about the festival to make sure I don't forget anything or don't flub anything up when I talk but um when I'm walking through the Festival during the day it's absolutely glorious cuz you're seeing brand new happy faces and then you're running into old friends who are about that you run into and you realize that they've been out there perhaps since they were children and you I may have kned them when they were a kid and now they're bringing their kids to be kned by me so it's generational and um the most exciting thing I think about the festival is everybody who visit takes ownership of their experience out here and after they visited the fair they'll go out and they'll tell their friends you've got to come visit the fair and they'll tell them all the things that they did because every person is going to have their own experience every person's going to run into people that uh not everybody's going to meet they're going to go into different shops they're going to see different shows and it's just absolutely wonderful and they can own that experience and carry it with them and uh remember all the good times so many good times so many delicious meals the music the shopping making new friends uh your majesty your highness I feel like I should bow to you should I get down on one knee oh no the you are well uh a proper way for a gentleman here would be to ah there it is always an honor spending time with you the king of the festival huzzah huzzah well done is great to see you and the festival is just beginning in fact Lauren Kelly she got very lucky because she went on assignment for opening weekend and Lauren what have you found today well Derek you just got to talk with the king of the Renaissance Festival but guess who this beauty is the queen of the festival is joining us we don't know much about her but guess what when we come back from Houston life all the details on this beautiful lady and the rest of the festival info that you need to get on down here coming up next when Houston life returns [Music] well we are celebrating this weekend it's opening weekend for the Texas Renaissance Festival 50 years in the making and we're finally here and we've always gotten the King on but guess who we haven't chatted with the beautiful queen of the festival welcome to Houston life greetings and well met my dear and Welcome to our opening weekend our October Fest celebration Okay so we're celebrating October Fest this weekend Queen what are your duties as you are out here throughout the days oh my there are so many things to see and do for me I just I begin the day with a morning Proclamation and then my ladies and I wander through the village greeting people making certain that things are in place and then I attend the 11:00 joust in fact I attend all four of them the 1113 and 5 most exciting but throughout the day I do wander I see various uh various performers I see speak with the vendors I obviously I love absolutely entertaining with the the people that come and the children it is just most exciting and then his majesty and I do attend the king's feast and we have a noon Proclamation there's a parade and we end the day with an evening Proclamation and fireworks above the you sound like a very busy lady it is quite busy indeed but it's also most entertaining well I've attended the king's Feast before and that is something I'm telling our viewers they need to figure out how to be a part of because there's so much food and there's so much drink and there's such a great performance inside of that it's so much fun indeed it is it is a six course theatrical performing event it is so much fun all of the food and Libations that you wish to to sit in a 2hour uh performance and then all of the the the helpers and the attendees and all of the acts that come through absolutely will have you rolling it is so much fun and his majesty and I do come and join you for dessert yes now my lady who is in your Royal Court your Entourage if you will who travels around with you throughout the festival oh my goodness well everything that would make a a royal Queen comfortable and so we have the ex Checker she wanders around and makes certain that I have enough coin and then we have the various ladies in Waiting that do all and different andry things there are those that give advice there are those that oh do give do my hair and help me dress and then so there are just basically anyone that is going to help me um interact better and be more um queenly throughout the day you know for costume change costume changes or anything that you need throughout the day oh indeed and I know not what these costumes are for well it's true I am dressed as a as a German lady but uh yes every weekend we do and speaking of weekends we do change every weekend there's a different theme so we've begun with October Fest then we will follow with a thousand And1 dreams All Hallows Eve pirate Adventure then we have heroes and villains and The Barbarians come out and uh Highland fleeing and we finish it all with Celtic Christmas Queen I don't know how you keep up with your schedule it's a good thing that you have people to help you out with that very true indeed yes I do have somebody that keeps my schedule I think that is a PR person what they are called I don't know what that is back in colonial times yes indeed and we must remember the festival starts this weekend and runs through December 1st Friday Saturday Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend opens at 9:00 a.m.

and runs through dusk in the evening at 8:00 fireworks well you look fabulous Queen but I also want to point out a wonderful little button that you have on your on your outfit today can you tell us what that says well it says yes Queen and until this day I had no idea what that meant and I met one of these new young ladies in waiting very modern and she said look at this get this you say yes Queen can I practice I had no idea shall we do it together yes ready yes yes Queen oh my goodness I feel like I'm part of your Royal Entourage are indeed you look absolutely glorious we just need to make sure we can get some covering oh we're going to cover my ankles for next year Queen thank you have a wonderful time at the festival plenty more from the 50th Anniversary Texas Renaissance Festival coming up in just a bit thank you [Music] welcome back to Houston life we are celebrating 50 years of the Texas Renaissance Festival and you know for decades the people here at Ravenswood leather have been helping people dress the part for renfest offering beautiful bespoke costumes that they can wear throughout the festival and also Beyond well and truly into their life but did you know that every single one of these costumes is made just down the road at their store I went and checked it out it is a pretty amazing Place take a look Ravenswood leather we started 35 years ago and uh just as a small family business and grew from there and we produce all of our own products at our manufacturer right here in the back that's amazing you really do have a good clo tight-knit team who are making quality products for people so this is kind of like the shop front when you first walk in say hi to MJ hi MJ Y and she runs the front end as well as you'll see here at the Renaissance Fair she works the front counter at the Renaissance Fair too so what are we looking at in this room now in over here of course we sell for doyour sers we um we have leather and of course we produce a lot of scrap so we sell scrap as well as well as like veg tan by the height or by the by the half or by the Foot uh as well as hardware and tie-in tools that we use in the back here uh dyes and finishes and all that so wow so this is for someone who maybe wants to come and make their own costumes they can come here but also if they want something really special that's something you can custom absolutely and when we uh do custom work of course you can pick your own color we have a huge Swatch wall and uh we take measurements design it with you and help you you know realize what you'd like and the magic happens through there the magic all happens back here okay let's go all right our production uh process begins for clothing in here this is Kirwin she's working on a musketeer dress right now uh but the neat thing is it actually starts here and finishes here this is our finish station this is kirwin's leather she uses uh and then of course overstocks out in front and most of the stuff goes from even like this which is it's a con ccept all the different kind of Concepts she wants to work with and then we do a drawing and then we cut a pattern and then it goes fruition so wow yeah and all of our clothing is start and finished right here in this room by [Music] her so after the cutting process it comes in here to our sewing room this is a very big sewing machine I have to say that's a big one that's a big one that's a big one uh we have all single needles on the outside this is over here she's our uh manager of uh of the soft goods plus our head seamstress she's working on a custom order right now but everything comes in here from The Cutting Room gets sewn and whatever uh needs to be done to for the uh production of the product and then it goes back into Kirwin where it's finished as well how many clothes are you making items of clothing are you making every year oh I couldn't tell you there a lot we have a massive amount um hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and there's only 10 of you there is only 10 of us but the sewing for all the clothing is done with two people that's absolutely amazing it is it's it's phenomenal and I have to say I think you guys might be a bit magic I think that might be the secret is that right is it the magic is it the magic it is you do all your embroidery on side as well do and uh we put art together it's either myself Kirwin or rayene of course and a lot of times all of us we powow on it uh she digitizes it and stitches it out and so this is a custom Alliance piece for a customer that we're we're building and you know it's just Sky's a limit we have a lot of fun here back in the day everything was hand cut and of course now we're lucky enough to have this monstrosity which is a CNC and it cuts punches all we do is we design everything and the neat thing about it is since it's digital we can create and tweak and get it just perfect and then be in production so it don't have to be held up for uh patterns of course hand cutting was horrible you for many years I love this machine wow so much yeah [Music] so this Shop is open all year round correct yeah we're open uh 9 to 5 uh Monday through Thursday wow yeah that's fantastic I'm absolutely loving these I feel like these are very renfest and yes I'm wondering because you are at renfest again this year maybe I can meet up with you there and perhaps see where I'm going I think I would like to be wear something like this absolutely dressed to the nines yes okay and you'll do that for me absolutely okay it's a deal got it see you at r fest see you at renfest thanks a lot and I don't know about you guys but I can't wait to see which outfit Mel picks to wear and we've had so much fun celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Renaissance Festival from having to stand in the Queen's safety Circle because you know showing my ankles was not allowed who knew to an amazing one-of-a-kind experience riding in the festival par inside the king and queen's Carriage to checking out some of the amazing performances including the returning Clan Tinker Family Circus who I got to speak with we have you know people standing on giant objects we've got uh heart stopping danger crazy juggling mystifying magic and much much more let's talk about who we're seeing right now I know you guys have tons of fun clan Tinker Family Circus uh brothers and sisters with a a variety of of circus skills on display we have Serendipity dancing in the back we have Sam Elijah and Rebecca juggling away and we do lots more magic and sword swallowing how did you get your family into the circus we started at a very young age juggling music magic Mayhem and uh yeah we took it down the road the clan Tinker Family Circus is truly one of my favorites but here's a few more favorites from the team Derek's pick for a Dusty show is of course the jousting it is Iconic and you just can't leave without seeing that one Tessa's pick is the mud show we got to talk to them last year and they are hilarious and Mel says you have to stay late and check out solar rain fire show When the Sun Goes Down And of course we can't forget about the drink so let's check in with Tessa who got a look at how the 50th Anniversary beer was made hey Tessa coming up it's beer fit for a king what goes into making the 50th Anniversary Texas Renaissance Festival beer that's next on Houston [Music] life Canon [Applause] fire welcome back to this special edition of Houston life I'm Derek Shore coming to you from the Texas Renaissance Festival in Todd Mission the festival is already underway it's weekends through December 1st so come on out and enjoy today we've been trying to show you some of the things you can do and experience around the festival we have just scratched the surface though in addition to the great entertainment and shopping this year the food and drink at the festival it's really been kicked up a notch because of the 50th Anniversary even St Arnold Brewery in Houston is getting in on all the fun Tessa is hanging out at the brewery today to see what they're mixing up hey Tessa Derek I am here at one of my favorite places in Houston it's St Arnold Brewery and we are behind the scenes getting a special inside look at the Brewing process and just how they came up with the 50th Anniversary Texas Renaissance Festival beer which you will be able to have at Texas FunFest so let's take a walk because we've got a lot to learn standing here is Chief marketing officer Lenny Ambrose okay first of all thanks for the access oh well first of all let's do this let's smell in what do you smell kind of like I honestly smell something a little sweet little sweet maybe baking bread a little bit well wouldn't you know it's because grain and malt and wheat are used in making beer and bread and those kinds of things and desserts and cookies and all that right yeah absolutely and the beer I mean that's really your specialty and I think it's so cool that this partnership with the Texas Renaissance Festival is happening how did it happen cuz it's their 50th and it's your 30th right it's there are certainly a fixture in the community um they are an institution I feel like that everybody's proud of we've been around 30 years too and we hope that we're an institution that the community is proud of so I think it was just like a perfect partnership also we've got a saint and they've got a king so that looks cool together too absolutely but isn't that a little intimidating because this beer has to be one that it has to be good enough for a king it's also commemorating a huge year for them so like it's no small task yeah so honestly I will say this when we started talking about doing that there was very little debate what kind of beer we wanted for the festival uh we wanted something an English ale so something similar to an ESB which is a extra special bidder okay or an English ale so that's what it is it's like a malty and hoppy English bitter uh but it's very well balanced so you get a little of The Malt which is the um like the bitterness and a little of the sweet which is the maltiness all Blended together how many gallons of this delicious beverage are you going to have to um make in order to supply the Renaissance Festival so that's honestly I'll say this it's a first year so we don't know yet what we do know about the renfest is that they drink a lot of beer there so for us honestly on the logistics side of things and I know sometimes that's a little bit boring in the whole Brewery process but our Logistics guys are every day trying to figure out are we we need to make this many Kegs and this many Brews to kind of keep up with that demand because um people enjoy beer uh at the renfest because I don't know if you know even October and November it's still really warm beer drinking weather in Texas that's right and you've done this on such a large scale but you've actually brought out some of the actual ingredients you've used in the beer I look at this and I say say okay what what is this is this like wheat barley what is this I it it looks like little wheat seeds or uh grape nuts to some extent and you could kind of treat it like that it's sort of cereally you're going to taste it me too me too then if lny does it I do it is that is that the rule Smokey little bit Smoky this is toasted toasted special bee malt is what this is called and they're all different times of malt all over the Spectrum where depending on the kind of beer you want which this one's kind of like Ruby colored almost is this it this is the beer oh yeah I guess we kind of buried the lead didn't we okay we get it okay this is huge this is the King's beer so when you smell it you smell kind of that malty sweetness right yeah as your mouth watering a little bit that's probably from so ready to taste it all right well Cheers Cheers okay we can talk about H don't they say huzzah they say huzzah but you said to say hazad like times 50 okay H or drink say that after you drink it mm huz yeah no it just rolls right off the tongue what is this rabbit food right here that I'm looking at so this is Hops and we use pelletized hops wow um and that you don't want to eat those things you just want to smell them and it's floral right smells like an IPA it smells like the beer I want to go back for more of the beer it's delicious by the way M that is like there's not a palette that would reject I kind of feel like it's the type of beer if you like beer at all then you will like this a little bit bitter a little bit malty um about 6.2% alcohol so it's not like a huge beer an imperial stout that might be 10% or a light you know pser that's 4.2 it's kind of right in the middle good for all day drinking at the renfest yeah well we're so excited for you we're so appreciative that you gave us this behind the scenes look this is a running Brew brewed people are actually working here you Brewers walking around people are actually at work here even me I'm at work this is this is all in a hard day work and uh we're going to do one more time for the king for renfest for you Lenny oh excuse me lovely wench can you tell me where I can try the king's ale absolutely you found it right here at the top oh I'm so excited well come on in let's go Miss Maggie thank you la how are you I have been waiting for you all day well it's a good thing that I am here the Tap bar is where we're at I right by the front gate yes and we are very excited because you guys have a very special collaboration this year with st arold Brewery yes the king's ale now I heard that you would like to try this gorgeous English a I don't know who would have told you that I don't know where you got that information but yes yes I would well I am a bar wench people talk darling what what are your duties as a bar winch oh well you mean aside of sampling all of the alses that we could possibly want we have craft wines craft beers craft Mead if you are so inclined for honey wine really quickly though I have a question because I have a lot of friends who don't know what Meade is can you explain it to them oh yes so Meade is the oldest form of alcohol in existence it is made from fermented honey instead of fermented grapes dates back to the Egyptians okay so very sweet often very subtle but sometimes certain ones just like you darling can really give a good punch give a good punch we're going to Spill the beer here later well speaking of spilling the beer we have to start drinking don't go what are we going to taste first I want the king fest absolutely so this is just above a 6.2% ABV which means it will only knock you off kill to slightly okay so that means you're going to be wearing your very comfy shoes here at the Texas Renaissance Festival which I'm very excited because you guys are kind of at the front of the festival gate we are just by the front gate so I always tell people I will get your first beer in and your last beer out oh I like where your head's at Maggie so I'm going to go ahead and P you a full Pint I would assume a full Pint a full Pint sounds great I do love this because you guys you check everybody at the front like it's its very own special Place darling did you not know that I was already special oh she's very special she's very special but you guys have so many other things on tap as well this is just an addition yes this is a brand new addition for us this year and we are so lucky that St Arnold for the first time in almost our entire history here at the festival has decided to come and make us something special for the 50th Anniversary this English ale is done in the Very Old World style so that means they're using warm fermentation to make it often times an English ale was made in three different tiers so you had the very high-powered punch one that was for the Lords and the king and then they distilled it down again for the middle classes and then the very third distillation down was the weakest and that we give to our children well I'm very excited to taste this I also want to mention it's the 30th Anniversary for St Arnold it's the 50th anniversary for you guys so this is a perfect way to Cheers in huzzah this is an absolutely perfect marriage and I must tell you the joy that we have from a brewery like St Arnold who is so invested in the community not only the larger Community but our community here we do feel very very Greatful that they are here okay well I'm going to give you a cheers absolutely take a sip of this hold on why is that so easy to drink it's delicious it is gorgeous and you will find that this is light and crisp and on the back end you've got a little bit of a Tang to it but it's not overwhelming so it's perfect for the hot weather this first part of the season oh it's not hot hot here it's just going to get hotter with the beers here why am I speaking crazy darling after that beer you will be the hot one here I have no doubt about that Maggie at The Tap bar thank you so much oh it has been my pleasure what is your favorite on the tap here oh well I have to admit I do love the king's ale but my favorite is the St Arnold October Fest oh okay well all throughout the park you can find this cheers to 50 years and huzzah Miss Maggie huzzah oh if you want to look the part when you come to renfest you may want to swing past Ravenswood leather that's what I'm going to do I'm getting out of this and I get into something a little more like that I'll see you inside after the break [Music] welcome back to Houston life the transformation has happened I think there is no going back what do you think I'm here at Ravenswood leather at the Texas Renaissance Festival they're celebrating 50 years and I am celebrating a transformation oh my goodness Reginald Christina thank you so much for dressing me today do you love it I absolutely love it I've got to say it feels comfortable but there's just I keep saying transformation but I feel like I could really fully move into this whole way of life and take on a whole new character it's just so much fun so much fun so yeah I mean this is beautiful this is your store one of them one of many that you have here at the Texas Renaissance Festival of course we checked out where all of this amazing stuff is made by you guys but this is where you can pick it up if you come to remfest yes so we have the four different stores we have this one that you're at right now 326 Ravenswood leather which has all the leather clothing and accessories so the belts bald dcks pouches things like that uh and then across the lane we have 271 Ravenswood Armory and we do a bunch of archery gear so you have Quivers uh bows arrows and then swords daggers things like that and then you have 264b which is the comfy corvis which started off kind of as a Harry Potter store and is morphed into more of a DND a lot of tabletop gaming a lot of dice available over there um and then our newest one is 271 and that's also across the lane and that is the smoking Crow uh full of cigars pipes pipe tobacco all those types of accessories you can want there wow I mean this is what happens when you've been part of the Texas Renaissance Festival for decades now haven't you Reginald yes bam W decades absolutely I mean it is just so amazing to be in here I really really love this what kind of makes me feel really excited about it is I mean this is more than just a costume this is really an outfit it's clo you can live in yes and and there's a lot of these that you see you don't always know who's buying them but you see a lot of your your clothes end up on shows and movies yes so uh we've been in Once Upon a Time uh there was a Nickelodeon kids show that was uh night Squad that we did a lot of things for that um and then just a lot of movies and theater and TV and it goes on and on a little bit of here and there okay so if we want a bit of this for ourselves at Texas renfest because this is I mean this is bespoke let's talk about you create bespoke outfits for people to wear correct mhm uh we just take measurements down uh you pick your leather your Hardware uh it's built for you uh from the ground up wow to all your preferences yes is it something I mean you guys have been here a long time you're going to be here staying here for a long time is it something that you could start off with a very simple outfit that that you then build upon over the years absolutely a lot of people just start with the belt pouches simple things and then move on add one piece a year and build it from there yeah wow yes and so we also have uh layaway as well which a lot of people tend to uh gravitate towards as well if it's if you want something that's super expensive but you know that's really what you want you can just pay it off a little bit at a time and we'll take care of it for you yeah oh my goodness it's so amazing now did you guys meet at renfest yes we did did that's what I thought that you were R did did you get married at renfest no we did get married at a castle so it really is what would you say to people who may be I mean I think it's hard to find someone who hasn't been to renfest but what would you say to someone if they're thinking of coming for the first time because it really is like a big family here it is it's a wonderful experience come have fun enjoy yourself uh and it's just a lovely environment to be in prepare thyself for marryt huzzah huzzah well on that I think I am very well prepared for marryt and I know someone who is getting into a bit more Mart right now Lauren Kelly what are you up to all right coming up next we are checking out the chimney cakes here at the Texas Renaissance Festival they've been with this for a very long time all the info on how you can get your hands on some and how they're made is coming up next when Houston life returns [Music] well we know that the Renaissance Festival has no shortage of delicious food but I'm not sure if you've ever heard of Chimney cakes they are right over here and I want you to take a look at these it's fascinating how they're made and they are so yummy but somebody who knows a lot more about them is Steve come on over Steve hello huz huz first of all I I've never heard of a chimney cake what does the name actually mean so this comes from Eastern Europe uh back in the 16th century it was like one big land so now Czech people say it's from Czech Republic we call it Trel Romanian people say it's from Romania they call it CTO collage uh in in also Hungary and uh in German they call bnit what okay but does the the name kind of come from you know how a chimney is long and the cakes are actually kind of long like that and when when we take it of the steak I need he hold on he's got to go around when we take it out stick it's kind of smoke so that's why the chimney cake because the smoke comes out of the cake and uh so let me ask you this though is this a sweet and Savor or savory dish what is this kind of a dessert style what's the flavor so kind of dessert originally is Desert uh it's a homemade dough we make dough on scratch on from scratch on side uh we have homemade uh cinnamon mix with almonds go outside and uh that's the traditional way and for you serve it kind of spiral that's really cool yes and for the whoa whoa whoa wait what' you just throw in there hold on he's going to do it again okay oh wow I I you have to come back over here so we can hear you he's going to roll it right now in cinnamon hold on he's very very busy okay Steve oh my go over the place he's a very busy man first of all let's talk about what they're doing behind us though what do they do it right there okay okay excuse me so uh so there's the suet though uh she's wrapping the uh homemade dough she's wrapping around the oak wooden steak uh and then she dip it in the sugar mix We roast it over the fire and then we dip it in the sugar mix again uh how many of these will you make throughout the entire day I take over 50 of these steaks every hour I'd say every hour so over the course of the entire Festival you're making a lot of Chimney cakes right chimney cakes lot of Chimney yeah and uh you can put inside actually you can have just the cake just the dough which is nice or you can put inside Nutella or caramel spread we have uh fresh strawberries with whipped cream ice cream homemade apple Str with whipped cream or ice cream and what we create for American customers because we love USA and USA loves combination of sweet and savory flavors uh so we make the sweet dough with all beef uh sausage in it or we have vegan options we put vegan sausage in it oh my God it sounds like you're creating an entire meal out of veg yes everything we created everything so you can have a lunch you can have a you can have a snack and uh how long does it take for these to finish cooking few minutes few minutes yes the process is longer make the dough chill the dough rub the rubp the dough I notice it's kind of what are they're cooking over coals or what are they cooking over yes charcoal charcoal everything that makes with the flavor it helps the flavor everything tastes better from charcoal you know propane propane barbecue meat or chera barbecue meat everything tastes better from CH Steve thank you so much huzzah to you and the chimney cake team thank you thank you H all right well while these chimney cakes are looking absolutely fire if I don't say so myself I'm going to go get one Houston life will be right [Music] back well that hour flew by indeed your majesty when you're having fun time F that's true well listen make your way up to the Texas Renaissance Festival as the recap take 249 to FM 1774 the festival runs on weekends now through December 1 magical weekends from now until then indeed uh we're going to start off with our thousand And1 dreams then we're going to move right over into uh All Hallows Eve a pirate Adventure heroes and villains a barbarian Invasion the Highland fling and of course we conclude with three days after Thanksgiving a Celtic Christmas fun for everyone oh my gosh always a theme texrenfest.com is the website to visit to plan your weekend here and in the meantime Mel I think there's still one last thing to do indeed hip hip huzzah

2024-10-20 20:35

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